"Politics as we age
By Pete Morgan
Is it true that we move right politically as we get older?
The Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson once complained that Tony Benn had "immatured with age." He meant that Tony had became more radical over the years.
In the 1960s, Benn had been a relatively middle-of-the-road Labour politician. A loyal member of Wilson's moderate government.
By the 1970s he was well-established as a rebellious presence in the eyes of the Labour leadership, spearheading the Left's criticisms of the Party's compromises with capitalism.
Harold Wilson thought this was a regrettable change.
I think it was commendable.
Tony Benn became a living denial of the stereotype that we become (more) conservative with age.
And he wasn't the only one.
Nye Bevan – a political hero of Benn's – denounced the Tories as "lower than vermin" aged 58, and was 61 when he created the National Health Service.
Writer Virginia Woolf's 'Between the Acts', criticising the imperial arrogance and toxic masculinity of contemporary Britain, was written so close to her tragic death at the age of 59 that it was published posthumously.
George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four denouncing totalitarian government less than two years before he passed away.
Marx was writing to Russian correspondents at 62, supporting the revolutionary movement against Tsarist tyranny.
And Maya Angelou read her poem, 'On the Pulse of the Morning', at Bill Clinton's inauguration aged 65. It was a bold call for inclusivity and economic justice in the United States.
Harold Wilson thought it worth commenting that Tony Benn had become more left-wing with age because this was supposed to be unusual. Looking down this list, though, I'm starting to think that idea is, quite frankly, rubbish.
I think it's drilled into us that radical politics is a thing for young people so that we'll start to see 'growing up' as the same thing as becoming more conservative.
If we want to be recognised as 'mature' and 'sensible', we need to stop caring about refugees, start complaining about wealth taxes, and vote Conservative.
I think right-wing people tell us this not because it's true but because they want it to be true.
There's no maximum age for radical political thought, just as there's no maximum age for being a decent person.
What better time of year to reflect on this fact than December, when a man old enough to have a big white beard flies around the world, dressed in red, delivering free gifts to everyone, indiscriminate of wealth, race, or gender? Sounds pretty radical to me."
Interesting thoughts here. Someone I know has definitely done so. Fortunately many of us haven't.
