EU referendum and older voters

I am rather concerned about the very narrow circles that some people apparently move in, if everyone they know has the same view as them.

Thank goodness my circle of friends and family have varying views on politics, the EU, the world etc! I wouldn't like to be part of such a narrow circle with everyone nodding their heads and agreeing all the time.
At least we can have a good old clash but then stay friends, or, in the case of family, still love each other despite our differences!

They say that they will vote a certain way, but we don't know where they will actually put their cross on the day.

If someone as committed as DJ, for instance, were to start asking me to my face how I would vote, I don't think I would say that I wasn't voting the same way as she does. How I would actually vote would be another matter.

I'm for in. 'Er next door is for out. We've come the nearest to blows we've ever been in 38 years

I love it when you say more plainly what I was implying, elegran

It's a SECRET BALLOT!

The only place I argue about politics is on here! My family all boringly agree.
None of my groups of friends ever discuss politics and if it is brought up I always remain neutral if I know someone has a different point of view to me. I'm no good arguing at a personal level.

Yes, it is a SECRET BALLOT. Our forefathers fought hard to make politics a matter for the individual conscience, and not for mob rule or the intimidation of public avowals in front of powerful forces who would mark you down as a troublemaker if you didn't agree with them.

thatbags Am I too unsubtle?

Yes, the joy of the Internet, looking at funny cat videos and starting arguements with strangers!

I often wonder if those absolutely opposing each other met whether we would get on at a personal level. I bet to our chagrin we would

I think most of us would. But certainly not all!

Of course we would, I'm charming.Order the coffees and cakes now.

Why do you think it's okay to be rude about me and my family and their friends?
I do not demand answers from anyone.
If they wish to state that they want us to stay in the EU, they can. That's all!
I do not demand to know why.

I resent this implication that I browbeat my family and their friends into confessing or otherwise. In fact I've had enough of this bloody forum altogether.

The only place I argue about politics is on here! whitewave I clash with DB sometimes (we mostly avoid discussing politics) but I find that I might take the opposite view to him just because he is DB (even if I secretly agree with him).

What is the definition of "older voters"?

Bring on the Cornish pasties and scones, jam and cream whitewave and I'm sure we'll all get on a treat!
Um, trying to think what I could bring, oatcakes? No? I'll make the

dj why are you being so sensitive? It's not like you. No-one is being rude about you or your friends and family as far as I can see. I was saying that if someone who was really keen on one party or policy were to raise the subject with me, I would not argue - I would be non-committal and then vote as I wanted, not as they would like to persuade me into. Voting is not a matter of how someone's opinion or position can change someone else's. It is a matter of "what I want" as a result of "what I have found out and considered^.

That is why I don't get into political arguments on here about who is right and who is wrong. Not because of apathy, or because I don't care whether this or that doctrine will take the country to wrack and ruin, but because I don't wish to waste my breath in blowing hot air around. There is too much of that already.

What is the definition of "older voters"?
Good question absent

Someone who remembers the UK before the EEC, who remembers all the kerfuffle about joining.
Perhaps someone who voted in the referendum last time? That was 1975 - did we have to be 21 in those days? So born 1954 or before?

We can only judge a person's tendency to browbeat in GN discussions from what we see on Gransnet unless we have got to know them personally off GN. That some GNers find the comments and postings of certain other GNers fit onto what might be called the "ultra committed" or "browbeating" end of the spectrum is not a reflection on those persons' families. It is a reflection on the postings of the posters in question.

Yesterday it was reported that both sides haves now decided to concentrate on the argument with which their voters are voting for them.
Brexit is concentrating on immigration. That is the reason put forward by the voter.
Remain - the economy.

I'm not voting Brexit because of immigration.

I'm still undecided and I've not discussed this with anyone in real life. I'm totally swayed by both sides and I suspect many people feel as I do.

But returning to the OP I am furious and disgusted that anyone should seek to disenfranchise us 'older' people. Just another example of the ageism which is creeping into society today.

I am not surprised that Jen became upset at a remark about browbeating - it was uncalled for and probably written in haste but I did not consider Jen to be extra sensitive.
This forum would not be such an interesting place without her.

Sensitivity works both ways. The last time I read the phrase "why are you being so sensitive?" it was directed at me. By durhamjen. I can't remember what or why. It doesn't matter now.