"This country faces a clear choice on defence: between a Conservative Party that cut the size of the army when it was in power, and a Labour goverment that is committed to increasing the army by an extra 3, 000 personnel, " he said.

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Then, in October 1997, the new Labour government made public that the army had indeed used unlicensed and potentially harmful drugs to vaccinate soldiers in the Gulf War, despite health officials' misgivings.

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It would be Dad's Army, or forced labour.

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It helps explain his surprisingly strong partnership with Ehud Barak, the leader of the Labour Party (and a former army chief of staff and prime minister), trusted as the only man able to handle the big security issues.

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The Labour leader said he wanted more people like Dan Jarvis, the ex-army officer who entered Parliament in 2011.

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Although unemployment is low, rapid job losses among Japan's army of temporary workers are exposing the unfairness of a two-tier labour market and straining an egalitarian society.

ECONOMIST: World economy: The jobs crisis | The

Once the reserve army is exhausted and as long as we maintain that competition among capitalists for access to the labour, the profits that can be made from labour, then inexorably and without doubt labour incomes will rise in line with productivity again.

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