Would YOU die for your country?
The David Vance BriefingRead More
I see that there was a bit of an altercation over on GB News between Anchor Alex Armstrong and regular contributor Peter Bleksley (a former Metropolitan Police detective) over whether young Britons would fight for the country. This has spread across social media.
Let me play you the exchange so you see what the furore is all about;
This exchange took place against the context of recent Government announcements, not least by the Defence Secretary wee Wes Streeting, about the need for the British public to prepare for war “within 1000 days” Naturally the “enemy” is not fully identified but I think we can be pretty confident that it is Russia they are hinting at. It’s always Russia. As part of this very odd and somewhat frightening narrative, the Army Strategic Reserve call-up age has just increased from 55 to 65 and we keep hearing blood-curdling from various mainstream commentators that at any moment, Putin’s troops will be marching down the Mall!
Alex Armstrong responded to all this sabre-rattling by saying that he could no longer in all honesty say he would fight for Britain. Some of his reasoning seemed trite – for example he complained about rising housing costs. So what? But he had a point when he said that when he sees how the Government treat veterans and serving personnel he feels no motivation to go and fight the “enemy” Alex added that many young Brits shared his sense of betrayal by successive Government and he added that he had spoken to veterans beforehand to guide his conclusion. He claimed that he was a patriot who loved what Britain “was and could be,” not what it had become.
This triggered Bleksley who called Armstrong’s stance “rampant, pathetic cowardice,” and accused him of putting himself “in the camp of Iran, Russia,” being selfish (“me, me, me”), and failing to put the nation first. He told Armstrong to “look in the mirror.” He also made it personal by referencing Armstrong’s sexuality and the freedoms he enjoys in Britain. Armstrong pushed back, saying he did not support Britain’s enemies, wanted to be in a position where he could fight after domestic problems were addressed, and was being honest rather than discouraging the military
So where do you stand?
I can see both points of view. Were I a young man, I would NOT want to be sent to die in a cynical contrived conflict for this Government. In fact, I might be more inclined to go and fight AGAINST our Government! The thing is that we don’t have to go looking for enemies abroad because we have enough of them right here at home. Being patriotic is undoubedly a good thing, as Peter Bleksley rightly asserts. But that can manifest in standing against the internal threats, not least the invasion on our southern shores. Throwing on a uniform to be wasted in the meat grinder of the Donbas is not patriotic, it is suicidal.
It’s not 1914 anymore and dulce et decorum est is no longer enough.
Believing in Britain as a sovereign nation is something that the Government might like to embrace!
