Article 50 of Lisbon Treaty

A statistic to keep in mind is that only 35% of 18-24 year olds voted.

I find that statistic quite worrying. I know my two offspring (both of whom are in that age bracket) voted and they tell me that their friends did too. I know some recent graduates without a settled address found it a hassle to register, but that doesn't account for 65%.

I would really like some serious research to be done about their reasons for not voting, because if they don't vote as they get older, it makes a mockery of democracy.

Listening to Today this morning it sounded as if the Exit from the EU is cut and dried - BUT Article 50 has not been implemented - I think Juncker said it must be done within two weeks of a new Prime Minister or the next day if it was a Brexit leader - all very strange.
Do you think there is something odd going on - on the one hand we have the MEP, from I think Belgium, questioning the Referendum and how it was run and the lies etc and the general consensus being they do not want UK I to leave and then all saying the UK I has been decided and the sort of agreement wanted being discussed.

Does anyone j derstand what is going on? # confused .com

I think that it's possibly because on the one hand the EU doesn't really want us to go but on the other hand they have to look tough to discourage other members from following us out.

I am surprised the vote was so high for 18-24 year olds. They know they dont know much about politics, most of them, and most of them are thinking about other things as is the way of the world when you are young.

They haveperhaps heard too that they are quite likely to change their minds as they age too.

Juncker also said yesterday that there was to be no meetings behind closed doors or agreements between a couple of countries.

After such a close vote and people questioning the validity of the vote for various reasons but the main one being the lies which were told - why would they want things to progress so fast - when there just might be a faint possibility that it will be declared null and void or not passed by the UK Parliament? All strange things going on this last week.

Most people in that age bracket I have spoken to Obieone are extremely well informed and certainly do know a lot about politics. I'm not sure what you mean by "thinking of other things" or what that has to do with voting. People of all ages have other things to think about, be it family, work, health, whatever.

I keep hoping that this still isn't going to happen although I fear that there will be civil unrest in the future no matter what happens.

That's my experience too, Belladonna.

How many 18-24 year olds do you know, obie? And do they come from a range of backgrounds?

Not really a range of backgrounds. The ones I know are only now finding their feet, so politics is not top of their agenda.

Even the fairly large number of 25-30 year olds that I know, some what voted reluctantly as they know they dont know much about politics and only really voted because they know it was important. They voted mixed, if anyone is interested.

Obie DGS and his friends- 25/26 - were going to Glastonbury so all did a postal vote and all voted Remain. They are mainly doing or have done post degree studies - MA or PhD if that makes any difference. These are the people he has known since Infant school. I was pleasantly surprised at how clued up they were about the EU and any ramifications.

Says it all about the uninformed, unthinking "Yoof" vote. Not that I go along with that stereotype
Anybody seen that video on FB where the girl says the only reason she might have voted Leave, is that she still wants to go to Disneyland Paris ?
A parody, I know and grossly unfair to the politically aware, thinking and intelligent 18-30+ year olds I know.
So I might venture to suggest your sample Obieone is not necessarily representative, just as the stereotype granny waving her Union Jack and harking back to the bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, bears no relation to most of us.

Not really a good idea to have voted if they knew nothing about it Obie. Wasn't pin the tail on the donkey.

Not surprising they don't vote although I wish they did and try to encourage them to at least register. All mine were brought up to vote as was I. But, the media has systematically trashed MPs to the point where charisma or god-like cult of the individual reigns supreme and where experience and expert opinion counts for nothing. The youth of today are bombarded on all sides by what is generally called 'bread and circuses' or 'pap for the people'. Trivial TV shows where can you vote online to get someone out while hurling abuse at them, rabble rousing rallies from all shades of opinion where they get to think they are the only ones who really understand the true national interest and get TV coverage to boot, soaps where 'get out of jail free' and 'pay back' seem to be the accepted way to live. I could go on and yes, I do know a substantial number of the young try to rise above it all and be responsible but we really do need to do something drastic at the moment to calm everyone down. A broadcast perhaps from our Sovereign?

Regardless of what any bunch of politicians say is or is not happening the wheels of diplomacy will continue to grind as they have for centuries. A deal will be made, agreements will be reached and we will all jog along either better off or worse off or no change at all. My mother had a saying when we got upset about things when young - " It will pass as everything in life passes". One thing we can't do is hold back the passage of time.

Another word in support of 18 -30 year olds. We have a fair number in the family and because we've lived in the same area for so long, we know many of that age group well. All the young people I know voted and without exception they voted Remain. My 20 year old grandson told me one of his bosses advised him to vote Leave, but he said, that boss believes the earth is flat so I don't take much notice of his political views.
Totally different experience to the one obione describes.

I do have a mixed group of friends so far as voting goes but again, with the exception of two close friends and my next-door neighbours, all the people in my family/friends voted Remain.

I received a sycophantic email from a Brexiteer friend last night (with whom,pre-referendum, I had argued the Remain case as she patronisingly implied that I was a selfish capitalist). Her words..."now I wish we had voted with our heads and not our hearts" and she then reassured me that the British 'spirit'would regain what was lost even though it may take years. Arrrgghh! I can't even bear to pen my reply.

My DB who is 80 voted remain
his DGD who is 25 voted Leave
He cannot understand her reasoning.

the stereotype granny waving her Union Jack and harking back to the bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, bears no relation to most of us.
I did do that recently Alea (without the flag), singing about the bluebirds as I walked along the white cliffs (has to be done!), however I did vote Remain (despite what some posters think )

I never doubted you did Jalima

Cheers - there is a dribble in the bottom of my glass

Just reiterating a point, I will say no more!

and now here

It does perplex me that so many 18 - 24 year olds did not vote.

Although we were entitled to vote at 21 and there was an election in the year I was 21, it was before my birthday, so I could not vote until the next election when I was 24 and a half.

I graduated from university when I was 19 and so by the time I was able to vote I was a graduate who had been working and paying taxes for five years and I was married with a child.

I couldn't wait to get to the polling station, even although we lived in a very safe seat and I knew my vote would never count. It just seemed good to be participtating in the political process.

I am still seething that a referendum was held at all. If the vote had gone the other way by a similar tiny margin, I think we would have still had the racists out on the streets in the same way that the Remainers are out on the streets now objecting to the result.

It was a recipe for disaster and I so nearly did not vote at all.

It is a bloody mess frankly and a lot of unhappiness (to put it mildly) has been triggered by this ill though out process.

I was amazed that there were not some sensible criteria for what might render the vote valid - e.g. a certain turn-out, a certain % gap between one side and the other. To have this silly first past the post was never going to produce a result that anyone could feel happy with.

It should never never have happened at all. Sigh.