Rejected petition Compulsory service to the community

The community has nothing to offer young people, they claim. More opportunities for training and work and more youth clubs are not enough to create an integrated community. Let us see the introduction of a form of compulsory, non-military national service for all male and female citizens and immigrants. Every participant would work in a number of different civic activities. After the basic requirements had been completed, some choice would be available. This would enable participants to either follow or choose one of a number of specified trades or professions. Overseas aid work would be an option. The period of service might be one working year. This could be served continuously or in blocks of time, perhaps a minimum of a month. Benefits are that everyone, including those brought up in a household where no one works, would have some experience of conventional work rewarded by pay and that no longer could anyone say that they didn’t feel they belonged to the community.