Letters - 20 March 2026
From military thresholds to dementia support
Military thresholds
The British government is considering raising the age of recruitment, from its current upper limit of fifty-five years, to sixty-five. As a sixty-one-year-old Quaker, that means me too. [The plans, as we understand them at the Friend, aim to increase the size of the ‘strategic reserve’, which consists of the ‘ex-regular reserve’ – former service personnel who are still liable for military service – and a wider ‘recall reserve’ that can be mobilised in emergency scenarios. The changes will be in effect from spring 2027, but will not apply to those who have already left the military unless they opt in. The government says this will allow for the mobilisation of around 95,000 veterans for ‘warlike preparations’, which is a lowering of the threshold from ‘circumstances of national danger, great emergency or attack on the UK.’]
Naturally I would be an absolutist pacifist in the event of military recruitment and would encourage all Friends to do likewise. Wars will only cease when men and women like you and me refuse to fight.
Gerard Bane
Deep in thought
Tony D’Souza’s article (‘Coming to judgement’, 20 February), is among the best he has written for the Friend. It gave a weight and gravity to the whole magazine. It is deeply felt and incredibly moving. It must, I feel, have cost him considerable spiritual effort in the writing. I, for one, hope he will feel encouraged to continue in this deep vein. I look forward to his further thoughts.
Neil Morgan
