In response to an FT article by Philip Stephens on 28th April 2016, entitled 'Millenials would bear the cost of Brexit'
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c91b54c6-0c5c-11e6-9456-444ab5211a2f.html#ixzz477hRIFvx
"The paradox is that those most likely to be affected are the least likely to vote on June 23"
There are many things for which the young will not thank the generation of which you and I are a part Mr. Stephens. They will have real issues with you and I, as they will with the generation that came before us. Here are two:
1. Our politicians have kicked the 'pensions' can down the road for decades, leaving them with a growing number of mouths to feed, mouths that will require feeding longer than ever before. They can thank every Prime Minister and Chancellor since the Second World War for that.
2. We have left them the legacy of a middle east that is on fire, with blazes that we set light to and/or threw petrol on those that were already ablaze. They can thank Tony Blair and George W. Bush most for that, and for lying to parliament and the UN about evidence of 'weapons of mass destruction'. They can also thank the gutless politicians that have followed them, for sheltering those two 'little messiahs' by shielding the contents of their conversations from the Chilcott enquiry. They can also thank the gutless mainstream media who have failed to even attempt to hold their politicians to account.
I'll leave it at that for now - there are more - it's a long list. The 'unsettling paradox' you talk of here Mr. Stephens is apparent in every election. I suggest that what you find most unsettling is the chance that this time the paradox may work against your agenda. That's right Mr. Stephens - I'm accusing you of hypocrisy. I'm saying this:
If I were a young person right now, the thing that would rile me the most, is the way that politicians, journalists and 'campaigners' on both sides of this argument, and indeed both sides of most political arguments, take a so-called 'moral' stance, present highly dubious statistics as gospel, and generally present themselves as caring about young adults, when they clearly don't. I'd be saying:
"Where were you Mr. Stephens, the last few decades whilst these idiots have been buying votes by making promises I'll have to pay for?"
I certainly wouldn't be impressed with pompous tosh like this:
"The referendum now demands that the nation make its choice. It falls to millennials to seize the future"
I get you want 'in' Mr. Stephens. I want 'out'. But let's cut the crap shall we.
If they vote to remain, or if they vote to leave, good luck to them. I hope they do a better job than the idiots running things in Brussels, London and Washington. I'm sure that they will.