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Original poster

My parents have become insufferable.

696 replies

PleasePleasePleaseDontProve · 15/09/2026 17:11

I am really struggling with my parents. Both are mid-sixties, retired. It seems since retirement they have become quite bigoted, insufferable and insular in their viewpoints. Every time I meet up with them conversations revolve around:

  • Illegal immigration / people on benefits / Reform and Nigel Farage. Essentially focussing around the latest GB news story (which they watch religiously).
  • Their latest or ongoing health ailments and how poor, in their view, the NHS is.
  • Unnecessary and rude descriptions to describe other people (could be random strangers) or people they know. For example, ‘our fat neighbour has put on tons of weight.’

I used to have a fantastic relationship with my parents, particularly my father, and I’m sure he wasn’t always like this. I’m starting to dislike meeting up with them as their attitudes seem to have changed towards life and people in general, and they constantly want to discuss the latest GB News story.

Has anybody else found this has happened to their parents?

OP posts:
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8
Anonyanonay · 16/09/2026 10:14

SquirrelSoShiny · 16/09/2026 09:32

The Daily Mail has 100% impacted on my parents' views of the world. It's such a shame.

Do you remember back in the day when the DM posted all those stories about asylum seekers being put up in four star hotels? How we laughed!

Anonyanonay · 16/09/2026 10:12

WhatNoRaisins · 16/09/2026 09:28

It might be a normal reaction but it's still depressing as fuck to see this happen to your parents. I don't think it's healthy to consume so much news, the human brain can't cope with constant exposure to the worlds misery.

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Fair enough. But as Philip K Dick famously said, 'reality is that which when you stop believing in it doesn't go away'. Ignore it at your peril.

Ponoka7 · 16/09/2026 10:08

IrisPallida · 15/09/2026 19:54

Are the racists posting on this thread old? -I don't think they are. They are just not very intelligent, not very educated and easy to manipulate and want someone/something to blame rather than make an effort to understand politics or economics. That is all it takes.

Do you think everyone in Piddington is not very intelligent and not very educated?
Not wanting the amount of asylum seekers we have, or rather the unlimited budget for them, while tax rises and benefits cuts are being considered, isn't being racist. There hasn't been an racist posts.

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 10:07

skygroundsky · 16/09/2026 10:01

The irony of all this is so many of these people that watch GB news, read the Daily Heil and so on, voted Brexit - and in doing so caused a huge influx of extra immigration and small boat crossings, the cost of everything increasing, declining services, and still cling to right wing BS even tighter.

Well saving grace at least you've not called it 'extreme right wing bs', kudos.

Womanofcustard · 16/09/2026 10:06

Try looking at it from their point of view. The world they were born into has disappeared. I was born in the 1950s, in a different world.
I have become anti-immigration through observation.
I have never watched GB news.

skygroundsky · 16/09/2026 10:01

The irony of all this is so many of these people that watch GB news, read the Daily Heil and so on, voted Brexit - and in doing so caused a huge influx of extra immigration and small boat crossings, the cost of everything increasing, declining services, and still cling to right wing BS even tighter.

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 09:57

CornerShoes · 16/09/2026 09:55

Is this your attempt at an intelligent or witty reply? Don’t worry, I can see what I am dealing with here.

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Good. Citation needed - you're very impressive. xx

Pedant61 · 16/09/2026 09:56

ThePoliteLion · 15/09/2026 18:59

They are your parents. You’ll miss them when they’re gone. As a PP said, just bat the comments away and change subject. No need to vet their views for moral purity.

This nonsense. Lots of people don't miss their parents at all because, you know what......we're all different!

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 09:56

CornerShoes · 16/09/2026 09:53

The NHS as a whole definitely does not prioritise asylum seekers. I am guessing you have no direct experience of working in the NHS or with asylum seekers. But you are happy to bleat stuff you have gleaned from your chosen sources and peers.

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As I said Rachel (she likes the word 'bleat' too, look what happened to her oops) - it's called the NHS Priority Service.

CornerShoes · 16/09/2026 09:55

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 09:53

Ok Jane / Dunc/ Blossom / whatever your name is. Osh sorry its cornershoes. I forget!

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Is this your attempt at an intelligent or witty reply? Don’t worry, I can see what I am dealing with here.

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 09:53

CornerShoes · 16/09/2026 09:50

Show me where I have cried racism. I will wait.

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Ok Jane / Dunc/ Blossom / whatever your name is. Osh sorry its cornershoes. I forget!

Will Ferrell GIF
CornerShoes · 16/09/2026 09:53

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 07:59

Incorrect. Do some research.

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The NHS as a whole definitely does not prioritise asylum seekers. I am guessing you have no direct experience of working in the NHS or with asylum seekers. But you are happy to bleat stuff you have gleaned from your chosen sources and peers.

