Too old to vote

So you think that you should not have been able to vote in the referendum Breda ?
Well, you know yourself best I suppose.

Breda and humpty
I will now put on my hard hat.

I do not know your ages obviously but the principal you are standing on is presumably what you say in your post humpty:-

" it should be restricted to, say, under 75 - people 75+ are not going to be affected for long by the outcome " ----

Does your opinion stretch to General Elections also as I see the ' principal ' behind your opinion has the same meaning ?

Will you self exclude yourselves from voting if/when or are 75 years old?

Excellent posts POGS I am in complete agreement.

Whilst I live and breathe and retain my faculties I dare anyone to deny me the right to vote!

Older people are not inconsequential doddering fools to be ignored. The wisdom of age and experience is a valuable counter-balance to the heady but impractical idealism of (many of) the young

In 1973 me and my peers wanted revolution and to be heard. Thank goodness we never managed to revolt and gain any sort of power. We'd have been revolting, hopeless and unsure of what came next once we'd had our desire to out whichever government we were protesting about and of course Trots and Marxists would have capitalised on our innocence and enthusiasm. I believe the same scenario exists and would be applied today.

Long live youth and its enthusiasm and ideals, but let's not pretend the youth of today, because social media allos them to become active keyboard warriors, have any more of a clue about realities and what works than we had, many moons ago. They want fairness and a right to be heard, just as older people do.

Many older people still have working brains, active bodies and valid viewpoints. Only a tyrant would try to silence or repress them.

And pray what does this fount of wisdom decree about MPs who reach the arbitrary age of 75? Should they also be defunct at this cut off point. Or will they have a stay of execution if their political persuasion correlates with that of the young chauvinist who put forward such a magnanimous suggestion. The constituency where I live is represented by a high profile MP aged 75 not that I'd vote for -- the decrepit old fossil-- him

How dare she say this, I wouldn't mind but she's been in the press crying and moaning about critics having a go at her, she can't take it but she likes to give it!!

I would like to point out that the singer Jamelia in question is not me and has no connection to me!

In fact, she is not that young (38?) but obviously has not learnt tact!

None of my DC think the same as her.

Voting isn't just about the far distant future, it is also about the here and now. Older people do, anyway, also have an investment in the future through the future of their children and grandchildren.

The immediate future of the NHS, education, public transport, to name but three are of every day importance to us and others and for many over 75s, will be for some decades. We also pay taxes, many billions of pounds in taxes.

What was the slogan the Americans claimed their indpendence on? Oh, yes, No taxation without representation. Will that come into play if we lose the vote

So no one over 75 has any merit or value any longer?! Do you think they are all so stupid/self centred/gaga that they don't think of future generations? My 96 year old mother voted Remain as she wants her grandchildren to have a future with Europe. I suppose she could have voted Leave if she thought they would be better off out of Europe. But at least she thought and has every right to continue to use her brain. Totally insulting to people who, in some cases, are still in the work place.

The cheek of her. Many people are living till their 90s nowadays. And older people care also thinking of the future of their children and grandchildren.

I am in disbelief that anyone would suggest taking away the franchise, hard won by our forefathers and mothers. It is a reflection of the sheer ignorance prevalent in some posters here.

well......eat healthily...…...don't smoke...don't drink.....go to the gym......and you'll live longer...….and then you won't be wanted because you're a liability and expense to the country....WHAT? Eat drink and be merry - damn it - who made this country what it is and long may we continue to vote for FREEDOM OF CHOICE...…...and that only comes with the Tories.

So, should people under the age of 20 be allowed to vote because they haven’t enough life experience to make a balanced judgment? Take my vote away - let them try!

My Dad was 96 when he died last year and his mind was sharper than mine,he certainly know who he wanted to vote for and why!
I really wish our beloved Queen was allowed to tell us what she thinks about Brexit because she knows more about it than all parliament put together !

Amazing someone should consider 75 to be an age restriction for voting. How many GP of that age and over look after GC.? They are useful for something that contributes to a child's character and hence their view of life. Will there be an age limit on how "young" GPs have to be to care for GC? Scotland has a voting age of 16 for all Scottish elections which many regard as ridiculously young. Of course there is advantage to a certain party in that they have given this to those still considered to be children legally as they have no life experience and basically believe anything. Schools have to educate the eligible voters on the policies of all the parties whenever there is any election in Scotland. Perhaps there can be classes for over 75 year olds too!

Seriously? If anyone tries to take away my vote I shall chain myself to the railings outside Parliament.

