Another ‘church of wokeism’: the MoD
The Silly Season creaks onwards. The MSM News editors must be desperate to find some crumbs to splash across their front pages (paper editions: see here) in order not to write about such serious matter as the defence of the Realm. How they must hold their readers in contempt when one looks at what they have served up today! Take you pick between ‘the death of a former pop idol’ and the confessions of a former footie player.
It’s not as if there aren’t quite disturbing news which affect the security of our country, and I don’t mean the Truss Show still trundling across the UK, with photos akin to US presidential election campaigns.
The news item I found so deeply upsetting is about the defence of the realm, about RAF recruitment. Scrolling down the online front page of the DT. there’s this headline “RAF recruitment chief quits amid row over ‘effective pause on hiring white men”, pooh-pooh’d it immediately in the subtitle: “Air Force spokesman denies any row over hiring decisions and says it will take ‘positive action’ to create a more diverse workforce” (paywalled link). The Times’ headline is more to the point: “RAF boss quits amid claims diversity is grounding white men” (link, paywalled). This is the first paragraph:
“The head of RAF recruitment has resigned following unease in the service about too great a focus on hitting “impossible” diversity targets. The officer, described by friends as a woman of “enormous integrity”, quit amid concerns that white men were losing out on jobs because recruiters favoured women and ethnic minorities.” (link, paywalled)
How bad must this diversity drive be when a ‘diverse’ officer, a lady, feels she must quit! Of course, the RAF and the MoD refute this across the board. For weasel words you couldn’t find better:
“An RAF source said that it was taking “positive action” to boost its intake from minority groups from its “pitifully low levels at the moment” in the armed forces. However, the source said that if the RAF “can’t attract sufficient talent from those groups we will always fill our intake from the wider pool of talent in the UK workforce”.” (link, paywalled)
Isn’t that reassuring for that ‘wider pool’ of white men! Aren’t we already feeling good for having the RAF not just protecting our country but also imposing wokery in their recruitment!
This drive to ‘diversify’ according to race and gender, regardless of suitability, is an ‘MoD ambition’, but the RAF wants to top that goal with recturing not 30% but 40% of wimmin recruits by 2030. Still, some sources don’t deny that this is actually happening and that it might not be such a good idea:
“A defence source told Sky News there had been an “effective” pause on making an offer of employment to white male recruits while they tried to meet the high targets. Another source suggested that such restrictions on hiring could undermine the fighting strength of the service.” (link, paywalled)
‘Diversity’ could undermine the fighting strength of our Armed Forces? You don’t say …! Mind you, when biological gender is declared to be only a social construct then it’s irrelevant that some physiological differences might exist. It gets worse – this drive for diversity comes right from the top, from the Head of the Armed Forces Admiral Radakin. His words made my hair stand on end:
“Admiral Sir Tony Radakin made it clear he expected service chiefs to make diversity a priority. Diversity was not about “wokefulness”, he said in December 2021. “It is about woefulness. The woefulness of too few women. The woefulness of not reflecting the ethnic, religious and cognitive diversity of our nation.” (paywalled link)
Blimey! What does he mean by ‘cognitive diversity of our nation’? That people with abysmal scores in maths and science, never mind reading and writing, should be allowed to become helicopter pilots? That becoming a captain in the Royal Navy doesn’t require educational standards which, according to business recruiters and university admission officers, are woefully low and need remedial courses?
Is this is how that Admiral, how the RAF, how the MoD believes we’ll be able to ‘stand against Putin’? Now I’m really scared! Let’s not even mention that the equipment of the modern Armed Forces is rather costly to buy and maintain. Let’s not mention either that “we” spend £2bn on that war in the Ukraine.
