Ask not what you country can do for you, said JFK in his inaugural address in 1961, but what you can do for your country. Kennedy was well-placed to throw down this gauntlet – he had actively sought out dangerous combat service in the second world war when he could easily have avoided doing so. It’s a challenge that has echoed down the decades, especially for conservative-minded people who tend to think about patriotism in terms of individuals’ obligations to the nation and to the state.
All the same, there does come a point when it is reasonable for people to turn the question around once again. It is possible for countries to fail their citizens, for governments to pile unbearable and unjust burdens on the backs of their taxpayers, to ignore their most fundamental duties. It is in this context that we should consider recent reports that love of country and willingness to fight for Britain are collapsing among ‘Gen Z’ (i.e. young adults and older teenagers). The Times reports that only 11 per cent of 18-27 year olds say they would fight for their country, and 41 per cent claim to be absolute pacifists. Cue much handwringing about the effete and decadent younger generation, too busy on TikTok and X to defend their land and honour their forefathers’ sacrifices, or about the pace of population change, with mass immigration bringing in large numbers of newcomers who have no genuine attachment to Britain or its history.
Neither of these points are wrong exactly. It is undoubtedly true that after half a century of progressive history teaching in British schools, modern youngsters lack any clear understanding of our great national story and our unique achievements. People aren’t willing to die for what they don’t love, and we are failing to give the rising generation reasons to love this country.
Similarly, we are in the midst of a vast demographic shift. The 2021 census found that nearly 17 per cent of British residents, more than one in six, were born overseas, and that was before most of the ‘Boriswave’, the huge wave of low-skilled chain migration which has added several million to the population. It is bound to undermine patriotic feeling if a large minority of the population have no roots in Britain going back more than half a century.
However, it is also true that the British establishment as currently constituted does very little to earn the allegiance and loyalty of young people. Housing costs are exorbitant, especially in London. The ratio of house prices to average earnings is now around eight or nine to one, having been around three to one in the mid-nineties. The tax burden has reached levels not seen since the hard years after the second world war. Those who work hard to achieve financial success face a punishing level of confiscation, with student loan interest rates at 7 per cent and the higher rate of income tax kicking in at just over £50,000. To put that in context, gross pay of £50,000 means a monthly take home pay of about £3,300, hardly a princely sum, especially given the needlessly enormous energy costs which British consumers must endure as the price for net zero fanaticism. A monthly household income of £3,300 will not secure a mortgage on a decent family home across great swathes of the country. Social housing, meanwhile, remains out of reach for many, with recent arrivals placing pressure on the system. In London, almost half of social households are headed by someone born overseas.
It is possible for countries to fail their citizens
We could list many more ways in which the British state is failing. NHS productivity remains very low, despite recent funding increases; the police barely bother with many forms of crime; illegal migrants fill provincial hotels, forcing the cancellation of weddings and costing billions of pounds every year. Is it any wonder, then, that those who are just starting out in life think twice before signing up to risk their lives for Britain?
It is possible to overanalyse these kind of surveys, of course. Maybe the kids are all right. Some commentators have harked back to the famous 1933 King and Country debate at the Oxford Union, observing that many of those who rejected the idea of fighting for Britain did in fact do so only a few years later. But we should avoid complacency. There are forces of entropy and national decay operating in 2025 that were simply not present in 1933. There is every reason to believe that genuine disillusionment with the country among the youth may be widespread and deeply felt, rather than being a pose by privileged students at an elite debating club. It can be addressed, but it will need a level of energy and vision that our current brittle, failing and defensive establishment is incapable of demonstrating.
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