I keep being told that young people have no interest in politics.
All they do is get drunk, and cause trouble; or if they are not doing that then they have a mobile phone welded to their ear, and they're updating their Facebook site at the same time.
Well. The only thing wrong about mobile phones and Facebook is that they weren't around when I was young.
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I must have wasted days of my life trying to find out where the next party was; and Facebook would have been a wonderful means of staying in touch with my pals.
As for drinking by young people, there is a problem, not least because some alcohol is too cheap, and too strong, and binge drinking has become too much of a habit for too many.
But when I ask people over 40 whether they ever bought a drink in a pub when they were under age, or ever had too much, it's rare for me to get a truthful "No" to either question.
So while we need to tackle under-age drinking, we shouldn't pretend it's an entirely new problem.
As for interest in politics, how about this: elections for the Youth MP for Blackburn with Darwen have just finished, and 7,600 young people in the borough voted.
The turnout was around 45 per cent - with an extra 1,100 voting this year compared with last. Thirteen candidates stood.
They came from Blackburn College, St Mary's, Runshaw, Pleckgate, Witton, St Wilfrid's, and St Bede's Schools.
Also - as this is an issue for some - they were a good cross-section of our multi-religious communities in the area.
The successful candidate was Minhaz Khelya. He takes over from Katherine Whittaker, who has served for the last year as the Borough's Youth MP.
All the unsuccessful candidates are going to be kept occupied as members of the Borough's Youth Panel.
But the elected Youth MP is going to be particularly busy over the next year, representing young people in the borough, as well as regionally and nationally, on a mandate - that 45 per cent - which compares well with most local councillors, and is not far off MPs.
Turn-out in last year's local authority elections in Blackburn with Darwen was 42 per cent; for my election in 2005 it was 57 per cent.
Among young people aged 18-24, average turnout in the 2005 UK general election was just 37 per cent.
Why should young people's participation in Youth Parliament elections be higher than in UK general elections?
It's an important question which throws up answers that could help guide wider democratic reform.
According to Kate Parish, who is Head of the UK Youth Parliament programme, the fact that these youth MP elections take place over a period of two or three days, in places where young people gather and on the basis of 100 per cent accurate school and college registers, is crucial.
Kate also thinks that strong turnouts reflect the fact that participants feel a close connection with the Youth Parliament candidates and benefit from the direct and personal style of election campaigning.
I agree. I've always believed that face to face contact between electors and representatives is vital. That's why I regularly take part in residents meetings and town centre "shout-abouts".
Leaflets and websites are all well and good, but old fashioned hustings still have their place.
That said, we do need to look at modernising some aspects of our elections, and the government will shortly consult on whether voting day should be moved to the weekend and perhaps staged over one or two days.
The experience of Youth Parliament elections suggests that this could be a good idea.
More generally, it suggests that reports about the death of politics among young people is greatly exaggerated.
Posted by: Nostradamous, B/burn on 5:38pm Sat 15 Mar 08
Lets wait and see how many carry on voting in there twenties,generalisin
g is not the best way to look at youth if we carry on thinking they are all lager louts and computor game freaks then i am afraid that is what they will become,but let me tell you that local Footy leagues from under 9s to 18 yr olds is booming in our area,so start to be more aware of lots of GOOD things that our youngsters do in ALL sections of the Blackburn area.
Lets wait and see how many carry on voting in there twenties,generalisin
g is not the best way to look at youth if we carry on thinking they are all lager louts and computor game freaks then i am afraid that is what they will become,but let me tell you that local Footy leagues from under 9s to 18 yr olds is booming in our area,so start to be more aware of lots of GOOD things that our youngsters do in ALL sections of the Blackburn area.
Posted by: Berty, Mill Hill, Blackburn on 8:15pm Fri 21 Mar 08
In this society the adage is go for the young because of no past memories. In the colleges the students union is mainly Communist domination, with all the senseless rubbish in full flow. Most of these voters ideas are not what the more normal youngsters are concerned with. They get on with the Studies.
In this society the adage is go for the young because of no past memories. In the colleges the students union is mainly Communist domination, with all the senseless rubbish in full flow. Most of these voters ideas are not what the more normal youngsters are concerned with. They get on with the Studies.
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