To think that young people came out in record numbers for one simple reason that most people are missing?

[PumpkinPiloter]

I believe that young people came out in record numbers because they wanted to vote for someone they could trust.

TM like many politicians before her see no problem in going back on her word. She is not alone in this and politicians have been guilty of this from both the right and left side of politics.

Despite your reservations or views on JC it is clear he has not gone back on his word since being elected as the leader of the opposition. He has stood by his word and fought a campaign based on policies he believed in and refused to use dirty smear tactics.

Perhaps people generally are sick of being lied to and electing politicians that seem to showmen/careerists first and representatives of the people second.

I have mixed feelings about the comparison between those two candidates.

On the one hand, people who've pulled themselves up by their boot straps and have known difficult times are a good addition to the parliamentary mix, BUT we also need people with high intelligence and business/medical/legal experience.

What we don't need are career politicians - people who've gone from university to working for a political party and who've never bothered a normal working environment in their life. And this applies to those in all parties.

Lady I agree with you, though I hope you're not suggesting the TA doesn't have high intelligence.

Don't know enough but I'm pretty sure there's plenty of lawyers in parliament and business people. Liam Fox was a GP at one time. Not sure about any others.

Certainly we need people who know what's it like to work day in and day out before becoming an MP.

I totally agree about the Scandinavian counties middle england

Ladyin Cement We need people in power who are humble (and intelligent) enough to recognise that they do not know everything about e.g.. education and actually create proper committees of teachers, heads, students etc. to instigate policies that are respected by all.

For those blaming Labour for the 2008 recession - bear in mind that the Tories are on the record in Hansard asking for more deregulation of the financial sector. You are deluded for thinking they would have prevented the recession.

Why is there such vitriol when politicians change their mind? Why is it always a "lie"? Why isn't it seen as pragmatic and sensible when what seemed good in theory doesn't actually work out in practice? Ideology is just that.

I'm sure very few politicians go into their job thinking "hmm, now how can I ruin the economy today?" I'm sure they're no less "trustworthy" than anyone else.

It's like armchair sport.

Yes pointythings It was Thatcher deregulating the financial sector which instigated the massive slump in the 90s (the after effects carried on for many years ) Also Thatcher is on record saying the 'trickle down effect' which she believed in, doesn't work.

I didn't mean to imply that the TA was a dimwit!

ppeatfruit: I'm very sure that MPs have plenty of advice. Not many people can grab a portfolio and automatically know about, say, fish farming without any prior experience. However, sometimes it is good to "think outside the box" (awful phrase) and widen the arguments/ideas beyond those who are actually working in the field.

Also I wouldn't say that age always brings wisdom, but experience should not be denigrated. After all, Jeremy Corbyn is not so young and fresh!

But not the right advice Lady. Its all of them . I'll never forget teaching when the huge computer whitescreens were introduced; they must have cost a fortune, teachers (not me I was supply so that was useful ) had to be trained to use them, they each needed large 'projector lights' which lasted about a couple of months then needed replacing. The schools couldn't afford them. Smaller classes would have been cheaper.

Guardian article on youth vote

www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-book-of-jeremy-corbyn/amp

Still no hard stats yet unfortunately...

I just find it absolutely astonishing that the solidly right wing on this thread and elsewhere assume that only someone youthful and naive would vote for left-of-centre policies. There are economically and socially successful countries running left-of-centre social democratic policies, you know. There is no worldwide consensus on the perfect way to run a country. It seems in this country a large number of people are brainwashed into believing the hype that only the Conservatives can deliver.

Most Labour politicians aren't under 25. Lots of Labour politicians also are highly educated yadda yadda yadda. Loads of people in the top 5% voted Labour or Lib Dem - also left-of-centre.

The reason teachers and healthcare professionals are overwhelmingly left wing is not because of some massive conspiracy to convert our instinctively right wing children to the dark side. It's because they see at first hand the harm that underfunding our services causes. And because they are people who care about society which is why they have gone into caring professions.

Ontopofthe Yes exactly, I blame the rabid right wing press , which are read and believed by many!

I'm 26 and about 90% of people I know said they were voting labour. The Facebook posts seemed to suggest it was because Corbyn was more trustworthy and "normal" than the other party leaders. Most politicians seem to be from the Oxbridge/private school background and that doesn't resonate in any way with my peers.

Having said that I live in the Welsh valleys so it doesn't really matter who's m in charge, Labour will still win by about 70%!

Oxbridge/private school....like Diane Abbott?

Yes I didn't say most non-Labour politicians..? In response to the subject of the thread I'm giving a reason why the people I know seemed to Like Jeremy Corbyn.

Just checking as in was unaware just how privileged JC and DA were until recently

On the one hand, people who've pulled themselves up by their boot straps and have known difficult times are a good addition to the parliamentary mix, BUT we also need people with high intelligence and business/medical/legal experience.

You're picturing those as two distinct groups, are you @LadyinCement ? Why?

"Oxbridge/private school....like Diane Abbott?"

"Just checking as in was unaware just how privileged JC and DA were until recently"

Lets not rewrite history.

Diane Abbot's parents were a welder and a nurse. When she studies at Cambridge she was one of 17 black students.

Whilst Jeremy Corbyn's parents were middle class his mother was a maths teacher and his father was an electrical engineer.

Unlike many of Conservative MP's like David Cameron, Theresa May they have no personal links to the finance industry.

Of course I wasn't, but I was making the comment in response to the view that disadvantage makes a candidate a more attractive option. It's not the X Factor where you have to have a back story! (At least it shouldn't be.)

Also the Canterbury MP's credentials are rather dubious. An aspiring political satire writer? Do we need that experience in parliament?!

I don't think people are viewing it as the X Factor. But of course people would like a be represented by people they feel can empathise with them.

In my area the child of an HGV driver, a retail worker, a teacher or a nurse is far more representative than the child of bankers who attended private schools. (I have used these occupations as examples of those of the parents of people I know who voted labour!)

Anyway, Diane Abbott didn't go to private school. And Jeremy Corbyn can't be held responsible for his parents' decision to send him for some of his education to a private school. He's been active in left-wing politics since he was a teenager, so perhaps even then he felt his privilege was unfair.

It's great to see a wider range of backgrounds, experience and ethnicities being elected - hopefully a step in the right direction towards a truer representation of the people of this country.

Do we want to be represented by someone just like us then? Because I don't necessarily. I want a range of expertise in parliament. I do want people who understand finance and business, and medicine and agriculture, to name but a few.

Also, have you considered that the child of an "ordinary" person could well end up going to a "top" university and taking up a career in banking? One of the wealthiest people I know is an investment banker. His parents ran a corner shop.