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The only thing I can see is on the BBC News website they have a line that says: "The Army is preparing to provide support during the pandemic" Definitely doesn

The only thing I can see is on the BBC News website they have a line that says: "The Army is preparing to provide support during the pandemic" Definitely doesn't sound like a lockdown.

HatchedLake721 7y ago
Support includes avoiding riots and looting. Something Boris Johnson got in trouble for back in 2011 when he was Mayor of London.
- riffraff 7y ago
  support means many other things. Look at italy: military medical staff in support of civilian hospitals, military personnel helping with ventilator production, military trucks moving dead bodies from city to city where crematoriums are saturated, extra checks on the roads for people who should stay at home. No riots nor looting.
- ben_w 7y ago
  I thought he only got in trouble for rioting and looting when he was in the Bullingdon club? Also, I get the impression that the UK armed forces genuinely don’t want to be used as an emergency police force, especially after their experience becoming one in NI. (That might just be wishful thinking on my part, but it is my impression).
  - Silhouette 7y ago
    I'm not sure anyone who is both sane and well informed wants a group of people trained for warfighting to be deployed in a domestic policing role. Our police training includes exercises like de-escalation, and the police here are mostly pretty good at actually using those tactics to defuse potentially dangerous situations. Our infantry training includes exercises like running up to someone and stabbing them repeatedly with a bayonet while shouting "Kill, kill, kill". One of these is not like the other, and even with good intentions all around, in a tense situation the instincts are going to be all wrong. As a comparison, we have relatively few police officers in the UK who routinely carry firearms. Certain policing organisations do, but mostly the guns and other "serious" hardware are reserved for specialist units within the regional forces. What is perhaps most telling is that the majority of our officers consistently say they don't want to routinely carry guns, not least because of the more confrontational culture it creates and the escalation of force it inevitably invites. A long-serving police officer I used to know once opined that the only police officers who are allowed to have guns should be the ones who would honestly prefer not to, but who understand that sometimes an armed response is a practical necessity and so if called upon will see carrying and being willing to use firearms as a burden they are willing to accept to do a good job. The other side of that conversation was that in most cases, you really don't want the young officer whose main ambition is to rise up quickly and train as a specialist firearms officer to ever get that far. It was a fascinating insight into the kind of psychology that is happening underneath the use of force in different situations and the kind of mindset that is required for people with different roles in our society.
    - ben_w 7y ago
      The attitude of British police towards guns is one of the things I really like about the UK. > I'm not sure anyone who is both sane and well informed wants a group of people trained for warfighting to be deployed in a domestic policing role. Ironically, that’s why I have more trust in the UK armed forces than in the UK government at the moment. I don’t think the UK government is either of those things. I hope I’m wrong.

The only thing I can see is on the BBC News website they have a line that says: "The Army is preparing to provide support during the pandemic" Definitely doesn't sound like a lockdown.

HatchedLake721 7y ago

Support includes avoiding riots and looting. Something Boris Johnson got in trouble for back in 2011 when he was Mayor of London.

riffraff 7y ago
support means many other things. Look at italy: military medical staff in support of civilian hospitals, military personnel helping with ventilator production, military trucks moving dead bodies from city to city where crematoriums are saturated, extra checks on the roads for people who should stay at home. No riots nor looting.
ben_w 7y ago
I thought he only got in trouble for rioting and looting when he was in the Bullingdon club? Also, I get the impression that the UK armed forces genuinely don’t want to be used as an emergency police force, especially after their experience becoming one in NI. (That might just be wishful thinking on my part, but it is my impression).
- Silhouette 7y ago
  I'm not sure anyone who is both sane and well informed wants a group of people trained for warfighting to be deployed in a domestic policing role. Our police training includes exercises like de-escalation, and the police here are mostly pretty good at actually using those tactics to defuse potentially dangerous situations. Our infantry training includes exercises like running up to someone and stabbing them repeatedly with a bayonet while shouting "Kill, kill, kill". One of these is not like the other, and even with good intentions all around, in a tense situation the instincts are going to be all wrong. As a comparison, we have relatively few police officers in the UK who routinely carry firearms. Certain policing organisations do, but mostly the guns and other "serious" hardware are reserved for specialist units within the regional forces. What is perhaps most telling is that the majority of our officers consistently say they don't want to routinely carry guns, not least because of the more confrontational culture it creates and the escalation of force it inevitably invites. A long-serving police officer I used to know once opined that the only police officers who are allowed to have guns should be the ones who would honestly prefer not to, but who understand that sometimes an armed response is a practical necessity and so if called upon will see carrying and being willing to use firearms as a burden they are willing to accept to do a good job. The other side of that conversation was that in most cases, you really don't want the young officer whose main ambition is to rise up quickly and train as a specialist firearms officer to ever get that far. It was a fascinating insight into the kind of psychology that is happening underneath the use of force in different situations and the kind of mindset that is required for people with different roles in our society.
  - ben_w 7y ago
    The attitude of British police towards guns is one of the things I really like about the UK. > I'm not sure anyone who is both sane and well informed wants a group of people trained for warfighting to be deployed in a domestic policing role. Ironically, that’s why I have more trust in the UK armed forces than in the UK government at the moment. I don’t think the UK government is either of those things. I hope I’m wrong.