In a recent announcement, Rishi Sunak, the current Prime Minister of Britain, laid out a future Conservative Government’s intent to reintroduce obligatory national service. According to his proposal, compulsory national service will require every young adult of 18 to commit to either a full-time military service or participate in ‘civil resilience’ volunteering every month.
However, the proposal was quickly criticised with a previous naval staff chief ridiculing the suggestion as “ridiculous”, while a past chief of general staff condemned the stance as a mere “political manoeuvre.”
While this plan does not apply to Ireland, certain nations such as Israel endorse military service as a routine aspect of life. Yet, security expert Declan Power warns that the recent Israel’s assault on Gaza might be revealing the inherent downsides of compulsory military duty.
On today’s episode of In the News, we delve into how national service operates across various nations, underlining why an alternative approach is demanded in the UK. This episode is hosted by Sorcha Pollak and produced by Aideen Finnegan.