CornerShoes · 16/09/2026 09:50

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 08:00

Ahhh I thought as much. No logical coherent answers to your similarly incoherent unfounded illogical cries of Racism! Bless.

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Show me where I have cried racism. I will wait.

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 09:41

'Tell them they’ve become very negative and they need some more positivity in their life.'

That'll work

OnlyUsername · 16/09/2026 09:39

JetFlight · 16/09/2026 09:37

I think it’s fine to have whatever legal political views you have but a general negativity and misery about the world you live isn’t pleasant for yourself or anyone else. It’s almost always informed by the media you consume.
Tell them they’ve become very negative and they need some more positivity in their life.

Agreed. Try and make it about negativity as opposed to the actual content they are spewing.

JetFlight · 16/09/2026 09:37

I think it’s fine to have whatever legal political views you have but a general negativity and misery about the world you live isn’t pleasant for yourself or anyone else. It’s almost always informed by the media you consume.
Tell them they’ve become very negative and they need some more positivity in their life.

SquirrelSoShiny · 16/09/2026 09:32

The Daily Mail has 100% impacted on my parents' views of the world. It's such a shame.

CloudBuster66 · 16/09/2026 09:31

I'm 60 and will never become intolerant just because i get older. My older siblings in their 70s are the same as me. . GB News however is poison that's allowed to present bigotry wrapped up as news, poisoning the brains of millions of , mainly, pensioners it seems. Given that it's supposedly a news channel it shouldn't be allowed to run amok like this.

sadeyedladyofthelowlands63 · 16/09/2026 09:29

Abitlosttoday · 16/09/2026 08:06

This isn't about age, although older people do seem more vulnerable to it. It's about a shift to the (far) right, a tsunami of misinformation consumed via social media, and various media and political forces playing on people's inability (decades of social media/Internet use have churned out some real numbskulls) to think critically to stir up fury, fear and clicks. The small boats narrative is out of control. If you've ever wondered what the start of fascism looks like, those men in balaclavas at Portsmouth are a strong sign. These are dangerous times. Shrugging it off as 'just older people losing their filter' is not helpful. It should be challenged on an individual level, for the sake of that person and to alert everyone to the fact that not all of us think like frothy-mouthed, ruddy-faced, racist lunatics who can not recognise when they are being manipulated, and are having their human decency stolen from under them. I am sk pissed off about this.

I agree with every word of this.

It's absolutely not about age. My dad is 90 and would find the views of OP's parents abhorrent. I am their age and find their views abhorrent.

WhatNoRaisins · 16/09/2026 09:28

Anonyanonay · 16/09/2026 09:25

Part of it is experiential. They lived much of their adult life in a different world, and are now witnessing that world becoming severely compromised. Things are getting worse on many different metrics. Have you considered that their consternation is a normal reaction?

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It might be a normal reaction but it's still depressing as fuck to see this happen to your parents. I don't think it's healthy to consume so much news, the human brain can't cope with constant exposure to the worlds misery.

Boomer55 · 16/09/2026 09:27

Not all pensioners are like that, I’m certainly not - but they are entitled to their opinions.

Politics is just opinion. 🤷‍♀️

I would just agree not to discuss politics when you’re together.

CoventryCity · 16/09/2026 09:26

swimsong · 16/09/2026 09:14

Have searched thoroughly and not found one news source that reports asylum seekers receiving priority NHS treatment. Either you uncritically believe any old bollocks that you read/watch on Facebook or you're just making stuff up in your head.

I repeat - citation needed.

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😆You crack me up 'I repeat - citation needed'. Who do you think you are?

I'll help you out as clearly, you're struggling. It's called the NHS Priority Service.

Anonyanonay · 16/09/2026 09:25

WhatNoRaisins · 16/09/2026 09:18

For what it's worth I can live with my parents having different opinions. I'm not one those people who feels a constant need to call things out or go NC with loved family members because of their views. What bothers me is that these obsessions make them anxious and miserable.

I'll moan about Disney Adults and other adults that make one thing their personality but at least those obsessions make them happier.

Show quote history

Part of it is experiential. They lived much of their adult life in a different world, and are now witnessing that world becoming severely compromised. Things are getting worse on many different metrics. Have you considered that their consternation is a normal reaction?

justasking111 · 16/09/2026 09:22

I actually blame it on mobile phones. DH reads reams of stuff watches videos from people he follows. He's just as addicted to the thing as the kids. He puts on a TV programme he wanted, then I look up and he's doom scrolling.

He researches drugs his mates are on and worries. He meets with these mates a few mornings a week. I ran into one of them last week and was told they call him Google because he knows so much. 🙈