Democracy hahahaha

Daphnedill: Test? Of course not. As I said in my last post we need to avoid the mistakes of the past. Presumably you would agree with that. When members of one political party are advocating measures that have failed and have ideas that are repugnant but buried in the past I very much doubt that the rush of young people to vote is concerned only with what they hear now. Whether that is good or bad is not a concern as much as whether they like the sound of it.

What an odd thing to say...

I am sure if I was on holiday with my husband, I wouldn't be looking at GN.

Not so bad Rigby 46...Horse Traders are more street wise than politicians...and get what they want!

Yes, durhamjen I am indeed, and having a very good time ( although waistline may well be expanding already.)However we take the iPad everywhere we go,as all our puzzles and games are on it, so I can look in on GN as well as my gardening and book forums ,now and then.

Aren't you on holiday, roses?

Liked your posts Jalima we have seen it all with different governments over the years haven't we?
I have recorded HIGNFY to watch for when we return, but did hope before the GE they would make more Ballot Monkeys programmes, but they didn't, a pity as they were very funny about all the parties.

Dd went through the lilac stage just before the blue stage, it was very pretty but she's bordering on teenagehood. Lilac and fairies have given way to scarlet red and anime, quite right too.

I am really impressed with the kids, even the little ones I work with were aware there was an election on. So many of the youth vote round here are young parents or they are in work in low paid jobs. The youth are not all university students.

Despite the turmoil I feel a lot better than I would had the tories gained a majority.

ps which is very passé

Perhaps I should get a tin of paint and do DGD's bedroom LSP, at the moment it is her favourite lilac/purple
[oh dear]

I couldn't agree with you more Blinko re the Anne Pettifor clip. Ever since Thatcher started to talk about the economy like a household budget they have been able to pull the wool over the publics eyes.

More is taught in schools today than ever was but by the time the teachers have ticked all the boxes (literally), they may not have time to include any more (especially with the cuts ot teacher numbers). I suppose it could be added to PSHE although I seem to remember that has had at least one more initial added recently.

Like the link, LSP.

I also enjoyed the link to the Anne Pettifor clip on You Tube. Very informative. If you ask me, the populace has been taken for simpletons for far too long regarding how the economy works. Why isn't this sort of thing taught in schools? We all need to be much more savvy about these things.

What are you suggesting CardiffJaguar? I don't think it would go down very well if people have to be given a test to be allowed to vote. I really don't think that age on its own qualifies people to be better qualified to make important decisions.

There are some young people who are politically very clued up and older people who have spent their whole lives not really bothering, except when some change affects them personally.

The referendum was a classic example. In my opinion, leaving the EU is a disaster. Others disagree. I consider myself quite knowledgeable about the EU and cringed when people came out with provable garbage. One thing I learnt was that there's no point arguing with people whose minds are made up, because they don't listen to reason. Younger people tend to be more open-minded. You sound as though only older votes mattered, but in my opinion, they were the ones who got it wrong.

I would stress that I don't know for certain that leaving the EU is a mistake - maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. The point is that most younger people will have longer to live with it than I will and they do have the right to an opinion. Beyond a certain age, everybody has the right to make their own mistakes.

I missed it too - must catch up. This election has been a gift to these sharp minded comedians.

I missed HIGNFY, I'll get it on catch up. Currently painting my daughters bedroom from blue, to red!

The election had nothing to do with it, she's just so over her Frozen period.

GGMK2: Don't say 'I am sorry': this is a debate of a sort and we value our freedom to say what we think.

I see from your comment that I have not made one point as clear as perhaps I should. The main benefit of experience is to avoid the mistakes of the past. I think you will agree that many mistakes have been made by politicians on both sides. Those mistakes have been very costly. I suggest we cannot afford to make the same mistakes all over again.

HIGNFY Election Special was funny last night, wasn't it Jalima? About both/all parties!

Thank you for the link LSP. It was so, so funny and very clever and is now doing the rounds on my FB page.

Within that experience comes the ability to compare not just then and now but all the changes we have been through and what a mess our politicians have made of so much of their interventions.

I am sorry Cardiff but I just don't agree with your wonderful view of getting older. You could just as easily say all the young are open-minded because they are young. This is really not an us and them situation. The old can become entrenched or grow in knowledge. The young can also be open-minded or just follow the crowd be it their family or their peers.

Very funny LSP
We have to find a laugh somewhere

HIGNFY was funny last night too, if you missed it then I think you can catch it on Monday night.

The "young" have had enough of oldies telling them that only experience matters. They have lives too and have a right to have some control over them. Of course, mistakes will be made and they'll modify their views, but denying them a voice is undermining democracy. They're the ones who will shape the future and will have to live with it.

He cometh by bicycle with a helmet on his head

Fabulous piece in the new yorker.

I also think it ensures a high level of social democratic politics

It is not about brains per se as the share of brain power is much the same today as it was in our youth. What I believe all of us can remember is the mistakes we made in our youth and the embarrassment when thinking about them today.

Did we have the knowledge we needed? We certainly did not have the experience that a lifetime has brought us. Within that experience comes the ability to compare not just then and now but all the changes we have been through and what a mess our politicians have made of so much of their interventions.

Jalima I think you are right about the swings backwards and forwards in government with each swing moderating the others views and then moving towards their own extreme. This is surely an argument for PR.

Nationally we have always smiled benignly or even laughed at the couple of weeks it can sometimes take our neighbours to form a government from a PR system but what tend to happen is that there is a consensus on many issues and the governments tend not to swing to extreme but moderate each government a little.