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| Not all lefties turn right with age. Far from it | Not all lefties turn right with age. Far from it |
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| Owen Jones’s article (Peter Hitchens made me think: do lefties always turn right?, 9 September) provoked two thoughts. First, Owen doesn’t mention the most common explanation for this rightwards movement, but it still seems true that, as many people grow older, not only do they lose the brave idealism of their youth, they come to feel they have much more to lose, far more invested in conserving the status quo: homes and property, maybe shares and savings, children etc. The last of these one might think would lead to greater concern about growing social breakdown, global warming, population concerns, but actually seems sadly often to just result in a selfish concern for one’s own children’s future and blow the rest of them. Hence, good state-school teachers I know sending their offspring to private school, hence a common desire to protect inheritances from any form of taxation, hence often a retreat into lack of any political commitment. Sadly, I’m finding old age for many brings not wisdom but greater selfishness. | Owen Jones’s article (Peter Hitchens made me think: do lefties always turn right?, 9 September) provoked two thoughts. First, Owen doesn’t mention the most common explanation for this rightwards movement, but it still seems true that, as many people grow older, not only do they lose the brave idealism of their youth, they come to feel they have much more to lose, far more invested in conserving the status quo: homes and property, maybe shares and savings, children etc. The last of these one might think would lead to greater concern about growing social breakdown, global warming, population concerns, but actually seems sadly often to just result in a selfish concern for one’s own children’s future and blow the rest of them. Hence, good state-school teachers I know sending their offspring to private school, hence a common desire to protect inheritances from any form of taxation, hence often a retreat into lack of any political commitment. Sadly, I’m finding old age for many brings not wisdom but greater selfishness. |
| Second, though, why do I feel to have moved in the opposite direction – and how many of my contemporaries have also done so? After many years of being a “soft-left” Labour voter and member, believing in gradual change and necessary compromise, as I’ve moved through my 60s and early 70s, I find I have increasingly little patience with this approach. Partly, this is from a sense of one’s own time running out, but it’s also because every time I feel a Labour government has made real (if insufficient) improvement to our society (Wilson’s social changes, Blair’s improvements in education, the NHS and the reduction of poverty), along comes a Thatcher or a Cameron government which doesn’t simply tear these improvements up but leaves us light years behind where we started. | Second, though, why do I feel to have moved in the opposite direction – and how many of my contemporaries have also done so? After many years of being a “soft-left” Labour voter and member, believing in gradual change and necessary compromise, as I’ve moved through my 60s and early 70s, I find I have increasingly little patience with this approach. Partly, this is from a sense of one’s own time running out, but it’s also because every time I feel a Labour government has made real (if insufficient) improvement to our society (Wilson’s social changes, Blair’s improvements in education, the NHS and the reduction of poverty), along comes a Thatcher or a Cameron government which doesn’t simply tear these improvements up but leaves us light years behind where we started. |
| Maybe Saturday will bring a new Labour leader who will pursue a radicalism that never seems to terrify Tories like it does Labour. Without a real shakeup, I fear for future generations.John RoweRochdale, Lancashire | Maybe Saturday will bring a new Labour leader who will pursue a radicalism that never seems to terrify Tories like it does Labour. Without a real shakeup, I fear for future generations.John RoweRochdale, Lancashire |
| • Owen’s article reminded me of a letter published in the Guardian in 1971 when I was at university. I loved it so much I had it pinned to my wall for years and can remember it now almost word for word: | • Owen’s article reminded me of a letter published in the Guardian in 1971 when I was at university. I loved it so much I had it pinned to my wall for years and can remember it now almost word for word: |
| Related: A surgical dissection of my 1971 letter | Letters | |
| “Sir, It is a well-known fact that young people are generally leftwing. It is also well-known that as people get older, they become more rightwing. It is also a fact that, as people get older, their brain cells die at a faster and faster rate. I would therefore like to propose that conservatism be classified as a degenerative disease.” | |
| That letter has given me much pleasure over the years and I would gladly thank its author – a neuroscientist, I believe – were you able to find them.Liz ReasonCharlbury, Oxfordshire | That letter has given me much pleasure over the years and I would gladly thank its author – a neuroscientist, I believe – were you able to find them.Liz ReasonCharlbury, Oxfordshire |
| • Owen Jones highlights the political journey of public-school Trotskyists, who with age return to their original milieu. In my experience, Trots from working-class backgrounds are much more likely to stay true to their socialist beliefs. Many of us still find Marxism as exciting and relevant as when we discovered it as teenagers.Terry Ward (Former York comrade of P Hitchens), Wickford, Essex | |
| • Please reassure Owen Jones that not all lefties become rightwing with age. My grandparents came from Ukraine and were Bolsheviks. My grandfather, both grandmothers and two great aunts were founder members of the Communist party and remained members until they died in their 90s. My father, aunt and uncle were also CP members for most of their lives. I am 68, have been a party member from 16, and I have no intention of changing my orientation. Carry on the good work, Owen.Dr Laura MillerLondon | • Please reassure Owen Jones that not all lefties become rightwing with age. My grandparents came from Ukraine and were Bolsheviks. My grandfather, both grandmothers and two great aunts were founder members of the Communist party and remained members until they died in their 90s. My father, aunt and uncle were also CP members for most of their lives. I am 68, have been a party member from 16, and I have no intention of changing my orientation. Carry on the good work, Owen.Dr Laura MillerLondon |
| • Many early 1970s undergraduates like myself must have university friends, especially the professionally successful, who made the journey from left to right. What of the rarer, more interesting journeys in the opposite direction? A right-leaning journalist friend reckons these mostly involve personal crisis such as divorce or professional disappointment. But there were clearly some high-profile Tories such as Shaun Woodward who turned left over Tory pussyfooting on gay rights. There are also a few successful businessmen turned unfashionably egalitarian social reformer like archbishop Justin Welby. A history waiting to be written.Joseph PalleyRichmond, Surrey | • Many early 1970s undergraduates like myself must have university friends, especially the professionally successful, who made the journey from left to right. What of the rarer, more interesting journeys in the opposite direction? A right-leaning journalist friend reckons these mostly involve personal crisis such as divorce or professional disappointment. But there were clearly some high-profile Tories such as Shaun Woodward who turned left over Tory pussyfooting on gay rights. There are also a few successful businessmen turned unfashionably egalitarian social reformer like archbishop Justin Welby. A history waiting to be written.Joseph PalleyRichmond, Surrey |
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