Ellwood: Bring in the militaryNow there was me assuming that the Tories wanted the military in when there was an out-of-control Labour government to topple.
“We require a fresh approach in the day-to-day running of Number 10. I believe the nation would approve of inviting a senior military officer to take responsibility. It may sound like a cliché to seek a military solution, but the public needs a sense of assurance that rigour will return to Downing Street, along with improved command and control. Not only in operations but in management and process. And there is a reason why we call on the military in times of need. Their training in strategic thinking, situational awareness and management of the mission are invaluable during a crisis. Why do we wait for things to go out of control before leaning on these assets?” – Tobias Ellwood, Daily Telegraph
Dalem Lake wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:39 am I saw that tweet yesterday and it instantly jogged my memory to the beginning of the last decade where the Tories, well Gove as Education Secretary I believe, made a big thing about have ex-soldiers getting fast-tracked to become teachers so they could turnaround "tough" schools. Whatever happened with that - was there a big take up?I can't remember the exact figures now, but I posted about this in the pre Big Fire version of this forum. The amount of money spent and the very low take-up meant that every squaddie-turned-teacher cost the taxpayer over five million quid.
Bones McCoy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:15 pm But, the military are the "simples" answer for the hard of thinking.In more sensible times, didn’t it used to be a mark of shame/complete failure of governance if the military had to be drafted in for any non-operational matter?
* Short of teachers: Send in the military.
* Short of ambulance drivers: Send in the military.
* Inadequate flood preparation: Send in the military.
* A&E staff shortage: Send in the military.
* No infrastructure to distribute vaccines: Send in the military.
* Rupert Soames' hobby company fucked up the Olympics security: Send in the military.
It's OK as a very short term stop-gap, but the military have been cut back, are over-stretched and have their eyes on the Russia / Ukraine border.
Andy McDandy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:17 pm And thankfully it's the army who will be usually first to explain why military juntas are really bad things. Namely, one they're in power, they're very hard to get rid of.The Royal Navy has had to explain why mariners aren’t up for for drowning children into the sea with sonic weapons.
Andy McDandy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 2:15 pm "Army Green Goddesses on standby..." whenever a drought or a firefighter strike loomed.Interesting fact about the "Green Goddess": it's a "Self Propelled Pump", not a fire engine.
Andy McDandy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:43 pm Might have to question your use of "interesting" there.Neither interesting, nor correct. Yer actual fire service refer to what you and I call fire engines as "Fire Appliances"*.![]()