Only 11% of Gen Z Brits would fight for their country: Is British pride dwindling?

National World - LocalTV

How proud are you of Britain and does that mean you would fight for your country if you were drafted? Well, according to new research, only 11% of Gen Z Brits have said they would fight for their country if they were asked.

Transcript

00:00The fact that young people are not willing to fight for their country is something of

00:06a disappointment. I grew up in a time when the Second World War was certainly within

00:11living memory and many people are still very proud of their achievement in pushing back

00:17the Nazis from the tyranny that they were putting Europe under. We've moved a long way

00:25since then. There's a whole view that national pride no longer has significance. Maybe it's

00:31something to do with teaching. There is perhaps a big cultural issue. It's certainly worth

00:37asking further questions. Why do people not feel that they have that bond to their country?

00:42But on the same token, I have young sons who are perhaps slightly beyond military age,

00:49although who knows. We've seen the recent conflict in Ukraine. It's men up to their

00:54late middle age. Indeed, anybody up to the age of 60, I understand. So in that sense,

01:02do I want to see young people go off to fight war? Well, of course not. But at the same

01:06sort of time, there are crises when we have to fight enemies who would destroy our way

01:12of life. Look, I have no easy answer to this one. It's immensely a disappointment, but

01:17I don't think it's something that's going to be easily changed. Quite clearly, if there

01:21was a major war with whoever, and there was conscription, the idea would be forcing people

01:29to do something that they fundamentally do not want to do. It would be really, really

01:33troubling. But nonetheless, as I say, we do require an army. And of course, it's been

01:38run down in recent decades and recent years in particular. And we now discover the world

01:45is not as peaceful place as we once hoped it would be.

01:49Military and political leaders have described the findings that only 11% of Gen Z Brits

01:54would fight for their country as a wake-up call for British society.

Category

Transcript

Recommended