Keir Starmer: I have sympathy for Gen Z, but they can’t just opt out
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/generation-z-times-survey-oped-rgnwccc9q
by JayR_97
Keir Starmer: I have sympathy for Gen Z, but they can’t just opt out
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/generation-z-times-survey-oped-rgnwccc9q
by JayR_97
30 comments
He’s really going to connect with the young people by writing in The Times
When millennials were late teens and early 20s, we had a lot of the same attitudes. We had Russell Brand writing in the Spectator about why people shouldn’t vote, and a lot of people agreeing.
Then we came to realise it was a stupid philosophy that would make things worse rather than better. Call him out of touch or whatever but Starmer is right here for the same reason that Brand was wrong then.
Then give them something, anything to want to opt in.
Over a decade of decline is all they know, and now we have the nutters like Farage knocking at the door with his snake oil cure all.
When working doesn’t pay for food and roof over your head, why opt in?
The current social contract is that you graduate with massive debt, work to pay half your income in tax to old people, and the other half to pay landlords because old people don’t want houses built.
‘And we will extend voting rights to 16-year-olds as well. I know this last proposal is controversial for some. But for me it follows a very simple principle. If you are old enough to take a bullet for our country, you are old enough to cast a ballot.’
Surely the PM of all people should know you can’t be deployed under 18 if you’re in the military.
The piece itself puts way more emphasis on how hard done-by young people are than I expected from the title.
Lad at my tech work he has a masters in maths but 100k in debt from it. Showed me the details and his payments don’t even cover the interest. He started on 40-45k.
Keir Starmer: I have sympathy for Gen Z, but they can’t just opt out
The prime minister says delivering his government’s promises will be vital for repairing its ‘broken contract’ with young people in Britain
Friday February 14 2025, 8.38pm,
Truth be told, my “boomer” generation represents something of a golden age for British social mobility. The rapid growth in white-collar work meant millions of working-class children like me were able to get on. Meanwhile, the plentiful supply of respected, well-paid blue-collar jobs still acted as a great social leveller. Housing was more affordable too. The story of the pebble-dashed semi I grew up in may now be a slightly well-worn political anecdote. But the security it provided really did make a difference to our world view. It gave my family a confidence about the future we could build for ourselves. A confidence I want every British family to have.
You would be hard-pressed to argue Gen Z enjoy the same security in Britain today. Home ownership is a distant dream for millions. Wages have been stagnant for much of their lives. The education system can feel like a fight for scarcer opportunities. The cost of living crisis has eroded the cash in their pocket. There is less breathing space for the joy and self-discovery of youth.
Of course, none of this means Gen Z can opt out of the rights and responsibilities we owe to each other, including the scandal of claiming benefits designed to support people with genuine illness or disability. Make no mistake — worklessness as a lifestyle choice goes against the fundamental ethos of the Labour Party as a vehicle for the aspirations of working people. Our reforms to employment rights are a landmark shift in restoring dignity and security at work. We will make work pay. But we will never tolerate voluntary worklessness.
Nonetheless, we should still be sympathetic to Gen Z. A social contract is by its nature something akin to a deal. And the truth is Britain has not been giving young people a fair one. My plan for change will correct this. Our planning reforms will take on the blockers and build young people the affordable homes they need. Our apprenticeship reforms will mean more training opportunities are targeted at the jobs they need. Our health reforms will mean they get better access to mental health support. And we will extend voting rights to 16-year-olds as well. I know this last proposal is controversial for some. But for me it follows a very simple principle. If you are old enough to take a bullet for our country, you are old enough to cast a ballot.
Young people need to have confidence in a truly shared future
ALAMY
After seven months in this job, I’ve never been clearer about where we need to take Britain. On immigration, reforming the NHS and tackling the cost of living, the British people — young and old — are crying out for a new foundation of security. On this foundation, we can build an exciting future for our country, a true awakening of national renewal. Unleashing technology and investment to drive growth and make everyone better off. Reforming our public services to empower choice and put the needs of the public first. Building the infrastructure of the future, from housing to energy to transport. Restoring Britain’s global leadership, particularly in tackling illegal immigration and economic instability. And transforming the culture of the state, which far too often closes ranks when it finds itself accused of injustice.
In short, I do believe politics can and must accept its responsibility to mend the broken contract between itself and people. My government will deliver on our promises, to show that politics can be a force for good. We will reinstate a sense of security, giving young people confidence in a truly shared future. A future that rewards hard work with opportunity and inspires pride in their community and our country.
