My parents have become insufferable.

I was talking about one person, not “lumping everyone together.” I said my DP’s Windrush-generation grandmother personally didn't agree with illegal immigration. That's it. Being called racist over that has really got under my skin, especially as I have five mixed-race children myself.

My mother tended to follow what my father thought.
And he was a very vocal racist. I had endless battles when I was late teens /early twenties and finally gave up as people only change if they want to and he didn’t; he was proud of his views.
My brother did a runner twenty five years ago (lots of reasons but cut from a similar cloth) and dad alienated his grandchildren too.

I ended up caring for him until he was 96.

I’m mid sixties. I am losing friends hand over fist for their bigoted views. The retired are the worst. Sit at home watching GB News and doomscrolling, with the algorithms sending them more crap on an hourly basis.
It’s so depressing.

me too more relaxed and less judgemental

D sis…. Is that you?? 😉😂😂

I have a few relatives like this. Now retired they live a very sheltered isolated life except for watching the news all day or following reform on Facebook. It becomes their obsession. Whether true or not, it's all they think and talk about. Its almost like they are brainwashed. I don't bother arguing with their views as they almost thrive on the controversy even more.

They have the scope of seeing just how much of a shithole this country has become from what it was when they were younger. They have every right to say something. I’m mid forties and can see it myself.

It’s difficult if your kids are mixed race and family members make disparaging comments about people of colour. Or if you work very hard as a social worker and they talk about how useless social care are now. It becomes a bit insulting.

Things were better in their day, though. That's the point.

Myself and my husband are in our 60s and are nothing like that 😂
We are old in some ways eg lacking in energy , like a visit to the garden centre , like a moan about the traffic / parking etc but we are extremely open minded and tolerant people .
my MIL comes out with some ridiculous comments though ..it’s like she’s read the Daily Mail and had a dose of verbal diarrhoea

Not me but my husband and brother are insufferable. We have a mixed race family so it's all the more shocking. I'm more of a woke lefty and more relaxed until it comes to inconsiderate parking!!

Typical wanky lefty response. Head, firmly buried in sand.

I have family members like this. Luckily not my parents. I think it’s from the Daily Mail not GB news though.

They go on about immigrants whilst I’m sat there with my mixed race kids (not immigrants so they are somewhat acceptable to them). They also hate the NHS, working from home, anyone on benefits (despite having received plenty themselves). One of them complained about their GP not giving them an appointment and they had already had a visit the day before. People can’t afford houses now because of takeaway coffees. It’s very small minded and gross to listen to.

well said!

Nice way to speak about your own kids.

Chickens a long time dead? There is no guarantee.

I don't think it's aged based but situational. It's when your world starts to shrink and you have less interaction, and more so interest, in the wider world.....or the world beyond the end of your street.

And for the record when we (60 plus) read your messages, very few are actually seeking guidance, advice, another point of view, you mainly want people to simply agree and when they don’t God help them. My age get absolutely amazed by your ingrained sense of entitlement, We will all be dead soon. Cheer up chickens, you’re a long time dead 🤣 PS over 60 you suddenly find you couldn’t care less for the opinion of those you raised. I’ve 5, 2 are incredibly disappointing !!

I agree. I don’t know when political views became more important than family ties but it strikes me that this plays into Putin’s agenda.

Of course you can correct them, you can correct anybody should they make inappropriate remarks.

Nobody is claiming they are. I cannot understand where people are getting this from.

@SuperGingerI was at Evensong at St Paul’s yesterday and one of the readings was about needing to remove the log from one’s own eye before telling your neighbour to remove the speck from theirs. Love she told him that: smart girl!

Decades ago, my mother used to quote what she'd read in the Times (single mothers were to blame for everything). And my father used to enjoy making racist and misogynistic comments about people on television - eg. Martina Navratilova was not a real woman, apparently. He used to make nasty disparaging comments about friends and relatives, too. It's not all about GB News, though I'm sure that's made it worse.
OP doesn't seem to be prepared to take actual action to try to improve things - that would involve spending time with her parents, I suppose.

I just want to say, my parents' nightmarish transformation from fully supporting my career and education to telling me to stay home barefoot and pregnant and that phoning lawyers was my husband's job etc. all happened years before GB News was a thing. And way before small boats/current immigration issues etc. They changed around 2006, when I got married/they retired/my sister made them grandparents. So it can happen without the febrile atmosphere we currently have in the UK about some issues.

I remember my own father was asked to look after my young child for a short while (5 minutes). His response? "No. I've done my time" e.g. he couldn't be bothered. Thanks Dad for the support with your first bloody grandchild. Selfish b**

All the while his focus is on bashing people of colour, immigrants, refugees, going on and on about Brexit and being miserable, like his own parents before him.

I put it down to cognitive decline in his case. He's struggled a lot with various health issues which have left him stuck at home and he's not the same engaged, sharp person he once was.

Whilst he's always been a difficult man pushing his opinions on others, these days has even less ability to see others' points of view or understand when something is propaganda or whatever and his views were the opposite of now in the past.

I'd wager some of the other people's older relatives going down similar paths might also have some cognitive decline going on.

NO I'm not accusing everyone who watches GB news to have cognitive decline, but brains change as they age and it would figure that some people might lose the ability to understand or relate to others in the same way they once did - here's one of just many studies:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.14.699282v1.full