Would this solve the immigration problem?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/24/fewer -polish-migrants-coming-to-uk

We just need to re-introduce National Service now, and our immigration problem would be solved forthwith.

[sp1814]

Yeah, coz the Irish and blacks have always had it easy in the UK during the 50s and 60s.

Strewth!!!

[anotheoldgit]

Quinlad

Don't talk like a complete twit, The education system was much better than could be gained in civilian life. And what is this drain on society you are going on about, you mean like the drains on society we now have to endure.

National service was compulsory and candidates were taken from all walks of life, from the rich to the poor, the university educated to the state educated (which was to a much better standard than today's), and from the ordinary worker to the professional.

At 18yrs of age young men had to register for service and you had a choice, if you were doing an apprenticeship or any sort of training for a career you could opt to defer your service until you were 21.

The National Servicemen's experiences were many and varied but despite the harshness of Army discipline and the conditions they were sometimes expected to endure, the majority of National Servicemen agree that these experiences have remained with them and transformed the rest of their lives .

Perhaps if we still had National Service, we wouldn't have the likes of you pontificating on a subject you know nothing about.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

And you were around during that time were you?

I was and I can never remember any shootings or stabbings back then.

I can never remember any Blacks or Irish being given a hard time, in fact the Irish have always been able to take care of themselves, and this was with their fists alone, no kicking, no knives and no guns.

Yes I admit there might have been signs up at some boarding houses ie 'No Blacks' 'No Irish' but there were also signs no 'Gypsy's' 'No hawkers'. In fact other certain people would be turned away, couples who were not married for instance.

This was not a racist thing it was just that some led a different life style from others. And I presume that the owners of these establishments were not prepared to accept anyone who did not conform to their wishes, just as a landlord can refuse admission to his pub.

I bet you took some of your knowledge from last night's EastEnders.

This was the BBC at it's racist (towards the whites) worst.

[Quinlad]

AOG,

The merits of National Service are a myth.

In 'Enforced National Service: A Study of Criminal and Social Consequences' by Ted Hogantoil, the author discovered that when unwilling young people were compelled to follow orders unthinkingly for a sustained period, their ability to problem solve, analyse and plan even basic tasks was reduced permanently.

In a Home Office report in 1969, Sir Ken Anitt-Wicks revealed that in the 5 years after the end of national service, crime among 18-25 year olds fell by 33% and violent crime fell by 41%.

He found that the criminal justice costs, their relative lack of employability and the need for mental health care resulted in a net loss of �1,100 per entrant to involuntary service.

Suicide rates among British men of conscriptable age fell by 28% in the three years after 1960. And in 20th Century Patriotism by Jerry Attrick, a survey of former national service conscripts found that just over two-thirds (67%) claimed to 'resent', 'greatly resent', of 'be indifferent to' their stint of national service.

[sp1814]

anotheoldgit

Your post from Wed 25/02/09 at 12:37 was the most beautifully naive piece of literature I've ever read in my entire life.

Seriously - it made me laugh out loud.

It was a hollow laugh.

In 1972 my mother was set upon by a group of skinheads. Fortunately, she wasn't far from home and my dad heard her screams. My dad was built like a brick outhouse.

I won't go into details, but two of those skinheads will never be able to have kids.

My dad became my hero that day.

This was in Bermondsey though. It was extremely rough around there.

If you try to tell any first gen immigrants from the 50s/60s that it 'wasn't all that bad', they will laugh the same hollow laugh.

In the same way that I don't really know about the life and work of Hunter S Thompson, your knowledge of the black experience in the 50s/60s is pretty threadbare.

I can never remember any Blacks or Irish being given a hard time

I have to assume that you lived in a small market town outside Hertfordshire.