Hello again. Hope you're enjoying your Easter.

 

I've just been rather annoyed by Gordon Brown. As well as forgetting to invite me to the G20 summit, he has just suggested that all young people should do 50 hours of voluntary work by the time they reach the age of nineteen. This would be compulsory.

 

I don't really like this idea. I feel that the principle of 'compulsory volunteering' is a preposterous contradiction in terms. Rather like: open prisons; a free society with both positive discrimination and a widening social divide; protests that can only run with police approval; and other hallmarks of a Labour government.

 

Suppose there is a touch of hypocrisy here: I was the one who was most in favour of continuing FCC's compulsory Sixth Form walk in aid of charity, despite complaints about the compulsory nature of it. But that was just a few hours walk in a refreshing breeze to a nature spot at Pagham, not state-sponsored slave labour cf. Ancient Egypt. Indeed, the Pagham walk proved another point for Brown to bear in mind. All those who were determined to avoid the Sixth Form Walk, did, and used their time in other ways. If people are determined not to volunteer, then they will not do it.

 

There's also another issue here. There was talk a while ago of universities counting volunteering hours towards UCAS tariffs (e.g. 50 hours working in Scope/Cat&Rabbit Rescue/building an eco-garden = 20 points, or similar). But then everyone would have loads more UCAS points, and unis would demand ridiculous tariffs!

 

But if the worst comes to the worst, volunteer. To campaign for a different political party, for instance - then they're sure to drop the initiative.