My parents have become insufferable.

Oh my gosh what is it with parents doing that when they reach a certain age! I dread watching TV with my mum now because of the comments she makes - anyone gay, not white, women being too sexy, trans, too fat etc etc and there are oemtms. If I say anything she gets so defensive and it causes a row that it isn’t worth it. She doesn’t see there is anything wrong - the world in her mind is so outdated. She is particularly bad with Ms Rachel “oh look there is one of every colour on it”. ARGH!!! I swear she does it to wind me up.

We are 77 and never watch GBN, me because it’s vile and my husband because he’s not interested. However his brother watches it and is now a rabid Reformer. I partly blame the authorities for not banning them like they did with Russia Today.

@OnlyUsername No one group of people is innately superior or inferior to any other group of people. When you insist that any one group can do no wrong or they must be given anything they ask for you are a bigot - and a Farage enabler.

Or even in University which are meant to enable critical thinking. Much easier to no platform and cause disruption than actual win the debate with reasoned and rational arguments. But that really is the world we now live in. Dumb everything down to soundbites, make them up if you need to, and an absolute belief you are right and anyone not completely with you or reasonably questions you is an extreme bigot, or a delusional liberal elite, take your pick. Then go back to your echo chamber and feel good about yourself.

I know we are looking at restrictions on Social Media for children but I actually think it is significant health issue for a significant portion of elderly people. They were brought up to trust Media and Institutions and news feeds and some just don't have the capacity to understand how fake and manipulative it can be. Their responses can range from bizarre interactions on FB around insignificant events, to embracing full blown conspiracy theories. And everything in between. It doesn't help that it's increasing difficult for some to engage in life with proliferation of Apps for things like parking your car to checking in luggage and the cost of doing anything and different cultures and people all around them that they are just not familiar with. But now they don't need to leave their home, where they feel safe. So they can switch on the news, go on SM and find people they are comfortable with. They can very quickly become obsessed with the views they are hearing all day everyday.
When our Mum's told us to get out more and meet people when we spent all weekend in our bedroom. They were right, weren't they.

I’m much younger- late 30’s and I agree with your parents on all but calling the neighbours fat!

Immigration such be a serious concern for everyone! A walk round your local town center will highlight how bad it is, last time I went 80% of the people were talking a foreign language. It was a real eye opener

The struggles facing nhs are likely caused by immigration, the country can’t cope-
the poor staff are over worked and understaffed

I think it happens when parents get older. My mum is 93 years old and I could never talk about sex with her, not even at a young age. Your views get more ingrained as you get older.

As I said upthread, I’ve never come across elderly people who stay in all day watching GB news.
I do know 3 people who are caught up in conspiracy theories. One is 35-40, one is about 60 and one is late 60s.
But they all mix plenty in the world, hear different opinions etc.
From my little sample, it’s all about personality make up, but I don’t understand what pushes them towards these beliefs.

Tell them to watch Al Jazeera and see the suffering in Sudan, the DRC, Katmandu, the Phillipines, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon Gaza and the West Bank.

you wont meet them, because they dont get out. Usually due to physical or mental restrictions so the only contact they have to the outside world is the internet and theTV. My father has physical disabilities and my mother has extreme paranoia and now early stage dementia.

So whatever they choose to watch on TV is all they know about what is going on outside their front door.

My parents are exactly the same and my dad is obsessed with GB news. I used to be able to have interesting debates with my dad but can't anymore as he has to be right, there's no agree to disagree. I've had to accept they won't change. Instead I remove myself from any conversations I find are too intense and save my energy.
Retirement has given them too much time to focus on what they can't control. Add in they are more aware of their mortality and it's a potent mix.

Well, quite. This was my point upthread. I wrote that, as I'm of the age under discussion, I can't imagine anyone of my age behaving like that, unless there was some form of chronic illness or MH problems going on. I pointed out that none of the posters complaining about their parents mentioned anything like illness, but treated it simply as irrational behaviour.
Then the thread was derailed by one of @skygroundsky's volleys, because I suggested that , rather than be outraged by their DP's perceived racism, they should engage with them more and try to understand their DP's situation/views. Then another poster said she was shocked by the idea that parents should be pandered to and infantilised with 'help' about medication etc.
My view is that it's the privilege and duty of family to support one another at every stage of life. Rather than be 'offended', adult DC need to find a way of getting them out of the house, improve their diet or whatever. I don't think it needs to be that difficult.

