High ideals: VE Day, Covid and an anti-militarist future

On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, we reflect on what happened to the ideas and hopes that flourished after the Second World War, and what we can learn from this for a post-COVID world.
This article was first published in Peace News.
Militarising the crisis?

We need to tackle coronavirus with a strategy for health, care and solidarity. While military support is useful, there is little place for its approaches and culture during the UK’s Covid-19 response. Yet echoes of the military are starting to sound quite loudly as it seeks to maintain relevance.
Covid-19 and the UK Military

What is the UK military's involvement in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic so far?
Army dreaming

The Army are exploiting adolescent vulnerabilities and utilising crude stereotypes in order to attract record numbers of young recruits. We should be concerned about the gap between the dream sold by these advertising campaigns and the reality of military life.
Book Review: Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away with War Crimes

Joe Glenton reviews this explosive account of a secret group of mercenaries based on newly declassified documents.
#GE2019: security & defence

A potted analysis of existing positions and manifesto pledges of Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the major nationalist parties and the Greens.
Could you take a seat for the next generation?

Our Peaceworker, Jen Harrison, writes about attending the DSEI arms fair and how arms companies target young people as future employees and supporters.
Facts or Anecdotes? The battle for the truth over the outcomes of military service

We look at recent reports on the levels of abuse in the armed forces and growing ackowledgement of the systemic failures in how complaints are handled.
The death and inquest of Geoff Gray

The third re-inquest in relation to the four Deepcut deaths of young soldiers has returned a verdict of suicide despite lack of proof and illustrates again the imbalance of power between the institutions of the military and the individual.