Loose Women panellist Jane Moore has come under fire after penning a newspaper column suggesting young people be “posted to the Ukrainian border with Russia” to gain some perspective.
The daytime star and journalist penned a column in The Sun on Wednesday, with the headline: “OK kids, let’s see how you deal with REAL problems – like a posting to Ukraine’s frontline.”
Within the column, Jane lambasted Gen Z, writing: “Perhaps, in the spirit of the superb TV show Wife Swap, we could film Strife Swap, where any noisy rabble-rousers bleating about how terrible the UK is could change places with someone for whom life in this country would rightly feel like nirvana by comparison.
“For episode one, a bunch of Gen Zs might be torn away from their war on free speech in our universities for a lesson in how so many young lads their age fought in the Second World War precisely so they could enjoy the freedom they have today.”
She continued: “Perhaps a posting to the Ukrainian border with Russia might help them to understand the fear of racing down a deadly force that might kill you? Here’s a gun, kids. You have a choice – kill or get killed.”
The column was met with an immediate backlash on social media, with many highlighting that, with no military experience of her own, it was distasteful to use the situation in Ukraine as “fodder” for a “culture war”. Some critics also pointed out national service had already been abolished by the time Jane was born in 1962.
Others questioned whether, as the mother of teenagers, Jane would be happy for them to be put in the imaginary scenario proposed in her column.
As more people voiced their criticisms about her column, Jane’s name began climbing the list of trending topics on Twitter.
Jane was one of the original members of the Loose Women panel when the show launched in 1999. After stepping down a year later, she returned in 2013, and has remained part of the show in the nine years since.