Should over 70 year olds be banned from voting in referendum to decide the country future

I might have joined the suffragists but would not have made a good suffragette.

Callistemon

I think someone else died as a result of force feeding in prison, but it was after she was released. I suppose many of them went on hunger strikes, then had to be force fed.
Must have been awful.I would have been a useless Suffragette.

Is this where I point out that Jeremy Corbyn is now 70 years old?!

Callistemon How to vote, indeed. No-one said that democracy was easy. It is said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, it also includes the responsibility to think hard about where any choice is going to lead, and who to trust to carry the country into what is best for everyone.

We were on holiday in mainland Greece in the early 70s. It was compulsory to vote but only one candidate. The hotel owner told us that people drew a picture of Mickey Mouse on the ballot paper to show their disapproval.

The trouble is we know far too much about MPs now thanks to social media and not much of it is to their credit. Were we just blissfully ignorant in the past?

The sodding suffragettes were even more reviled than the over-70s are now, partly because they advocated violence and mayhem to persuade the country to agree to their demands. The suffragISTS, on the other hand, eschewed violence - but were still reviled.

To many men, any woman who wanted a vote was a traitor to her sex, possible a lesbian, and should be locked in her kitchen and made to stick to her housework, cooking, looking after the ten-plus children (one a year) and making sure that her husband was comfortable in his armchair and satisfied in his bed.

It suits those in power (and those who would like to have power) to have part of the country at loggerheads with other parts. As others have said, it starts now with the over-70s. Next it will be pregnant women, well-known to think less logically than the un-pregnant, so first in line to be denied any input into important decisions. Naturally following them will be menstruating women - another legendary source of illogocal thinking and hysteria. The argument to ban all women automatically wouldn't be far behind - it would save having to test all the female electorate for hormone levels before allowing them through the polling station door.

Gender equality must be considered, though - if women are banned, then of course men must be too.

Calendargirl I know that Emily Davison died but not of any other deaths.

I do agree, though that we owe it to those who fought for the franchise, and I admire the suffragists for their persistence, to use our vote.

But how this time?

Oh for heaven's sake! The sodding suffragettes didn't have to live through this lot!

I agree with you Calendargirl, wholeheartedly, I just do not know who to vote for.

I hope everyone uses their vote. My MIL used to proudly declare she never voted. What a waste for all those brave women who died to give us that right.
No use grumbling afterwards if you ‘abstain’.

Ive said it before divide and rule......get everyone at each others throats. Who conducted this poll?

I agree with Gonegirl, but like Sue, not sure I’ll be able to stick it out.

I really think everyone should vote, and I’ve voted in every election since I was old enough. But I truly don’t feel I can vote for any of them, they all disgust me.

grapefruitpip as most (if not all) men wear sensible shoes does that mean that men should be disenfranchised?

A nap in the afternoon - that sounds good on a cold rainy day. Or a nice trip to the garden centre; lovely.

Well, if the poll says that, it is a good reason not to lower the voting age. Someone of 70 can expect to live for possibly another 20 years, or even 30 and I think they have a real investment in the future and the health and welfare of younger people

Yes, some old people are selfish self-centred old gits, but so are some teenagers.

From what I've gleaned it appesrs a lot of people are considering abstaining.

Anecdotal of course

And I also think a lot of the precious young who we expect to be full of vervour just aren't.

My daughter's s in Oxford where her partner is doing his phd

Very little interest in those hallowed halls

I feel exactly the same right now, Gonegirl. But I know that when the day comes I'll stomp up there and vote - I'd feel too guilty if I didn't. Gawd only knows where my cross will go though.

I do rather feel that way inclined, Gonegirl. For the first time in my life I didn't vote in the EU elections this year. I was out of the country but could have requested a postal vote. I chose not to.

This time, I suspect I'll decide not to vote then guilt will make me scurry along to the polling station at 9:45pm to place my mark. I can't think who I'd vote for though.

I will no play along with their silly wheeling and dealings.

So, does no one else feel, as far as Brexit is concerned, like washing their hands of the lot of it and letting the buggers get on with?

They're all just as selfish as one another. It's come down to a "me me me!" thing.

I am NOT going voting in December. (First time in my adult life but hey!)

Re Corbyn voting. It's irrelevant really as on social media it's being said that he's just signed his own death warrant ( agreeing to a general election)

Well, there goes all of the House of Lords.?

That’s certainly very interesting, thank you Varian.

We might also query the source of this poll. "Wings over Scotland" is a controversial extreme populist Scottish nationalist movement run by a fake "reverend" who lives in England. They recently said they were setting up a new party to fight the SNP who they say are not doing enough to break up the United Kingdom. They certainly have their own somewhat suspect agenda

“No taxation without representation” was the battle cry of the American colonists seeking to escape British rule. Since older people will be paying tax in one of its many forms (not just PAYE) of course they should still be allowed to continue to vote. And should be encouraging the younger generation to do their civic duty too - though deciding how to vote may be problematic!

The Panelbase poll of 2,013 people in Scotland, England and Wales was commissioned pro-Scottish Independence website Wings Over Scotland, after studies showed older people swung the Brexit vote in favour of Leave - and pensioners sealed the 2014 Scottish referendum No victory.

It found 32 per cent overall “broadly agreed” and 68 per cent “broadly disagreed” that over-70s should be stripped of a vote on “matters of potential major permanent change such as Brexit”.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/10224578/over-70s-voting-ban-uk/

It seems the OP has misled us. In fact this poll seems to show that less than one third on the young respondants agreed with the proposition.