# How strong is anti-soldier sentiment in the UK? \ **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803 "2015-10-26T16:38:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803/41 "2015-10-29T10:17:55Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > One of the big differences here is that it’s extremely rare here to see a soldier in his uniform unless he’s actually working. A discount for soldiers in uniform, like I’ve seen in many businesses in the US, wouldn’t work in the UK because we’d all wonder why on Earth he was wearing his uniform to go to a cafe. I _may_ be wrong here, but this came up when I was a supervisor in a hall of residence at University. The OTC people were getting dropped off at the hall in an army Land Rover, dressed in their OTC gear. Another supervisor, from Northern Ireland, was very angry about this claiming that they were under no circumstances allowed to do this as it makes the hall a valid target in the eyes of the IRA (or the “Real IRA” as I think were the ones doing the bombing back then). She claimed that Army personnel were not allowed to wear their uniform in public for this reason. Note this was also in Birmingham, which had been the target on IRA bombing in the past. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803/42 "2015-10-29T11:02:58Z")
It’s also dumb; it’s a work uniform. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803/43 "2015-10-29T11:50:15Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > She claimed that Army personnel were not allowed to wear their uniform in public for this reason. Clearly that’s dependent on circumstances, or we wouldn’t have Trooping the Colour and no end of ceremonies and parades that involve uniformed service personnel. It may well be that, according to the official level of security alert at any given time or place, there may be local orders, or more likely advice to use common-sense (as for a few weeks after the murder of Lee Rigby) about wearing uniform when off duty. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803/44 "2015-10-29T12:43:58Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Clearly that’s dependent on circumstances, or we wouldn’t have Trooping the Colour and no end of ceremonies and parades that involve uniformed service personnel. > > It may well be that, according to the official level of security alert at any given time or place, there may be local orders, or more likely advice to use common-sense (as for a few weeks after the murder of Lee Rigby) about wearing uniform when off duty. Trooping the colour is doing something related to your job. Going to the cafe is not. Lee Rigby was not in uniform. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803/45 "2015-10-29T12:44:38Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > And does none of The Doctor’s companions ever turn to him and ask “why the FUCK am I risking my life trying to rescue a bunch of people who are going to die1000 years before/after I was born anyway!!?” > > Maybe that’s what’s eating the Doctor all the time? The fact that in the grand scheme of things, all the good he does (or doesn’t do) over his 1000 year life span stretched out over billions of years of history and an infinite universe are largely irrelevant? This is actually a major theme of the most recent episode to air in the UK, “The Woman Who Lived” (the second part of “The Girl Who Died”), in which the Doctor notes that one of the reasons he travels with human companions is to remind himself that their brief “mayfly” lives matter. Going back to Tennant’s Doctor, as mentioned already he was averse to using weapons, yet seemed to be endlessly fashioning them. At one point (possibly “The Stolen Earth”) this hypocrisy is pointed out again when he’s accused of turning _people_ into weapons, as revealed by both Sarah Jane and Martha being willing to blow themselves (and quite a lot of other people) up to stop the Daleks. Much of NuWho has been devoted to Angsty Doctor moments about the number of beings whose deaths he’s been responsible for. It’s gotten a little tiring, to be honest. And going back to the original question, a lot of the Doctor’s antipathy to Danny has to do with his relationship to Clara and whether Danny is “worthy” of her - note that he tries at one point to set her up with a different teacher (who bears a certain resemblance to his former self) and derisively calls Danny “PE”. The soldiering thing is tangential to the Doctor’s actual issue with him. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803/46 "2015-10-29T14:15:58Z")
> [@guitario](#): > > _Five_ of which came in the Euro Championships. You can’t pick and choose your facts to support the anti-Rooney argument 🙂 Yeah, but four of those came in Euro 2004 (where he was admittedly magnificent) and he hasn’t done a fucking thing in the two tournaments since. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-is-anti-soldier-sentiment-in-the-uk-open-minor-dr-who-spoilers/735803.md?page=2)