Votes at eighteen Sir: As one of the many short-haired,
non- marijuana-smoking eighteen year olds in Britain today, I was disgusted by the cartoon on page 96 of the SPECTATOR (28 July). Contrary to what Heath. the cartoonist, obviously believes, the young men of today are not merely a collection of ignorant pansies. True, some are, but they are only a minority who are intent on drawing atten- tion to the emptiness of their personalities, and who have been enthusiastically and ably assisted by full press and television coverage of their mostly meaningless activities. This advantage was denied their counterparts of previous generations, and so the mass media have given the impression that young people who have neither aim nor in- terest in life are phenomena exclusive to the twentieth century. This is untrue: such people are essential ingredients of every generation; and only now are receiving the attention which they covet so much.
If our elders are stupid enough to imagine that all young people are morons, then there is little wonder that they do not get half the respect to which they feel they are entitled; and if they still grudge us the vote, then the next time they are inside a pub they should look round the inevitable crowd of bleary-eyed regulars, many of whom will doubtless stagger along to the polling station at the next election. Every generation has its black sheep, but democracy must be maintained despite them.
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