Home Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options

A great idea from Cameron

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Anyone see David Cameron on the news this morning? He was on to explain his great idea of compulsory volunteering (!?) Kind of like national service without the army. Of course he didn't have a clue about how to impliment it, or really what it would consist of, but he was very enthusiastic about it. There's nothing on the BBC website about it yet (though the actual content of the interview would probably fill a single line of text) but I'll post it if it appears.

So, compulsory volunteering... :yippe: ...your thoughts?
«1

Comments

  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Isn't that an oxymoron?
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I would say so.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    \
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nothing should be forced upon anyone, be military or otherwise. But if I were to encourage anyone to do something I'd say make them go abroad and spend one year working there.

    It would be good at so many different levels: it would fight prejudice, broaden the mind, help people acquire a foreign language...
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I agree with Aladdin totally. You shouldn't be forced to put your life on the line no matter how old you are especially when it's politicians saying you have to even though they will never do it themselves.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think a much better idea would be to introduce what they have in the US, where if you work for a charity (there is a list of aproved ones) for a year after uni then you get a lot of your student loans written off.

    It would help people from poorer backgrounds because they would effectively get uni for next to nothing, and it would help the charities.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the idea of compulsory volunteering is a joke considering the concept of volunteering is that you VOLUNTEER yourself to do it, not have it forced on you - thats not volunteering and should be given a different name.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You can't force people to vote. Perhaps it would be better to find out why people are not voting (for example, theres not exactly much Difference between Blair and Cameron is there...) and work on that.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Renzo wrote:
    You can't force people to vote. Perhaps it would be better to find out why people are not voting (for example, theres not exactly much Difference between Blair and Cameron is there...) and work on that.

    He's not talking about forcing people to vote.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bongbudda wrote:
    He's not talking about forcing people to vote.


    Ah, I've only just woken up and read volenteering as voting. :blush:

    Its still not that great an idea....as has been said you cant force people to do something
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Btw, you can force people to vote - many countries do - ever wondered why there's so many queues around the Australian embassy in the UK on Australian election day?

    ...but I digress
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim V wrote:
    Btw, you can force people to vote - many countries do - ever wondered why there's so many queues around the Australian embassy in the UK on Australian election day?

    ...but I digress

    I thought you had to register to vote first, then it's compulsory once you register.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sounds like a bit of a gimmick to be honest. If people aren’t doing on their own free will it’s not really volunteering. Although more initiatives in schools to encourage people to volunteer and stuff would be a good idea.

    To go back to the voting thing I quite like the idea of compulsory voting – in Australia I believe you can spoil your ballot paper so nobody is being forced to choose a candidate. I don’t see why the same couldn’t work here. Oh and if it was up to me there’d be no postal voting either except for people who are physically unable to go out and vote because they’re disabled or out of the country.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i have an idea that instead of national service, after school everyone should be made to work in retail or a service industry such as catering, hairdressing, or whatever for a year. then they would learn to treat people who work full time in those jobs with a bit of politeness, consideration and courtesy. i have worked in retail since i was 16 and i get abused on a daily basis by people who think because i am there to serve them they can treat me like shit. 12 months working in a similar job for everyone would be so beneficial, and you'd never be rude to a waitress or shop assistant again if you knew what it was like to be him or her. sorry, i know that was slightly off topic but that's just a particular rant of mine.

    That couldn't work - finding tens of thousands of placements each year would be impossible. Also people genuinely needing to work those sort of jobs would find themselves struggling to gain employment.

    The system bong suggested is a good idea though...
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i predicted a couple of years ago in this place somewhere that ...
    this would eventualy appear in the western world.
    conscription to serving the third world ...the cleaning up of the environment etc etc.
    like the army but with brushes and shovels and all manner of other tools and skills as opposed to guns and marching.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sounds like the corporations' wet dream MR. While the major MNCs line the pockets of their duly placed government lackies to pass one deregulatory measure after another - allowing them to rape and pillage the environment with ever greater impunity - the average folk (who manifest the consequences of that environmental disregard in birth defects, cancers, etc.) get forcibly conscripted to do the cleanup.

    Just another means of evading accountability by putting the onus on the little guy while profits continue unabated.

    Sounds like a good Tory measure to me. Thatcher would be proud!
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sounds like the corporations' wet dream MR. While the major MNCs line the pockets of their duly placed government lackies to pass one deregulatory measure after another - allowing them to rape and pillage the environment with ever greater impunity - the average folk (who manifest the consequences of that environmental disregard in birth defects, cancers, etc.) get forcibly conscripted to do the cleanup.

    Just another means of evading accountability by putting the onus on the little guy while profits continue unabated.

