A poll of troops last year found that nearly one in 20 members of the Armed Forces said they had experienced violence or threats of violence.

via Labour: new measures to make insulting military personnel a criminal offence – Telegraph.

So the crime would be “attacking” military personnel, and I’m guessing that an “attack,” as defined in this law, will include both physical attacks and verbal “attacks.” If this weren’t the case, then existing laws against assault and battery would surely suffice. And who defines what kind of verbal expression is deemed “an attack”? Is an insult an “attack”? Is criticism an “attack”? Is a question an “attack”? Is a failure to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance (or whatever the equivalent is in the United Kingdom) and “attack” or an “insult”? Is this website an “attack”? Is it “insulting”?

militarism (N): the tendency to subordinate all other interests to the interests of the military

Interests such as:

• freedom of expression
• freedom of thought
• freedom
• thought