Economist on the politics of UK young people

[Mich the Tester]

Interesting and a sign of hope, but hardly surprising given the debts with which young people have been saddled by past governments;

The young want Leviathan to butt out of their pay cheques as well as their bedrooms. Compared with their elders, they are welfare cynics. Almost 70% of the pre-war generation, and 61% of baby-boomers, believe that the creation of the welfare state is one of Britain’s proudest achievements. Under 30% of those born after 1979 agree. The young are deficit-reduction hawks. They worry about global warming, but still generally lean towards Mill’s minimal “nightwatchman state” when it comes to letting business get on with it: they are relaxed about the growth of giant supermarkets, for example.

British politics and the young: The strange rebirth of liberal England | The Economist

[vetran]

fluffy, flowery opinion piece very loosely linked to reality with very few facts or incisive journalism. Based on a similarly puffed piece with no link to original survey.

not sure why I bothered reading it.


my view sorry if it offends.

[Mich the Tester]

fluffy, flowery opinion piece very loosely linked to reality with very few facts or incisive journalism. Based on a similarly puffed piece with no link to original survey.

not sure why I bothered reading it.


my view sorry if it offends.

The piece links on to this;
Politics and the young: Generation Boris | The Economist

Refers to the British Social Attitudes survey.

What I find interesting is that young people in Britain seem quite concerned with the state's debt and high taxes, which reflects what is happening in Holland with the G500 (a club of about a thousand young voters who join all three biggest parties in one go and then attend party conferences en masse) where young people seem to have similar views; aren't too bothered by immigration or Europe, don't give a stuff about gay marriage, but very unimpressed by having to pay for debts resulting from what they see as a baby-boomers spending spree.

[DimPrawn]

We can grade young people in a much simpler way.

Those that stay in the UK and pay off the £1trn debt mountain, get a 30 year mortgage paying £700,000 for a bedsit and face a retirement with no pension.

And those that emigrate to the new super economies in Asia and the like.

[DodgyAgent]

Interesting and a sign of hope, but hardly surprising given the debts with which young people have been saddled by past governments;




British politics and the young: The strange rebirth of liberal England | The Economist

The government has limited funds. The debate is not about "saddling them with debt" but about how further education should befunded.

[Mich the Tester]

The government has limited funds. The debate is not about "saddling them with debt" but about how further education should befunded.

If only the government spent within those 'limited funds' instead of building up more and more debt. I suppose Mr Osborne's doing his best.

[DodgyAgent]

If only the government spent within those 'limited funds' instead of building up more and more debt. I suppose Mr Osborne's doing his best.

I think he is, I also admire him for sticking to his guns and not listening Ed "Borrow more" Balls

[Mich the Tester]

I think he is, I also admire him for sticking to his guns and not listening Ed "Borrow more" Balls

I wonder how much he's hamstrung by the Libdems.

[vetran]

I wonder how much he's hamstrung by the Libdems.

he is hamstrung by history, he needs to trim costs (benefits, public sector workers, historic debts) not sure the Lib dems are the problem.

none of that is going to be popular. The few changes he has made on Benefits have been painted as cruel cuts.

[cojak]

He is even more hamstrung by the rapidly aging population which eats up the greatest proportion of benefits and the NHS.

The problem for this blame-culture era is that it's no-one's fault. The country needs prosperity and more people putting into the coffers to make up the shortfall.

That's the problem for the Government (of any persuasion) and it's a head-spinning vote-loser whichever way you look at it.