Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Labour, Question Time and the cult of youth

When’s the Question Time for over-60s, then? Or maybe even over-75s? After all, elderly people face specific social problems: pension issues, care, loneliness. And yet they aren’t getting their very own QT, unlike under-30s, who are.

Tonight the BBC is hosting a special youth version of its flagship political show and in the process it is sending out a pretty disturbing message: young people’s views matter more than old people’s.

Presented by Emma Barnett and featuring politicians from across the spectrum, tonight’s QT for millennials promises to be an irritating affair. It’s not that I have anything against young people — I was young myself, once. It’s more that self-consciously youthful politics has become a bit woe-is-me. I predict much whining about tuition fees, the housing market and, of course, Brexit. Boomers inflicting their tragic Little Englandism on the young, etc etc.

A worrying cult of youth is emerging.

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