Britain’s Russia Alarm Meets a Nation That Won’t March

On Monday, something extraordinary happened. Two of the most high-profile security figures in the United Kingdom (UK) made public announcements about the threat posed by Russia – Blaise Metreweli, the head of MI6 (whose grandfather was a Nazi collaborator), and Sir Richard Knighton (his family history is not known).

Metreweli, or “C”, spoke in the morning, and Sir Richard in the afternoon. Both articulated the threat Russia presents and encouraged the country to be vigilant. Attacks, Metreweli urged in her speech, are not just explosions and gunfire, but cyber-crippling and “disinformation” campaigns. Neither could be accused of ambiguity and should be taken seriously – Russia hasn’t exactly been discreet about its contempt for the UK (and Western Europe).

Others suspected of enthusiasm for conflict and or hatred of Russia – members of parliament, reporters, and veterans – quickly seized the comments as vindication. Establishment media, particularly the struggling Sky News, doused their programming with yellow banners: “breaking news”.

Cynics about chest-beating bravado describe moments such as these as a military dry hump. Intent, but tempered by caution. The statements were expressed – clearly the message was received – but the call for able-bodied men of fighting age to report to the nearest conscription site didn’t sound.

Value of history

Measured on the value of history alone, the UK should be worth fighting for, perhaps even dying for.

The Magna Carta (1215); the abolition of the slave trade (1807) and slavery (1833); the Industrial Revolution (1760s-1840s); parliamentary reform and democratic expansion; the young lives lost in the trenches of World War I, and the stand against Nazi Germany (1940-1945) are deeply held forces of identity and inheritance, often pronounced – and interpreted – as superiority.

Then there’s the scientific and technological innovation; architecture; the development of common law; cultural and literary achievement – chiefly theatre; the appearance of an engaged citizenry defined by civil parliamentary debate, and perhaps most importantly, the fierce safeguarding and continuation of traditions. In the old days, the wise knew that these things didn’t come without casualties.

The UK also boasts a gifted memory as to war sacrifice. This can still be seen on most high streets in November, or on related anniversaries, where veterans are celebrated for their bravery. There are ceremonies, lectures, statues and documentaries – all designed to remember an age of selflessness that contains traces of God, King, country, liberty, and those increasingly ambiguous things called “English values”.

Change

But something has changed. A poll conducted earlier in the year exposed that less than 20% of Gen Z possesses any desire to fight for their country - the same feeling writ large in responses to both Metreweli and Knighton: “Thanks but … nah.”

This warrants an inspection of society, particularly over the last few years. One could go back to David Cameron, prime minister from 2010 to 2016, and his efforts to diminish the size of the military - he entered with an army roughly 104 000 personnel deep and immediately started culling. This would force comparisons with former president Thabo Mbeki’s efforts to decrease or emasculate the South African defence apparatus. At least Mbeki could be interpreted as noting the history of violent military coups across the continent.

But today’s problem is more complicated than paranoia or the need to save money.

For decades, groups in the UK – mainly white – have felt themselves the victims of a wholesale demoralisation campaign. This has been delivered across the scope of society – in parliament, where they hear they are privileged and racist, that the entirety of their history is exclusionary, and outside, where activist groups agitating the same theories buy advertising space on bus shelters that declares, “Hey white man, pass the power.” They are told that the planet’s precarious state is because people with their skin colour destroyed its rivers and poisoned its soil. These themes are bled into the drama they watch on television, where diversity casting now includes the spectacle of hijab-wearing women as army commanders or police snipers.

Politicians rail at them, declaring, “I’m disgusted to be white,” before calling for more legislation for wider economic participation, in complete defiance of the law.

In light of the week’s events, they sense a reverse-ferret in the making, the idea that, despite being treated as second-class citizens, hounded for speech violations, cast as creatures of privilege, denied jobs and opportunities on the basis of things they can’t change, and ultimately being treated as the enemy … they should now be prepared to fight for the very thing that treats them this way?

Reluctance

Their reluctance prompted exactly the same scorn they are frequently subjected to, but this time specialised. “Call yourselves patriots?” the centrist dad podcasters sniggered, while members of parliament attacked them for having it too good, and thus forgetting the role of sacrifice in their nation’s history. In response, these reluctant groups have revealed some interesting features about the UK security services’ behaviour in recent years.

There’s the police – all of whom apparently have university degrees now (thanks to the wisdom of Tony Blair), and are subsequently much more intelligent than you, and possess a far superior view of historical dispossession, along with justifiable redress. This is no better captured in the current Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley, who in 2017 – after a series of Islamist attacks – declared that the greatest threat to the United Kingdom came from “far-right” quarters.

But then there’s MI5, the domestic crime intelligence equivalent of the Hawks or Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was exposed for offering internships to non-white candidates only, and Knighton himself who, before his appointment to the head of the armed services, was central to a campaign by the Royal Air Force seeking to do exactly the same.

It is too easy to dismiss the lack of enthusiasm as a consequence of a generation addicted to their phones, mollycoddled by the bank of Mum and Dad, whose views have been influenced by sneaky disinformation campaigns on technology platforms owned by billionaires. It is much harder to acknowledge this as the tragic, but obvious, consequence of self-harm.

Perhaps the most illuminating point came from a young charity volunteer who helps homeless veterans forced to sleep rough. Interviewed by a news channel during the week, the young man pointed to the absurdity of illegal immigrants being ferried to hotels and fed, while those who served their country, at significant cost to their own physical and mental health, are left on the streets.