Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
An upper age limit for voters?
Regarding Labour’s announcement that the voting age will be lowered from 18 to 16 for the next general election (Metro, Fri).
The young are more invested in the future of this country than voters in their 70s or 80s because they are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of political decisions made in the here and now. A great many of them are far more attuned to the challenges facing our nation and our planet.
Age doesn’t necessarily bring wisdom. Those who were stirred up by rabble-rousers on social media and went on to riot in the streets last year – burning libraries and looting shops – were by and large in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
More pertinent, surely, would be to consider placing an upper age limit on voting, given that many in their twilight years will no longer have full command of their mental faculties and may tend to vote for more selfish reasons.
It is said that voters tend to become more right-wing as they grow older and, as was amply illustrated by Brexit, this is often because they haven’t thought through the implications of any political changes, since they are unlikely to have to contend with them.
Encouraging people to participate in politics from an earlier age can only be a good thing. A great many of those who complain about politicians today don’t even bother to vote, feeling they can’t make a difference or that the outcome will have little effect upon them.
Apathy is the enemy of social cohesion – an engaged population is good for the health of the nation. Julian Self, Wolverton
Reader says ‘Starmer’s democracy is strange and unfair’
I was absolutely sickened when I heard Sir Keir Starmer is allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote!
Before last year’s general election, he promised that if Labour won, he would grant the vote to EU nationals with settled status, who – unlike youth – contribute (or have contributed) to the economy of this country through their skills and taxes.
I have lived in this country for more than 40 years and have a sound knowledge of the political, economic, security and defence issues it is facing. Is that the case with 16-year-olds?
Thanks, Starmer, for breaking your promise and continuing to treat more than three million people as second-class citizens. This is a very strange and unfair concept of democracy! Marie-Claire Orton, Newcastle Upon Tyne, A Frustrated EU National
Government are ‘clutching at straws’, says reader
Lowering the voting age to 16 is just another clutching-at-straws idea by a poor government that knows it will be voted out.
The age should be raised to 21. There are so many things you are not allowed to do until you are even 18, such as leave education, so at least have a few years in the adult world before being allowed to make a decision about who runs the country – because at 16 your choices will be misguided. RCG, Bishop’s Stortford
Do you speak up for trees?
Regarding the pair jailed for felling the Sycamore Gap tree (MetroTalk, Thu), they should be released as soon as it grows back to its former size.
Our new neighbour has bulldozed all their plants and trees to make way for concrete extensions, outbuildings and a patio – all legal. No one speaks up for these well-established plants and trees. Mity, London
‘Hospitality trade needs all the help it can get’, says reader
I’d like to join Terry McCranor (MetroTalk, Fri) in raising a glass in toasting Rob Buckhaven’s column on ‘Why it’s cool to chill red wine’.
The British hospitality trade needs all the help it can get and this article should be flagged up on your website for months. That would allow diners and pub-goers to point to it when commenting or challenging restaurateurs and landlords about the temperature of red wine.
Most staff have no idea about wine, or the best serving temperature, and pour red wine from bottles on shelves behind the bar.
Perhaps a future column might include four cut-out business card-size summaries of it, so readers can pass them on to the food and drink emporiums they visit.
Supermarkets and leading wine merchants must help, too, by insisting winemakers include relevant advice about red wine temperature on the back label.
Warm red wine is horrible and unlikely to result in a repeat order from discerning customers. Lester May, Camden Town