My mother has gone the exact same way and she’s in her eighties and has done nothing for the past twenty years other than sit in front of the tv smoking. I call my mother out on her bigotry every time but if you can’t, keep contact limited and focused around an event so they can’t say those dreadful things.

If you'd had to visit an NHS hospital recently, you'd have noticed it's the staff who are all immigrants, not the the patients, who are for the most part mainly elderly and white! When visiting both my dad and grandad in recent months, I particularly noticed it at weekends in the evenings, not one white member of staff was on. Obviously all the crappy overnight and weekend shifts get foisted on the ethnic minority staff. The NHS would be in an even worse state without them, be very careful what you wish for.

I grew up in a town of 120,000 and when I visit it's not like that. I now live in a town of 70,000 and it's also not like that.

You see what you want to see. You dont hear the people speaking English as that isnt on your radar, all you hear are people speaking other languages because it buys into your beliefs.

Confirmation bias at its finest.

ETA and as a PP said, without immigration the NHS would be an even worse state. Eldest DD is an ODP in the NHS, and she has said many times that people going back to Europe thanks to Brexit has done far more damage to the NHS than people like you and Nigel would like to admit.

That is an incorrect strongly biased statement. And the fact you're accusing pp of confirmation bias, is ironic.

So lets look at some facts. The uk population has grown by more than 10million in the last 20 years. 68% of the increase in the UK population between 2005 and 2024 was due to the direct contribution of net migration. Since 2020, almost all of the growth - that's approx 2 million - in the population has come from net migration.

You seem to think this growth in migration has had no impact on the NHS. Rather than understanding that we need more NHS staff because of the net migration of millions of people, and the consequent impact of this.

Anyone complaining about this is right to do so, it's a mess of our own Gvts (and other European gvts) making. And please don't insult people by suggesting brexit made it worse (yawn) - net migration reduced significantly after 2016, but increased massively after 2022.

I prefer not to get my facts from google, but ok dear.

Ha ha - you're hilarious. Excruiatingly embarrassing yourself, dear. My facts aren't from google. They are from The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.

But hey Dear, you spin that story as much as you like. 'See what you want to see'.

I used to refer to my late parents sometimes as Gloom and Doom! 🤣

Okie Dokie.

Second hand cringe at the gif, but okie dokie.

My mum is also annoying af as she’s got older- keeps sharing Farage posts and does the ‘I’m not racist but’
She also has an opinion on everything on social media and seems to really hate women- frequently using phrases like ‘ shouldn’t be doing that at her age’ or ‘mutton dressed as lamb’
I honestly have realised as I’ve got older that she just lacks critical thinking skills and to be honest, isn’t very bright.

Thanks @CoventryCity for calling out the utter nonsense that people spout about the NHS. Medical school places have been deliberately kept low for years so that our young people have had to compete for places and many have lost out just because the govt doesn't want to pay for training but rather would steal trained doctors from third world countries. And these doctors have much higher negligence claims against them than UK trained doctors. Added to which recently trained nurses have been unable to find positions while again the govt employ nurses from abroad. The whole system is mad. Plenty of countries manage to train enough of their own medical staff without stealing them from poor countries which need them so there is no reason whythe UK couldn't. And yes if the govt hadn't recklessly imported 15 million people in a very short space of time (most of whom are a net cost adding to our massive debt) we wouldn't need all these extra staff anyway and the NHS would provide a much better service.

And these parents sound a bit draining but in my experience it is the far left who are more keen to share their madcap views and won't listen to factual counterarguments. Most of the ones I know are wealthy boomers who live in a bubble.

My dad is really similar. He's early 70s. My mum curses me for showing him how to work YouTube. I thought he'd enjoy music and old comedies. Me and my mum call what he watches "hate TV". The general theme is men shouting about conspiracy theories etc. It's been a bit like losing someone to a cult. He definitely talks at people as well. My dad has always been very funny, kind and generous as well. We used to have a good relationship talking about music and comedy, but now every conversation steers to agendas and conspiracies