A Hole in the Heart

Britain’s got a problem, and it’s not the one the chattering classes are bleating about. It’s not climate change, pronouns, or gaslighting Netflix series probing what’s gone wrong with boys. No, the real crisis is a hole in the nation’s heart—a gaping wound where loyalty, pride, and (dare one say it) the willingness to defend this Sceptred Isle used to reside. The white working-class lads who once formed the backbone of Britain have had enough. Derided, scorned, and blamed for every ill under the sun, they’re no longer signing up to die for a country that’s made it clear it doesn’t want them. And who can blame them?

Former Defence Secretary Lord Hammond—hardly a rabble-rouser—sounded the alarm in The Telegraph earlier this month. “Young men are unprepared to fight for Britain,” he warned. He’s got a point. Back in 2015, a Gallup poll found just 27% of Brits would willingly take up arms for their country—one of the lowest figures in Europe. That was a decade ago, mind you. Today, you’d be lucky to find a lad from Bolton or Barnsley willing to take a bow for King and Country, let alone a bullet.

And why on earth should they? Thanks to decades of Critical Race Theory, feminist claptrap and the self-loathing taught in our schools, the white, working-class male has morphed into nothing short of a national punchbag. To Westminster liberals, they’re ‘toxic’ and ‘privileged’, forced to subsist on crumbling estates while resources are handed over to those with more exotic backgrounds and skin colours. To employers, they provide no commercial value in terms of woke credibility and are therefore passed over for promotion—or excluded entirely. To the authorities, they’re now the only demographic liable to feel the full force of the law.

If you think the multicultural brigade or the feminists are ready to step into the breach any time soon, think again. The military’s £8 million diversity drive (aimed at increasing the representation of ethnic minorities, women and those with disabilities, while also relaxing security vetting for overseas recruits) was an unmitigated disaster—resulting in a paltry ten female recruits starting basic training. Perhaps the sneering of top brass at white male recruits as ‘useless’ was unwise, particularly since Newsweek revealed there were “twice as many” British Muslims fighting for ISIS than serving in the UK Armed Forces.

Comrade Starmer may be itching to send the troops into Ukraine to prove his manliness—‘boots on the ground’ he says; ‘security guarantees.’ Good luck with that, Sir Keir, with the British Army shrunk to a measly 72,500 under Rishi Sunak’s watch; the smallest it’s been since the Napoleonic wars. Things are so bleak in fact, the PM may need to spend a little less time fussing over his wife’s wardrobe, and get his army fatigues dirty himself.

The future isn’t looking any better unfortunately, with the attitudes of Gen Z particularly disturbing. Twenty years ago, 80% of young Brits were proud of their country. Two decades on, and that number has halved. For those aged 18-27, 50% believe Britain is racist and stuck in the past, with just 11% suggesting they would fight for the nation in a war. The double-edged sword of a country revolted by its successful past and a white, working-class majority now persona non grata, is a recipe for a military which couldn’t defend a front lawn let alone a front line.

The shocking state of the UK Armed Forces is more than just a recruitment crisis—it’s a betrayal. For generations, the sons of England marched off to the battlefields of Flanders, Normandy and the Falklands, no questions asked. They didn’t need a focus group to tell them what patriotism meant. But patriotism is a two-way street, and those in command have not upheld their end of the bargain. The jobs have gone overseas, the factories closed, and the promise of a better life turned into food banks and zero-hours contracts. To add insult to injury, our boys were then told that they were the problem—‘too white,’ ‘too male,’ ‘too toxic’ to fit in with the soy latte-sipping London liberals.

So here we find ourselves, with a military on its knees and a government too busy navel-gazing to notice. Starmer’s sabre rattling in the direction of Ukraine might impress the Guardian editorial board, but its hollow bluster when the numbers simply aren’t there to back it up. I recall watching Christopher Nolan’s epic WWII film Dunkirk some years ago, and then reading the reviews suggesting it was ‘too white.’ No shit, Sherlock! But two can play that game.

Laying down your life is the ultimate sacrifice a man can make. Most will do so without a moment’s hesitation for their children and family. But for a country to merit such devotion, requires that such a country is worthy of fighting for. If Britain is no longer inspiring these emotions in its young men, we must ask ourselves why.

Feminists and liberal men rail against ‘toxic masculinity’ more than any other ‘societal ill,’ yet they are always the first to cower behind it when it’s the only line of defence. One wonders what they will do when the next call to arms is met with silence?

Frank Haviland is the Editor of The New Conservative, and the author of Banalysis: The Lie Destroying the West.

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This piece was first published in The European Conservative, and is reproduced by kind permission.