So now see this, on the reality of life in the RAF. The Times reported a few weeks ago that “Trainee RAF jet pilots waiting for years to learn how to fly” (link, paywalled). Some reasons are faulty aircraft, a shortage of instructors and an influx of foreign students filling training courses. Perhaps those £2bn might have been better spent on our own defence then, Mr Wallace? There’s more, putting a very interesting spin on that ‘diversity drive’:
“The RAF is even considering asking up to 30 recruits to quit voluntarily, one internal note said. There is also concern about qualified pilots quitting for better-paid jobs in the industry sector. […] A serving officer with knowledge of the training schedule said: “At the moment, it’s the biggest f*** up in the RAF.”T he officer added: “To have a selection process that is second only to astronaut selection, so you’re getting the cream of the cream, and then make them complete their flying training over a six to eight-year process, when it should only take two to three years, is absolutely mad, especially when it is taxpayers’ money.” (link, paywalled)
I’m sure Admiral Radakin can explain how ‘cognitively diverse’ people can pass this RAF selection hurdle! Of course, I’m properly cynical when I suggest that the qualified RAF pilots aren’t quitting because of money but because of the ‘diverse people first, regardless’ drive where merit is superseded by gender and skin colour.
I’ve not found a Truss saying, but then I’ve not looked very hard. I’m sure she or her puppet masters will come up with something. Sunak however had something to say, according to one of his spokespeople:
“The only thing that should matter is the content of your character, not your sex or the colour of your skin. That the MoD would allow Britain’s security to potentially be put at risk by a drive for so-called diversity is not only disgraceful, it is dangerous.” (link, paywalled)
So it is, and it’s even more dangerous when we learn that “Intelligence agencies such as MI6 are also trying to recruit more women and ethnic minorities to make them more representative of the population.” (link, paywalled). That gives a whole new and scary meaning to the slogan ‘go woke – go broke’.
Wokeism is breaking our country. From education to culture, from the BBC and MSM to museums, concerts and literature now to the defence of the realm: our country is done when even the Armed Forces are praying at the woke ‘altar of diversity’. And we should worry about killer thunderstorms and the death of a former pop idol …
And this is all happening under a party which calls itself a Conservative Party. I don’t think so, they are anything but. As far as I can see they have done precious little in the way of conserving anything, and are ‘conservative’ in name only. It breaks my heart to see what they are doing to this country and are doing their level best to screw everything up. I have been extremely critical of Boris Johnson for the past two and half years, but this lurch to the far left started under David Cameron, and Johnson has exacerbated it. If only it was possible to prosecute the unconservative Conservative Party under the Trade Descriptions Act. It just doesn’t do what it says on the tin. We are in desperate need of an alternative centre right party to vote for, as there is now a vacuum in the political landscape since the Conservatives moved to a position somewhere between the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party. The nearest description to this I think would be the Heritage Party led by David Kurten. The others like Reform UK are not cutting the mustard in any shape or form.
Reform UK – no constitution for members or an NEC – just a vehicle for Tice, a disgruntled Tory wanting lower taxes. I once raised immigration with him. He was not bothered at all.
I like the Heritage Party but it’s a slow burn for them. Such a shame that UKIP and Heritage are at odds. Their policies are aligned.
Stout Yeoman…..you’ve hit the nail on the head. Reform UK is just a vehicle for Tice. Nothing more, nothing less. Has done nothing to democratise the party and has few policies. All the talk is about cutting taxes and cutting waste
Stout – if Heritage wants to retain its integrity it will steer well clear of UKIP. Working together with Reform and ADF makes sense as they all have similar policies and the current iteration of the SDP is pretty close too.
As for pUKIP – on the surface the policies are aligned, don’t forget that David Kurten was a UKIP member and elected to the London Assembly under that banner. However the only real policy of the dregs, currently in charge of what was once a noble party, is to harvest legacies and hoodwink innocent members into believing they are still part of a genuine party- they can’t even change their name if they don’t want to lose their income stream
Stop nitpicking Helena, it’s far better to be a member of one than none.
Jake, I don’t think Helena is nitpicking in the circumstances. There is no point to a political party if it doesn’t have an army of enthusiastic and well motivated activists, doesn’t have sufficient willing candidates to stand at elections who have been through a selection and vetting process, doesn’t have a network of branches the length and breadth of the country and doesn’t have basic membership numbering at least 30,000 from which the activists and election candidates are drawn from. And it doesn’t help if the party leader is interviewed on a national radio station and is found wanting on a major issue which will be of concern to a prospective new member. On a personal level I now regret voting to oust Henry Bolton at that EGM in February 2018. That was the start of the rapid downfall of UKIP, although it had started after Farage resigned the leadership two years earlier.
