Comment, analysis, news

The suffering of veterans

A play about and starring injured veterans, and recent government data and policies, highlights their suffering.

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Concern over Government schemes promoting ‘military ethos’ in education

The organisation ForcesWatch (1), which monitors the way young people are recruited into the military, have expressed concern about the announcement made by Education Secretary Michael Gove of four projects which promote 'military ethos' in order to improve achievement among pupils disengaged with education

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We shall reach them in the classrooms: promoting a ‘military ethos’ in schools

Earlier this month the Department for Education published a statement on their website outlining their ambition to promote a military ethos in schools across the country. Through developing projects such as Troops to Teachers and expanding schemes such as the cadets and other alternative military provision in schools (such as Challenger Troop), the government is now actively encouraging schools, especially newer Academies and Free Schools, which tend to exist in more disadvantaged areas, to foster a military ethos. This article was originally published on Bright Green

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Militarising Education

This article was originally published on openDemocracy The incursion of the military into the British education system will mean that alternatives to war and peaceful ways of resolving conflict will be more difficult for young people to explore. In the long term we will all pay a heavy price.

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Judge fears ‘Deepcut’ culture remains after ‘cover up’ of army recruit sexual abuse

Military staff have failed to learn the lessons of the Deepcut Review and continue to turn a blind eye to the bullying and abuse of young recruits, a judge has claimed.

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“It’s not a game”

Each of the episodes from both series of Our War focuses on a different platoon or company, with varying missions during their tours in Helmand Province (which dated from between 2006 and 2012). Common themes to each of them include the youth of those involved, and the gravity of what is being asked of them.

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Cadet plan needs consultation

This week the Ministry of Defence released news that the City of London Academy Islington (formerly Islington Green School) is to host a cadet unit. ForcesWatch urge parents, governors, teachers and students of the school not to accept this development until after a public consultation on the matter.

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Recruiting officers told not to warn would-be soldiers about true horrors of Army life

Recruiters who refused to hide the truth were sent back to their barracks to face disciplinary action.

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Figures reveal high number of visits by armed forces to Norfolk schools

Figures obtained under Freedom of Information reveal that the armed forces are visiting nearly all secondary maintained schools and academies in Norfolk and some schools have activities run by the military many times a year.

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Critical portrayals of life in the armed forces in two West End plays

There are two plays on in London's West End currently that depict life in the UK military, and they do so critically. Our Boys', by Jonathan Lewis, at the Duchess Theatre is a revival, having first been performed in 1993. Sandi Toksvig's Bully Boy is at the St James Theatre. There is considerable similarity in the themes of the two plays: why young men join the armed forces, how they are often neglected when injured, and the horror of contemporary war in general.

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