Gordon Brown proposes voting at 16

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Gordon Brown proposes voting at 16

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July 4, 2007 at 6:17 pm

#692590
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MisterDuck

@misterduck

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link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6258794.stm

Quote:

He also suggested the possibility of lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 and changing the laws restricting the right to demonstrate in Parliament Square.

i think this is an excellent proposition, not just ’cause i’m 16 though! mainly because

1. at 16 i think most teenagers have enough knowledge about them to make a decision

2. if we can join the army at 16, and get full prison sentences at 17, restricting our vote to 18 never made much sense

and as for the rite to demonstrate, this is a good idea for loadsa reasons!
July 4, 2007 at 6:22 pm

#888843
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General Lighting

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I guess you’re too young to remember “Cool Britannia”, when Tony Blair came out with all this right-on stuff to get the youth vote.

I suspect a lot of this is to try and get away from the image Gordon Brown has of a “boring old Scot”.

I don’t see why they couldn’t lower the voting age for the reasons you suggested, nor permit demos outside Parliament once more (after all there are armed cops guarding the place anyway), but I’ll believe it when I see these things happen.
July 5, 2007 at 2:16 pm

#888850
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MisterDuck

@misterduck

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can’t really remember it, but i was only 6 or 7… ah well, i did suspect it mite be usual politician bullshit but was optimistic it might follow through

the one argument (that i dont agree with) i can think of to not allow the vote for 16 year olds is that some of us could be too influenced by families, votin tory when our views are really liberal etc. but i know many 18 yr olds like this, and many 82 years olds (well, one)

it would be great to be able to vote if brown called an election soon tho
July 5, 2007 at 2:19 pm

#888844
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General Lighting

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boothy wrote:

the one argument (that i dont agree with) i can think of to not allow the vote for 16 year olds is that some of us could be too influenced by families, votin tory when our views are really liberal etc. but i know many 18 yr olds like this, and many 82 years olds (well, one)

this dates back from the days when you were forced or expected to do everything your Dad told you to (the concept of the Victorian paterfamilias) and hopefully shouldn’t be too much of a problem in modern Britain.

in 1987 my Dad (who started out as a drug taking 70s hippy when he first came to Britain!) was a staunch Tory and supporter of Thatcho, but I still would have voted Labour (which was a proper socialist party back then).
July 6, 2007 at 2:58 am

#888847
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marcusblanc

@marcusblanc

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If boothy gets the vote i’m emigrating! :groucho:

Actually, if boothy gets the vote, thats cool, its just all the other 16 yr olds i’d be worryin about. 😉
July 6, 2007 at 3:02 am

#888848
1

marcusblanc

@marcusblanc

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i’m lovin stormin gordon at the mo :love: … its like a proper grown up has got in! ha ha

Point bein, u can act like a child at any age, Tony Blair was certainly governin like a 4 year old.
July 6, 2007 at 3:21 am

#888851
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MisterDuck

@misterduck

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marcusblanc wrote:

If boothy gets the vote i’m emigrating! :groucho:

i don’t blame you, i’d make sack races in the rain whilst eating boiled eggs compulsory.

it’s for the greater good 😉
July 6, 2007 at 3:34 am

#888849
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marcusblanc

@marcusblanc

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boothy wrote:

i don’t blame you, i’d make sack races in the rain whilst eating boiled eggs compulsory.

it’s for the greater good 😉

ahh, the idealism of youth! :groucho:

I can’t do that sack race/boiled egg thing no more, i’m too freakin old. I’d definately have to emigrate!

I bet it’d be like Logan’s Run if you got in, mate (old sci-fi series where you got terminated when you got to 30)!

Boothy for President! 😉
July 6, 2007 at 9:22 am

#888845
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kai

@kai

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I’d be very worried about letting 16 year olds vote – I mean how many of them have an interest in current affairs etc and know enough to make a sensible decision about governance of the country….

There again….

I have exactly the same concern when it comes to the adult population and their ability to make a decision not based on headlines in The Scum, or whatever other paper they read.

So my only real issue would be I reckon most 16 year olds would basically vote for whoever their parent convinces them it is best to vote for, essentially giving people with 16 year old kids two votes!
July 6, 2007 at 9:29 am

#888846
1

kai

@kai

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Talking about electoral change though, I did hear Brown wants to now hold elections on a Saturday rather than a weekday.

To me this is a fantastic idea – bloody obvious in retrospect as a way to increase turn out but the best ideas often are.

Holding elctions when everyione is at work was always going to lead to people not voting, as after a day at work many can’t be arsed to go and vote, but given a day off to do it at your leisure then I’d imagine most would.

In fact even better – make general elections an automatic public holidayraaa
July 6, 2007 at 5:41 pm

#888852
1

MisterDuck

@misterduck

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kaito wrote:

I’d be very worried about letting 16 year olds vote – I mean how many of them have an interest in current affairs etc and know enough to make a sensible decision about governance of the country….

erm… it’s hard to say. i would say many would choose not to vote, but there are also a lot of 16 year olds who have more of a clue than some 18 year olds. the family thing is always gonna happen, 16, 18 or much older.

it’s a good idea overall i’d say, if just for the fact that i can join the army and fight but can’t vote, or later this year i could be tried as an adult and not vote. there should be some kinda… i dunno, correlation between ’em.
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