UK Should Consider Sweden-Style National Service: Former MI6 Chief

The former head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has said Britain should consider a Sweden-style “reserve force” that can be called up during states of defence emergency. “I don’t think this is about blanket conscription,” Sir Alex Younger told BBC journalist Nick Robinson on the Today Podcast on Thursday. “It is about thinking about ways in which the broader country would participate and contribute to security in a time of an emergency, which you know, is no longer impossible to imagine,” he said. “Ultimately, in extremis, I think we’d be looking at something like the model as I understand exists in places like Sweden, where the government theoretically has the power to compel people to give their service one way or another but doesn’t exercise it, except in areas where it’s really needed,” he said....