Winning respect

However, as the former head of the Army warned, it can be a challenge to find recruits of the right moral and mental calibre when so many aspiring soldiers lack the basic discipline that the Armed Forces could previously take for granted.

This is not just an issue for the military, though the Armed Forces do a remarkable job in providing life skills, and career opportunities, to young people from all walks of life.

Lord Dannatt’s comments are also indicative of a society that has become increasingly disrespectful for various reasons. As a committed Christian, he also questions the country’s “spiritual dimension” and what more can be done to create a country where the public-spiritedness, community values and responsibility demonstrated so admirably by so many young people is not perpetually overshadowed by a minority’s contempt for civilised values.