I'm deeply unimpressed by the suggestion that we shouldn't vote after age 75, however I do sometimes think that a short test on the constitution, governmental structures and both national and international history might be a good idea for all voters. Nothing so intense as the test that would-be new citizens take - almost none of us would pass that without some cramming - but something that proves that you have some idea of the real world beyond FaceBook and reality TV.

As others have said, if I am too old to vote I am obviously too old to be bothered paying taxes and most bills. I can enjoy what little money I possess and use my little brain to spend it.

My DF was a chemist and optician, we lived over the shop until he was 70 and I went to college when he bought his dream cottage about 10 miles away, and my parents travelled to the shop daily on their scooters 365 days a year, snow, ice, no problem (they opened every day, including Xmas, Boxing Day, NYE, Good Friday and Bank Holidays for an hour, supposedly for urgent prescriptions, but if someone wanted anything else, they were there). He wanted to run the cottage with an acre of land as a smallholding, but never quite managed the time. My parents retired when he was 72 and lived there for a further 5 years until his death. My mother, after he died, took on a new lease of life - leading light in the WI, took neighbours to church etc. She was a lot younger, but came from a long line of well-over-80s - she always expected to live to 100, but thank goodness, having developed dementia in her 80s, didn't make 90. I'm over 70, F/T carer for two family members, with an 86-year-old MIL who is still driving, more radical by the day and again from a long-lived family, with all her marbles intact. She's waiting for hip surgery when I expect to add her to my caring role. I took an interest in politics when I was about 14 when we had a school mock election tying in with one of the General Elections and that interest has remained with me throughout my whole adult life. Even after I gave up my very active Labour Party membership, my son joined and for the last 5 years or so, we have delivered leaflets etc. To be honest, my party of choice has become so divided and I can't see Corbyn as anything other than a disaster for the party that unless things change dramatically for the better, I doubt if I will vote. Where I live is a 100% safe Labour area - the other 2 main parties don't even bother to leaflet here, still less canvass on the doorstep! - but even if it were not the case, the only other party I might consider as an alternative is the Greens and they have never even put up a candidate here in General Elections. But I digress - all I intended to say is that at 71, whether I live for another year, 10, 20 or even 30+, while I am able to reason, I expect to retain my right to vote for the welfare of my local area and the country as a whole. DS, now mid-30s, has always bemoaned the apathy of his generation - when he was at Uni, his college tried to set up a protest group to fight tuition fees and allied issues, but his fellow students couldn't even be bothered to attend a meeting, let alone march. I like the idea that the latest 16-20+ age group seem to be thinking politically again, but they haven't got the knowledge or wisdom that 60, 70 or 80+ years on the planet appears to impart.

These ‘celebrities’ can take a running jump.

It was a ridiculous thing of the singer to say. People of all ages tend to vote selfishly for things that benefit themselves in the short term without thinking of the greater good or longer term consequences. Rousseau had a lot to say about that.

There are often negative longer term consequences for all kinds of things that might have seemed a good idea at the time.

People of all ages were swayed by Conservative promises of lower taxes and now see public service provision crumbling as a result of decades of underfunding.

How many people of working age in the 1980s thought being able to buy their council houses was a wonderful idea (for themselves). Forty years on, we have a housing crisis in which the paucity of low cost homes for rent is a major factor.

I don't (well hope not) think I'm being alarmist, WoodGreenie, when I wonder if people who think the over-75's aren't worthy of a vote are the kind of persons who secretly favour subtle bullying of the elderly towards euthanasia?

I don’t agree, I think everyone should have a vote who is legally allowed to in the UK. I’m not sure people over 95 should be driving though.

Oh dear, any others remembering with shudders the Nürenberg laws?

Why should it be valid that at 75 one may not live to see the policies we vote for come to pass?

Are all governements going to take 15 or so years to implement the promises they made in their election campaigns?

Most 75 year olds have grandchildren, perhaps great grandchildren and other young relatives whose future concerns them. Most are still legally competent to deal with their affairs, and our politicians keep on telling us that the population of Europe is getting older and older - their justification for raising retirement age, and that there will be fewer "young" people in the course of a generation.

If part of the majority, i.e. age groups 50 to 90 are debarred from voting, who will bother?

Deeda Totally agree , but no doubt will be knocked off my perch when I say 'with age' & experience' comes wisdom.
When I observe the poverty and the struggle that exists for so many young people who were not even born when the vote was introduced to enter what was to become the eu I ask how many more years do they want of what I observe as an 'endurance' and not a life.

16 to young to vote? If you can legally marry at 16 you ought to be adult enough to have the vote! And in Scotland you can marry at 16 without your parents' consent.