UK Defence Department Gives Workers Day Off for ‘Vegan Network’ Conference

WINCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 9: Army recruits go through basic training at the Army Trainin
Peter Macdiarmid / Staff
Peter Caddle

Employees of Britain’s Ministry of Defence will be given a day off next month to attend the department’s “vegan network” conference.

Civil servants working for the UK’s Ministry of Defence are being given a day off next month to attend events set up by the department’s “Vegan and Vegetarian Network” during its AGM next month.

The free day off for staff coincides with an increasing level of dysfunction within the British military, with insiders saying that it could take between five and ten years for the armed forces to be sufficiently prepared to fight an enemy nation such as Russia.

According to a report by The Telegraph, the vegan network event is set to include a wide variety of public and private talks, as well as “success celebrating, planning for future, stalls, and a dining-in night”.

The organisation has reportedly backed pushes within the department to use fewer animal products, with its vegan chairwoman, Sophie Foxen of the Royal Air Force encouraging staff to take part in ‘Veganuary’ earlier this year.

“Some people are surprised that I’m in the military and I’m vegan,” she reportedly said. “I believe well-thought-out principles are fundamental to being a force for good. If we do not strive for a more ethical world, what are we fighting for?”

One particular project the internal organisation is involved in is replacing UK military boots with “vegetarian” shoes that do not use leather.

How valuable such a project will be to the UK military remains to be seen, but judging by the utterly dysfunctional state of the country’s armed forces, it seems like they may need more than leatherless boots to get them back into fighting shape.

Despite facing the possibility of war with Russia and China should crises involving either Ukraine or Taiwan devolve into full-scale world conflicts, the UK’s military is not in the shape to fight a war right now, with retired general Sir Richard Barrons warning that the country is as much as a decade away from being capable of fending off an attack.

“During the Cold War the Army, at all times, was ready to fight at four hours’ notice. When the Cold War ended and there was no sense of existential risk to the UK, all of that was dismantled,” he claimed.

“Now we would need five to 10 years’ notice of a Russian surprise attack to manage to deal with it,” the military man continue. “That’s not a cool place to be… It’s deeply disappointing.”

The general had earlier warned that the country would run out of ammo after just one day of fighting Russia, saying that the government now needed to invest £3 billion each year in order to get Britain up to speed.

Meanwhile, other elements of the force have shown a greater interest in pushing progressive ideology than military readiness, with the RAF finding itself under fire last year after implementing an effective ban on hiring white men last year in order to hit diversity targets. Such a plan was put in place at a time when the force would not be able to field supersonic jets in the event of a war with Russia or China.

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