From: fedora@fea.st   
      
   On Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:00:46 +0000, Julian    
   wrote:   
      
   >I launched the Votes at 12 campaign to lampoon the madness of   
   >enfranchising young teenagers   
   >   
   >   
   >“Did you know that at age 12 you can have your ears pierced, you’re   
   >legally allowed to buy a spoon, but you’re not allowed to vote for your   
   >future?” These were the words with which I launched the Votes at 12   
   >campaign, eight years ago. It was born out of frustration and   
   >procrastination. As a student at the end of January 2018, I sat aghast   
   >watching Emily Thornberry stand in for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at   
   >Prime Ministers’ Questions.   
   >   
   >Readers may remember the crises the country was struggling through at   
   >that time: the wake of the disastrous 2017 election, a hung Parliament,   
   >Brexit gridlock. And yet, Dame Emily decided, again and again, to throw   
   >the issue of lowering the voting age to 16 across the dispatch box at de   
   >facto deputy PM David Lidington. Seriously.   
   >   
   >Instead of finishing some essay or other, I quickly registered a   
   >website, had a couple of t-shirts printed, grabbed my camera and decided   
   >to turn the satire up to 11. Now, nearly a decade later, I’m tempted to   
   >re-start my campaign. This week MPs will vote on what was once fantasy   
   >Corbyn-era policy becoming a reality. But as was the case back in 2018,   
   >the arguments in favour of lowering the franchise to include children   
   >are astonishingly thin; so thin that almost all of them can be applied   
   >to 12-year-olds too.   
   >   
   >Kids aged 12 aren’t allowed to buy alcohol, fireworks, or lottery   
   >tickets. They are not allowed to drive, fight for their country, marry   
   >without permission, sign a contract, leave education or some form of   
   >training, watch pornography, or serve on a jury. Remarkably, society has   
   >decided that all of these age-based prohibitions should apply to   
   >16-year-olds as well. So if 16, why not 12?   
   >   
   >It’s not as if society in any other sphere treats 16-year-olds as   
   >adults. In fact, law after law has been passed to raise the bar for   
   >participating in society from 16 to 18. The Education and Skills Act   
   >(2008) legislated to end the absolute right of children to leave school   
   >at the age of 16. Instead, since 2013, young people had to remain in   
   >education or training until the end of the academic year in which they   
   >turned 17. In 2015 this was tightened up to 18.   
   >   
   >Under Rishi Sunak, the legal age for marriage rose to 18 (in England and   
   >Wales it had previously been legal from 16, but only with parental   
   >consent) after a brave campaign from victims of forced child-marriage.   
   >The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as updated this century,   
   >has outlawed the use of child soldiers, forbidding participation in   
   >hostilities by anyone under the age of 18.   
   >   
   >And most recently, of course, the free and open internet has been   
   >blocked to anyone under the age of 18 (and for that matter any adult who   
   >doesn’t want to hand over age identifying credit card details or webcam   
   >face scans), meaning that huge portions of the internet are now blocked   
   >from view for the very people the Government now wants to give the vote.   
   >   
   >Most astonishingly, this censorship has extended to war reporting from   
   >Ukraine and Gaza, court transcripts from rape gang trials, and even a   
   >parliamentary speech by Tory MP Katie Lam. All of this is too graphic   
   >for the delicate ears and eyes of 16 and 17-year-olds, according to   
   >Parliament.   
   >   
   >In fact it seems that the only real responsibility that lowering the   
   >franchise to 16 would match is the age of sexual consent, which is the   
   >outlier, not the norm (and to be honest a quite creepy right to peg our   
   >voting age to). There once was a time when campaigners for giving   
   >16-year-olds the vote used the slightly lurid slogan, “You can have sex   
   >with your MP but not vote for him”. Strangely, they quietly dropped that   
   >one in the post #MeToo world.   
   >   
   >Today, just like eight years ago, the country is in a rut. While we’re   
   >no longer living under the instability of a hung parliament, it sure   
   >feels like we are. Today’s growth statistics were so abysmal that, in   
   >per capita terms, they would constitute a technical recession at the end   
   >of last year.   
   >   
   >The Starmer ministry is collapsing around him, and Britain can’t even   
   >rule the waves of the English Channel. And yet what are our MPs devoting   
   >their time and energy today? They want to give kids the vote. They are   
   >fiddling with children’s enfranchisement while Rome burns.   
   >   
   >Tom Harwood   
   >   
   >   
   Crazy people are fun, and brits are simply so very crazy...   
   --   
   Noah Sombrero mustachioed villain   
   Don't get political with me young man   
   or I'll tie you to a railroad track and   
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   Who dares to talk to El Sombrero?   
   dares: Ned   
   does not dare: Julian  shrinks in horror and warns others away   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)