Getting Political - UK Voting Age

A bit out of left field this one, not much has really been going on 40k wise since my last post. Been trying to get in as many games as I can to really get used to the list before the England event in December, but I've been watching Sky News and they have an advert about their youth politics programme or whatever it is, and in it a point is raised regarding the voting age. It is a point that has been raised on the eve of at least the last 2 general elections here, and the statement went as thus.

'She's allowed to vote, she's 19, I'm 16, and I'm not allowed to. It's not fair'.

Ok, there is so much wrong with this statement, so let's dive in.

Firstly, I'm 21, and I still don't think that I should be allowed to vote. I'll get into that a little later, but first of all lets rip apart the quoted sentence.

Number 1: If you are a teenager, and you end your point with the phrase 'It's not fair' you lose any credibility that you and your viewpoint may have had for the purposes of that argument. You are literally using the most sterypical quote quote for your demographic and playing directly into the assumption that you are naive, immature, and with a completely unwarranted belief that you should have more power in the world, i.e, the power to vote.

Number 2: So let's ignore the above for a second, assuming that it in fact is not fair, you have still not made your case for this. 'She's 19', so? 'I'm 16', ok? Therefore, 'it's not fair' that I can't vote.... I can take 2 facts and come up with a completely unrelated conclusion as well. If you were to say that the age and maturity difference is negligible and therefore you have just as much of a right to vote as your sister or whoever, ok, at least you've made a point here. Regardless of how strong of one it is at least you have some foundation.

As for the legitimacy of the above point,  the 19 year old has been alive more than 15% longer than you have, and has far more experience of the world as she is no longer stuck in a system that she is legally bound to in the form of school, which, even if you are no longer in school, you cannot have been out longer than a few months come the election. This is not a question of age, one party has experience of the outside world, one does not.

Number 3: Which brings me very nicely onto my next point. Voting age is not a question of maturity, I've met some very mature teenagers and some very immature people in their 20s (I'm a prime example). But coming back to why I believe I should not be allowed to vote. I have not been a part of the working world in its entirety. I went straight from school, to 6th form, to University, and yes I have worked a summer job I have not had experience of the outside world without the safety net of a mentor or a teacher or without accommodation provided for me via outside funding.

Even at University I have never been solely responsible for myself. I've never been out on my ass trying to make it or completely provide for myself or a family, it is very difficult (with the exception of tuition fees) to become a victim in society due to political decisions. In short, I am directly effected by very few political choices, therefore I lack the experience of the consequences of those decisions to give an informed weighting to any policies and therefore any party.

This ignorance is not down to me not paying attention to politics, I've eagerly followed the politics of the UK and the United States in particular for the last 5 years. I ran a politics forum for a year in the 6th form and am always happy for a debate. The ignorance comes from the lack of experience. It is one thing to read and article or a book and make a decision based on that but that article or that book will already come from the perspective of its author, which in turn will be influencing you.

So how can you possibly say, as a 16 year old, that you have enough experience of the world outside of school and the fallout of political decisions to make an informed and educated opinion on how our country should be run?

Sit back down. [/rant]

GT Heat 3 Report and T.Leighton vs National Rail

Prepare yourselves for a pause and restart post because this one is going to be an essay, all encompassing events over 4 days. Oh Joy. Before you think about the pain of reading this lengthy abomination, think about the pain I'm going through writing it. The events documented in this post may have scarred me for life (especially Friday, that was awful).