Helena Windsor I really do not know what you are on about there.
Whatever bad things were said and done within the United Kingdom Independence Party in the past, isn’t it time you got over them?
Pauline….if I am not mistaken, I think you will find that Helena has done more than her fair share insofar as promoting UKIP as she was a councilor representing a seat in a South East county. She is more than qualified I feel to make an assessment of the current state of the party. I too was a seasoned UKIP member, campaigner, activist, election candidate on five occasions and branch chairman in addition to holding other committee posts. I am afraid UKIP or rather those in it have done their legs. Instead it should have rode the crest of the wave post EU referendum vote in 2016, as it had all the infrastructure in place to make it an eventual electoral success. Now its a mere shadow of its former self and will take years of sustained improvement to get the party back to what it was. The problem there is that the country is going down the pan pretty damn quickly courtesy of the present very unconservative Conservative Party and its ruddy awful leadership, and we need an alternative right of centre right political party right now that has the infrastructure in place, the finance, and firing on all cylinders ready to electorally challenge the hopeless Conservatives. Instead we have a number of very small parties with no money and with the current ability to contest perhaps a handful of seats nationwide, which is not good enough.
Thank you Colin. Pauline, I am not harping on about the past, by which I assume you mean Hamilton and Walker’s banana republic coup and unconstitutional ousting of 2 leaders.
I am very much in the present – they have made UKIP not fit for purpose, it is a sham to allow them to harvest legacies.
Colin @ 12.34 Before you arrive at that party of ‘an army of well motivated activists’ you first have to have a couple of thousand well meaning members constituted of people who ideologically believe the tenets of its manifesto.
Joining ANY of the centre Right challenge parties is commendable.
Further to the above, I tuned into the Nigel Farage programme on GB News and much of the first half hour was about the burgeoning English Channel migrant crisis which most us of with a head screwed on, know that this situation is one that is going from bad to worse. When I say most, invariably the MP’s that come onto his show sort of agree with Farage that it is a worsening crisis but have some sort of mental blockage as to what to do about it. The MP who was his guest this evening whose name I have forgotten, was rambling on about the British Bill of Rights and how it and other legislation will make it easier for this country to send illegal migrants back to French shores. If Farage said it once he repeated it at least ten times that the Bill of Rights was all well and good, but the Human Rights element to the ECHR will override any legislation that this government might introduce. This MP re-iterated that everything would be made easier to deport illegal migrants and if need be, if the legislation did not work then we may withdraw from ECHR. That’s the trouble with most of these politicians when putting forward their argument, its always a case ‘if need be’ and ‘may’ and will not do what is staring them in the face and withdraw from the ECHR. In the meantime whilst they prevaricate on the issue thousands of migrants encamped along the north French coast are poised to come here in the next few weeks, with even more crossing the Mediterranean who will make their way north in the knowledge that we the British are weak as ditchwater and will look after their every need once they get here, courtesy of this ruddy useless Conservative government. However Nigel knows the answer to all this as many people are saying it, we need a new ‘Conservative’ party to vote for, as the present one is not fit for purpose.
No point them making promises about leaving the ECHR on some ill defined condition or other. We need to leave now before it imposes any more judgements on us. We are supposed to be an independent sovereign country and must live up to it. That means raising the proverbial finger to the UN, WEF, WEO and any other supranational body that wants to impose their rules on us. Might save us a stack of money too…
I agree with you Colin Hussey at 5.23pm 17/8.
But it is too late to say so of course. I don’t thin you look back and read yesterday’s comments.
Yes Viv, I agree, wokeism is breaking our country.
Mind you it is not the only thing breaking our country is it.
So they deny the policy then, er, confirm it.
“Air Force spokesman denies any row over hiring decisions and says it will take ‘positive action’ to create a more diverse workforce.”
And
“if the RAF can’t attract sufficient talent from those groups we will always fill our intake from the whiter [sic] pool …”
Albie Amankona, of whom I am not always a fan, put it brilliantly on GBN:
“The job of the armed forces is to protect not reflect this country.”