    Sounds like a good Tory measure to me. Thatcher would be proud!
    believe me ...i see the horrors and will encourage my children to fight it.
    but i do believe it is coming.
    if twenty years ago you had written on here that the united kingdom would have the most watched by the powers that be ...population ...you'd have been laughed at.
    there are more cameras in this country than anywhere on earth.
    all kinds of things have changed in a manner i never thought the people would allow ...let alone welcome with indifference or even open arms.
    it's coming ...to a land near you ...soon.
  • Options
    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Aye... the West is turning into the horrors it used to fight against.

    Ironic. I have seen it coming for a long time. All it will lead to, is what has been predicted before. And change will come, for better, or more likley for worse.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    Aye... the West is turning into the horrors it used to fight against.

    Ironic. I have seen it coming for a long time. All it will lead to, is what has been predicted before. And change will come, for better, or more likley for worse.
    for worse.
    there is a massive shift in global power and production taking place right now ...that few would have predicted.
    this shift is happening just as recources are going to have to be fought over in one way or another more and more.

    the western dream has peaked.
    the expectation of jobs and family and property have all but been swept away already.
    we live in hugely overcrowded cities ...or you lot do.
    our entire system is now without foundations of any kind.
    what holds it all together and keeps it turning is so frighteningly fragile.

    i have seen the future brother ...it is murder.

    oh ...i feel a song coming on ...http://www.youtube.com/w/Leonard-Cohen---The-Future?v=-l8ESkVuz6Y&search=leonard%20cohen
  • Options
    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Ooh tune!

    Our system had the worst foundations anyway... and then we sold off our foundations, as it made profit... now we will feel the consequences.

    Sigh, my lifetime will be interesting, if nothing else. :rolleyes:
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's closer than most know as well.

    Concentration camps being arranged in the US, bank staff being told what to do in the event of a crash. Scary, scary shit is just arround the corner.

    The US is almost out of cash -

    http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2006/01/01/afx2422463.html
    WASHINGTON (AFX) - Treasury Secretary John Snow has warned that unless Congress raises the national debt limit, the US government will run out of cash to finance its daily work in two months.

    And, near in mind that this is debt instrument cash, that is borrowing upon borrowing. What does Iran plan on stopping using in the next few months? The dollar. Oh deary me.
    we live in hugely overcrowded cities ...or you lot do.

    That run on belief that paper is valuable. That belief isn't going to feed you if things go wrong.
  • Options
    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    And what if Russia returns all its Dollars to the US? They become worthless... so many... and it all comes crashing down!
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    Ooh tune!

    Our system had the worst foundations anyway... and then we sold off our foundations, as it made profit... now we will feel the consequences.

    Sigh, my lifetime will be interesting, if nothing else. :rolleyes:
    my fathers generation fought wars and went without an awful lot in life ...stuff we take for granted.
    my grandfathers generation did the same.
    my generation have to be the luckiest geneartion that possibly ever lived.
    your generation are ...not going to have it anywhere near as good i'm afraid.
  • Options
    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    my fathers generation fought wars and went without an awful lot in life ...stuff we take for granted.
    my grandfathers generation did the same.
    my generation have to be the luckiest geneartion that possibly ever lived.
    your generation are ...not going to have it anywhere near as good i'm afraid.
    Yes... but it will be interesting.

    Technology is advancing rapidly.
    World power is shifting.
    The West is going to lose its throne.
    And choas is probably going to be the result.

    It will however, likley mean my life becomes worse.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    klintock wrote:


    That run on belief that paper is valuable. That belief isn't going to feed you if things go wrong.
    things are already going wrong and accelerating.
    imagine the cash machines and shop tills being turned off for 24hr hours.
    the whole system stops.
    i have seen this coming for years.
    i may well manage to survive as a peasant on the land ...even a hunter if needs be.
    i know how to catch and kill my dinner ...i know how to grow it.
    i also know how to live in reasonable comfort in a woodland or hillside.
    skills lost ...voted away even ...by these mordern people.
    take most people to the countryside its a pretty place ...but very hostile to the majority.
    few still have eyes that can actualy see ...the woods is where we original belong.
    it is all coming crashing down.
    some will survive and even thrive ...most i fear won't.
    deprivation and degredation is the future for most of those in the west.

    bet you three goats and a yard of sacking.
  • Options
    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Valuable skills indeed... you never know when you will need them!

    I cannot practice them, I only know the theory... which in all probability, means I die... Or, I shall just become freindly with those who seize all the supplies, then kill them and take over myself! :D
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I just find it amazing that this is one idea which this fake Tory has not stolen from the Labour Party. Just like everything else that David Cameron doesn't stand for, it's nonsense and will never be implemented.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    All Im looking to do is to make as much of that useless fiat money as possible in the next few years, convert it to land holdings, a few wind and solar power sources, a fresh water source and enough land to grow my own food, far from any urban wasteland before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    All Im looking to do is to make as much of that useless fiat money as possible in the next few years, convert it to land holdings, a few wind and solar power sources, a fresh water source and enough land to grow my own food, far from any urban wasteland before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.
    years ahead of you mate! :D
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Years older than me too, mate! ;)
Sign In or Register to comment.