Bravo. This is the hope of Britain, if Britain is to have any future as a free nation: Michelle Hughes and people like her. Britain needs people who are unwilling to kowtow and curtail their activities in the face of violent intimidation. Cowering before the jihadis will only embolden them.
The supine, abject authorities who issued the recommendation to cadets not to wear their uniforms represent the spirit of David Cameron and Theresa May: cowardice and appeasement.
“Teenaged Army Cadets Are Choosing to Defy Terrorist Threat by Wearing Their Uniforms,” by Donna Rachel Edmunds, Breitbart, March 8, 2015:
A 17 year old army cadet has chosen to defy terrorist threats by wearing her cadet uniform to and from school. All police and military personnel, including members of the combined cadet force, have been advised not to wear their uniforms in public thanks to the increased risk of attack from Islamic militants.
Intelligence gathered late last year suggested that some jihadist cells in Britain were hoping to stage attacks similar to that which claimed the life of Fusilier Lee Rigby on the streets of London in 2013. Consequently, last December army chiefs issued advice to all cadets not to wear their uniform in public. The warning came a week after police and military personnel were similarly advised.
Andrew Halls, headmaster of King’s College School (KCS) in Wimbledon, southwest London, wrote to the parents of children at the school who belong to its Combined Cadet Force, passing along the military’s advice.
But Michelle Hughes, who already has 12 A* GCSEs to her name and has represented England at athletics, chose to ignore the advice. “I saw the email from the headmaster and so did my mum, but I was going to wear the CCF uniform anyway,” she said. “I don’t really feel at risk. My mum wrote back to the school saying that she had not brought us up to be scared of anything.” She added that a number of her fellow cadets had also chosen to wear their uniforms in public.
Her mother Rose Hughes, a single mother of four who came to Britain from Nigeria, said: “I am not going to be afraid of evil frustrated people. That is the way I brought up my children. I brought them up to work hard and achieve and fulfil their potential.
“There are crazy people out there who take their frustrations in life out on other people, but this country is peaceful and I do not want my children to be afraid. Let the terrorists be afraid, they are the ones who should hide.
“It is a wonderful privilege to be alive and to live in a country like Britain. Nothing is risk-free, but on the whole this country is safe. I want my children to be on the right side of life, to do the right thing and fulfil their potential. The only thing you have to be afraid of in life is fear.”
Halls said that he respected the decision, but felt that it was his duty to pass on the message. “I respect Michelle’s mum’s message. I think it is admirable, but I would not want to enforce it if anyone did not feel comfortable with it. What would be really awful would be if we packed in the CCF because we thought it was risky . . . We have two boys in the sixth form on army scholarships and we are very proud of that.”…