herfiehandbag

If you have the number of Conscripts then you will need all your career soldiers to train 'em. To train a 100 conscripts you would need at least 5 Officers, 1 Warrant Officer, 1 Colour Sergeant, 3 Sergeants and 9 Corporals and a dozen Lance Corporals. Say 30+ training staff. If you are looking at processing say 300,000 conscripts a year, each conscript doing 4 months basic training you are probably looking at 35000 career soldiers as trainers. From a Regular Army of around 80,000 or so? I doubt that we have 300,000 rifles going spare. Back in the 1950s all a conscript needed was a set of battledress and a rifle left over from the Second World War. The game has changed now. Whilst it is true that many bases have closed over the last 30 years, very few are lying empty, most have been sold in a fairly energetic and ruthless drive to raise cash - little if any of which found it's way to the new, smaller but better resourced Army we were regularly promised every couple of years. We used to call the regular defence reviews ( under whatever shade of government) OP Bohica ( bend over, here it comes again)! Fewer yobs on the streets? No, fitter yobs, probably better organised, and more adept at violence!

It rather looks as if the " Walt" (Walter Mitty) in the OP photograph should undergo enhanced background checks before being allowed into McDonalds, let alone a gun show!

A really silly idea. At present we have a good, if under resourced Army. This will saddle the army with legions of unwilling recruits, which it neither wants, needs, can equip or train properly. 12 months is not enough time to make half useful soldiers, all It can do is prepare them for future reserve service, which of course they would not undertake. Our existing regular professional soldiers will have to spend their time training "National Service Conscripts" rather than practicing their professional skills. There is not the accommodation for them, the training facilities or the equipment; you won't get away with putting them in 20 man rooms in huts, not in 2025! I am sure exactly the same arguements apply to the Police and NHS.

This thread is rather conspicuous for many opinions, which paint themselves as "expert", and little evidence. A long time ago, in a rather different universe, I recall hearing "expert" defined as: "ex is a has been, and a spurt is what happens when you put a drip under pressure". Personally, I think that in a society with major ( to a certain extent institutionalised drug abuse) introducing and promoting another source of drugs, especially if it can lead to psychiatric problems, is a good idea. I don't really buy into the school of thought that it is harmless, only giving you the munchies and the giggles! There does seem to be, if not evidence, a lot of concerns amongst the medical profession.

Further to my post, others here have, correctly pointed out, that the decision of the court was not unanimous. There were dissenters, who upheld the right of Israel to pursue Hamas into Rafah. As ever, the "devil is in the detail". That however doesn't matter - Hamas and it's supporters will claim (falsely) that the court has judged Israel to be committing genocide. Hamas will make damn sure that civilians die in any Israeli attack, to support that. Much of the media will trumpet those claims uncritically.

Judge Nawaf Salam just happens to be Lebanese. He had a career at the UN, starting as a diplomatic representative for Lebanon, continuing as a senior beaurocrat before moving to the IC J. He has some limited experience in practicing in the Law, but as never actually served as a judge, at any level, in any jurisdiction. Wikipedia tells us that:" In the past, Nawaf has attracted attention on several occasions for statements critical of Israel. In 2015, he tweeted "#Israel Occupation of #Gaza & the #WestBank: UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU - 48 YEARS OF OCCUPATION".[14] Months later, the Jewish News Syndicate reported that he wrote: "Israel must stop the violence and end the occupation" and "portraying critics of Israeli policy as antisemites is an attempt to intimidate and discredit them, which we reject". Nawaf will preside over the case brought by South Africa against Israel." Is It perhaps possible that, given the level of Iranian control over Lebanon, ( his various appointments will have been made with the consent of the Lebanese Government, which does not move without, in turn, the consent of Hezbollah) and his previous career, he could be regarded as a less than neutral jurist?

Perhaps they never looked very hard, or checked on the hostages held in their (UNWRA) facilities by their staff. They must have overlooked the videos made and live streamed by Hamas to celebrate their fun and games. The UN has unfortunately revealed itself (through UNWRA) to have been embedded in Hamas's operations, some of its employees even took part.

For crying out loud @spidermike007, anything, any straw you can clutch at to excuse, justify or construct " equivalence" to excuse the savagery of October 7th. As for your comments about soldiers, (I was one for many years and take them a bit personally) well I dare say bus drivers, garage mechanics and many professionals have been known to rape and murder too! I could close this post with a four letter epithet, one widely used in the military, but whilst appropriate to your drivel would result in me being banned!

Goodness, a bit early in the debate for that sort of abuse I suggest...

I have read the link you have provided, and fair enough, it receives no public funding. It is however a publicly owned corporation, broadcast under a public service remit, so I suggest that my point about it being unbiased is still relevant - of course there is some debate as to whether or not it lives up to that remit, but that is for another time.

The BBC and to a lesser extent Channel 4 are publicly funded. Therefore they should be politically impartial. GB News is not, so why should it be constrained in the same way? Newspapers are free to take a particular political stance, and to employ politicians to write for them. If people don't like Tory politicians broadcasting or writing, then don't watch GB News or buy the Daily Telegraph. You can watch Andrew Neil being oh so cozy with his mates in the BBC instead!

