It is rather disturbing that a YouGov poll appears to show that one in four members of the British public (25%) can imagine a situation, however unlikely, where they would support the British Armed Forces taking over the powers of government. Men (28%) are more able to conceive of this than women (23%), but the most surprising figures come from UKIP voters. Fully 44% of those who voted UKIP in 2015 could imagine supporting a coup, more than those who could not (40%).
48% of UKIP voters even say members of the British armed forces should not follow orders from their civilian superiors when they feel those orders are misguided (27% say they should).
It is important to note that the second set of Table is that of the 25% who can imagine a coup. So for instance even among those who said they could imagine a coup there was only a majority for those who thought it might happen if the army was abolished
Maybe we should not be surprised since Blairs interventionist Policy in the Middle East there has been a campaign to get the UK public to support our military this involves the Military being on display during Welsh International Rugby Matches fort instance. and culminated in the formation of Armed Forces Day (formerly Veterans' Day) an annual event celebrated in late June to commemorate the service of men and women in the British Armed Forces. Veterans' Day was first observed in 2006. Although an official event, it is not a public holiday in the UK. The name was changed to Armed Forces Day in 2009. Armed Forces Day has so far been observed on the last Saturday of June.
Small wonder then that the Public have responded positively to the Armed Forces as the graph opposite shows.
It could well be claimed that we have to much promotion of the Armed Forces for our own good . There is a thin line between pointing out the sacrifice of our Men and Women in conflicts and using this to justify the Interventionist policies of our Politicians.
It is not disloyal to those who have died or been inured in conflicts to criticise their involvement . Nor is it to question if we need the expenditure on defence or indeed if this really for defence or aggression
We need to be always vigilant and expresses our concerns . I believe senior Military leaders and Arms manufactures have an interest in the current interventionism of the UK.
It is not they and the Politicians who pay for such folly in death, horrible injuries and mental problems but the ordinary front line soldiers. It is ironic that for the latter it is those would rather they weren't there and question the size and expenditure on our Armed Forces are their real friends.
1 comment:
course saying yes to a hypothetical question over the telephone - and supporting something in practice - arent necessarily the same things, but nevertheless the news that on average a quarter of people in the uk would be prepared to support a military coup is positively chilling (and an indicator of what dangerous times we live in perhaps).
To put it into context - and to widen this discussion slightly - it would probably be fair to say there's now a significant body of public opinion on the hard right of british society that is anti immigration, anti europe, anti trade union and anti left and civil rights in general ie symapethtic to fascist ideology. you even have to wonder if this reactionary bloc would also support military intervention if say scotland or wales voted for independence?
We wrote recently on our blog that serious plans to mount military coups are not are not unknown among the upper echelons of british society, and its very disturbing to see there's now significant chunk of public opinion in the uk that would support such plans if they were dusted down.
http://agreenwales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/a-very-british-coup.html
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