Wednesday, May 04, 2005

What would YOU do with a cardboard cutout of Andrew Marr?

Obviously this question has been bothering me. So I am opening it to the floor and proomise a prize (not sure what, maybe a White Russian in the Hammer and Sickle?) to the person who comes up with the best suggestion. Answers on a postcard. Or in the Comments section.

So the electoral commission is considering lowering the voting age to sixteen in the hope that this will ease voter apathy. Now I don't know what most of you were like at sixteen (although come to think of it I'd be interested to know, especially if you have any photos...) but I seem to remember I was a guitar-strumming poetry-writing socialist vegetarian. Yes, yes, I know I'm still a guitar-strumming socialist, but I'm now a guitar-strumming socialist with a JOB, and I now eat meat and am relieved to tell you I've ditched the poetry.

At the same time, though, I was interested in politics. I would have voted had I been able to (although admittedly for some sort of socialist alliance). I do follow the argument that if you are old enough to work and pay taxes (and choose to smoke and have sex) you are old enough to put a cross in a box or spoil your ballot paper, and it seems a bit daft to me to take this opportunity away because of some fairly arbitrary age limit which means that when you are aged 17 and 264 days you are immature and the next day you are suddenly allowed to get married, vote, drink and watch "The Exorcist".

And if other 16 year olds think like I did, the Greens might even get in!

Thoughts?

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

A cardboard cut out of Andrew Marr? hmmm... I would use it to keep burglars out by faking a news story about a house (at my address) which had an outbreak of flash eating rats or ebola or something pleasant like that, take a picture of him in front of the house and put it together on my computer to look like a genuine article from a paper, then fix it just inside my doorway...hey presto...no burglars!

1:12 pm  
Blogger Rachel said...

Yeah, I suppose if you have to pay tax at 16 you should definitely be allowed to vote!

4:09 pm  
Blogger Peter D. Williams said...

I agree - let's make EVERYTHING (voting, driving, having sex, marrying, paying taxes - though hopefully not all at the same time...) legal at eighteen.

I agreed you mhght be interested to know, with the idea of equalising the age of consent of Gay people and Straight people - I just think we went the wrong way - rather than LOWERING the age of consent, it should have been RAISED to eighteen!

Find a politician with the balls (and the brains) to suggest that...!

Peace be with you,

The Cavalier :)

11:29 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Find a politician who is stupid enough to suggest that, you mean. not everyone is as unattractive to the opposite sex as you Peter dearest, and our police force would be completely overworked if we made all sex under 18 statutory rape.

Why make drivers wait another year?

Why make kids wait until two years after they have left school to start paying taxes? and if they are earning at 16, why shouldn't they be allowed to vote...

No, wait...don't tell me...you don't think women should be allowed to vote do you? Jesus didn't let any women vote...so it must be wrong...

7:40 am  
Blogger Greg said...

Oh God, you're all off again. Peter, do you every do anything except squabble?

For what it's worth, I've paid tax since I was small. I'm fairly sure VAT comes into play on oxygen nowadays.

1:48 am  
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