And breathe, deeply, in and out, in and out. There, isn't that better? Don't like the things (or more specifically their fumes) much, I like cigarette smoke even less. I understand that the jury is out on whether they are harmful to your health. I don't think banning them will have the slightest effect, apart perhaps from enticing the police out of their air-conditioned offices to raise some cash, but there again, it's been very hot recently and it is now due to start raining a lot... And yes, I am sure that the loss of revenue from tobacco sales and taxation plays a major part in these proposals.

Presumably you are a "vaper"?

Winning It. Which means the destruction of Hamas as an entity which is any threat to Israel. Anything else is just kicking the can down the road.

So, Norway, Ireland and Spain. This is acceptable is it. The people who carted that body off on the motorbike - difficult to tell if it was alive or dead - deserve recognition and statehood do they? You're pathetic , sick and cowardly. What if, heaven forbid, terrorists raided Bergen, killed 12000, raped and dragged 250 off to be held hostage in the mountains of Sweden? What if, heaven forbid, terrorists raided La Corrunna, killed 12000, raped and dragged 250 off to be held hostage in the mountains of the Basque country? What if, heaven forbid, terrorists raided towns along the Irish border, killed 12000, raped and dragged 250 off to be held hostage in the North? Would you be happy for them to be internationally recognised with Statehood? I doubt it somehow. I do however suspect that this political posturing in no way reflects the actual reality of your people's views!

I live next door to a rural school, which teaches up to Mattayom (secondary) 3. In fact my living room is separated from the M1 - M3 classroom block by a strip of lawn and a soi - at most 30 metres. I don't have Aircon so my windows are invariably open, I am a retired teacher, and I am used to listening to the lessons - particularly the rote learning chanting abomination which is English. The children returned to school last Thursday, for the last four days they have paraded outside the classrooms for flag raising and haranguing by a variety of characters, followed by a spot of foot drill and marching. They are then split into work details and set to work cleaning, weeding, sweeping and for the boys clearing undergrowth behind the classroom block. There have been no lessons for Mattayom 1 to 3 for 4 days (today) of course is a holiday. I can't speak for Pratom ( primary) as their classroom block is further away. The headmaster is a fairly jovial cove, and often tries to persuade me to give a few hours as a volunteer helping the English teaching, I have some sympathy, he is permanently short of teachers. I usually do a couple of lessons a week, I enjoy it, the children seem to enjoy trying to talk, and it helps keep me in good favour around the village. He is especially persistent when O Net time approaches! I expect, when classes eventually resume, he will be round to drink coffee and persuade me! But, one week into the new school term, no lessons yet!

They have, effectively, had a two state situation for what, the best part of the last 20 years, since Israel withdrew from Gaza. Gaza has had a national election ( Hamas are now in the 17th year of their 4 year term). They have large armed forces, designed and trained to wage war on Israel. They have kept up a steady rain of missiles on Israel for most of that time, more recently they have launched a savage and murderous attack on Israel, raping, slaughtering and dragging Israelis into hostage captivity. Economically they are funded by the rest of the world; their theft and abuse of that aid is widely accepted, on a scale which is almost legendary. Their "diplomatic" presence is tolerated worldwide, recognition as a "state" will change nothing. Or will recognition lead to calls to send troops to fight on the side of Gaza? Now their is a thought!

Mind you the rest of us are rather bored with his endless lies, bull (s)hit and general dishonest scoundrel's conduct. I understand it is a bit of a reach, speaking for the rest of the world, but I am not sure that I am that far off track.

Indeed, another limb hacked off the somewhat palsied tree which is an attempt to provide health care to those too poor to afford the obscene charges of the American "healthcare" industry! A country which flaunts almost unlimited military power, certainly several times that of its nearest rival, a country which swans around the world, poking it's nose in and telling other countries to conduct their affairs, a country which claims to be the world's most free, most open democracy, a country which has put man on the moon, and still maintains a massive space programme, yet a country which, some ( myself included) would say obscenely, cannot provide the most basic healthcare to its citizens, and which happily accepts the corrosive effects of utter poverty and hopelessness amongst its most unfortunate peoples. I watched an interview with Bernie Saunders the other evening. Goodness me, didn't he talk sense!

But they argue from a stance that has no moral compass (Stormy Daniels anyone) and certainly abhors humanity ( seeding rivers with razor wire and putting children in camps). I think it is called "evangelical "? That is what is driving this one.

What is more, some of them are too long for MAGA comprehension! I did like the bit about the crowning glory of installing a moron in the White House though.

I think we should look at this in perspective: I mean It is not as if the wife of a relatively low level CIA man had killed someone by dangerous driving, and then been spirited out of the country on a military flight claiming diplomatic immunity, now is It? Err, umm, hold on a minute...

I do hope that she is alright. The lack of social media contact is a concern (straight up), young Thai females are rarely not chattering to their friends on line. Especially if they are having a good time!

It is a pity that they could not have been more specific as to what time on the 20th of May the Rainy season commenced - I appear to have missed it! If I had known I would have put on my white flannels, taken out my cricket bat and knocked a few balls about. That usually guarantees some rain!

No, Judges that are prepared to try cases when presented with them, rather than place every procedural obstruction they can imagine, and then some, to prevent such cases going to trial.