Major General Matt Holmes, an experienced soldiers’ soldier, warned against the appointment of ‘Radical’ Radakin, as he was known, but allegedly committed suicide over being ‘undermined’, exactly as a tough marine would do. No?
There is evil at play. No one must call a spade a spade and stand in the way of the destruction of our institutions.
Interesting HR terminology in use here , service personnel referred to as a ‘resource’ and from ‘the pool’ , charming. I would imagine that Tommy Atkins would be most impressed ( NOT) . Anyone thinking of joining the services if thats how they treat you would be well advised to think carefully and think again.
Endgame. Last days of Rome. No white male recruits. What next? No more white male patients? Remove their voting rights? Confiscate their property? This is not a fight. Not even a fair fight. Its a war.
Matt up North. How strange. ( Is it telepathy?).
I was thinking last night about the fall of the ancient Roman Empire.
I was thinking how closely our present day ‘woke’ trans gender, L.G.B.T pride, etc., mirrored the ideas believed to have brought it crashing down.
And then there were the Visigoths and was it the Huns, who invaded.
Well we seem to have similar invading across the channel, don’t we.
Ireland today; UK next?
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/08/16/ireland-to-pass-new-media-law-pushing-climate-propaganda/
We have more than enough propaganda and outright lies already but I would not be surprised to see “our” government follow suit. Certainly the Sturgeon will surely follow suit for Scotland?
I I have no comment Viv beyond “God help us” and thanks for bringing this to our attention
I think we are closer to the ‘end game’ than anybody believes
We are truly in the last days of Rome, as Mrs Yeoman daily reminds me, now that the armed forces have been overrun by diversity and inclusion ideology. Remember army recruitment saying it is OK to cry and that muslims can have time out to pray? It was not clear if giving the OK to cry was meant to encourage lady soldiers or effeminate gay men, but it was patronising and revealing that the real dinosaurs were senior MOD staff with only a stereotype understanding of people. I liked to think at the time that it was just desperation over falling recruitment that caused the MOD to try anything and not ideological conviction, but these days I am not so sure.
Muslims have discretion over the precise times for prayer and I wondered what would happen if the British army suceeded in its drive to recruit muslims and then faced a Middle Eastern army. Whoever prayed first would be vulnerable to attack (if members of the ummah could be persuaded to fight each other at all). Muslims can pray five times a day. At least we secular or Christian British only stop once (for afternoon tea) and thus make a more effective fighting force surely.
It’s not just Stonewall that infected the civil service. There are a number of ‘training providers’, as indoctrination groups are called, that the civil service has been using in recent years to reduce the amount of time spent on the tedious business of actual work, and the MOD as part of the civil service has not been spared. Our institutions have undergone a cultural transformation and it starts at the top. Chief Constables, for example, and certainly wannabe chief constables, know which side their bread is buttered by the Home Office and before long the new culture permeates throughout management. The culture only reaches the lower ranks, as with police officers painting their nails and their cars and themselves in pride colours, through the Stockholm Syndrone in which victims identify with the ideology of their oppressors (in senior management) as the only way to cope with the new reality in which they are trapped.
It is irrelevant, therefore, whether the RAF group captain merely succumbed to the prevailing new culture or was following specific orders. The result is the same. I’m not worried about the RAF though. The future is unmanned aerial vehicles and recruitment will be of spotty teenagers addicted to and adept at video games. Currently, drones are controlled from RAF installations but perhaps in due course these new recruits will be able to work from home. They can attack China, say, from their bedrooms while sitting in their underpants.
As usual, playing to the lowest common denominator. If course, all the white well educated men have to do is identity as a black muslim woman and he/she would be a shoe-in.
I would like to thank Jack Thomas for his posts last night regarding the Online Safety Bill and Ukraine which should be widely shared before the thought police move in. They don’t have anything else to do, do they?
Thank you Lisa but not sure that I could identify as black and, after seeing the town of my youth taken over by Muslims, I don’t want to be regarded as one of them either. Like it or not we have a fight on our hands.