Sir Keir Starmer is prime minister
*And we will extend voting rights to 16-year-olds as well. I know this last proposal is controversial for some. But for me it follows a very simple principle. If you are old enough to take a bullet for our country, you are old enough to cast a ballot.*
Is Sir Keir (or his writers) really this fucking stupid?
– Members of the armed forces cannot legally be deployed on the frontline until they turn 18.
– If you are under 17 years 6 months you will attend Army Foundation College, as a Junior Solider, before starting Standard Entry training. If you’re under 18, you’ll also need parental consent to join.
> I don’t think anyone my age envies Gen Z for being the first generation to experience social media during their teenage years.
This is factually incorrect, right? Millenials were the first generation to experience social media during their teens? (Or, to be more precise, the first to experience social media in their teens were Millenials.)
Regardless, the message seems to be that we should feel bad for Gen Z but they still have to hold up their side of the bargain. Kinda ironic that the Prime Minister is asking for something for nothing here, to help deal with the largely imagined problem that people want something for nothing.
Fix immigration. Make the NHS more efficient. Reduce taxes on the middle class. Sort councils out. Take the railway services into public ownership.
The amount of damage to unfuck is monumental.
Hector the current Hated Generation of the day all you want Starmer, shite neoliberals like you privatising and asset stripping the country while forcing even more austerity onto people is going to only make people hate you more.
There is no hope for people while your single solitary pro-billionaire plan for politics is the only choice british people have, whether presented by Labour or Tories.
Corbyn had a far far better plan for the country and yet had people like you driving the knife in his back, making sure he wouldn’t get elected. You’ve finally caught your tail and achieved the power you always wanted and you’ll do nothing with it to help us, only yourself and your billionaire mates.
E: For the record, Fuck Farage and the Reform Party.
Don’t worry Gen Z, us millennials will all migrate to Thailand and the Philippines for our elderly care. Stay firm until there is some carrot on the stick.
The system is rigged and young people with all the social media have realised this sooner and become completely demoralised by it.
As Plato of Socrates said
Working is pointless, but don’t tell children that.
Unfortunately they’ve realised it in their own. Work, so that you can basically afford to go to work again. Aaaahhhh, the joy.
Continues to charge workers through the nose in taxes to improve the lifestyle of pensioners…..
So basically everyone after the boomers has had it shit, we will never own houses, we will never have financial security and we will have to work our asses off for low wages with little increase while the cost of everything rises far above inflation to fund corporate greed. And we should just accept this and get on with it?
Fuck off Keir. There is no social contract anymore. We are sliding back to the 1700s where we had the nobility and the poor, and the poor were there for the nobility to exploit to get richer. Want people to opt in? Do something to show us there is a point. Why should I play a game that is rigged against me? We have a Labour Prime Minister doing his best David Cameron impression and lurching right to try to take voters from the Tories after their own lurch to the right. Everyone is getting poorer except the people who do not need to get richer.
I am more than in favour of people getting involved and fixing society, but I really rather think not in the way they want. They want the peasants to quiet down and grind away their lives to make the rich have easier ones.
THEN MAKE THE ECONOMY GROW SO I CAN GET A JOB PLEASE
Unfortunately none of them are going to read this because no-one under 76 has a Times subscription
Indeed, they need to pay serious attention to erosion of free speech, increased surveillance, and demographic manipulation to sway potential election results, and ask themselves if this is the type of country that want to live in.
After covid the country owes them, not vice versa. So actually, lets see some wealth redistribution plans before we start talking about responsibility.
Well give them some bloody hope then. I don’t blame them for ‘opting out’ whatever that is supposed to mean
Gen Z sees mass immigration taking their jobs and suppressing their wages
Gen Z seez no hope of ever buying a house and starting a family of their own
Gen Z are called lazy and that they are mentally weak despite working harder for far less than older generations at their age
Gen Z sees triple locked pension rises and a third of their wages taken to pay for elderly healthcare, foreign aid and the hotels for fake asylum seekers and wonder what they get in return for their taxes
I’m staggered they aren’t on the streets rioting to be honest
The rich can opt out of paying taxes, so why can’t we opt out of rich people determining our politics? By all means vote, but vote against austerity!
The issue is, Gen X and Boomers have opted out of the social contract. Landlordism, standing by as the NHS and the culture is destroyed. Gen Z can and absolutely should opt out. This is globalization, they can move and find a better future elsewhere and they absolutely should. There is a bizarre entitlement from the elders and politicians in our society right now, where they’re demanding a buy in from younger people but have also spent decades fucking them.
Young people are by far the most fucked over by recent politics.
When younger people were being engaged by Corbyns Labour, they were told to grow up and stop playing student politics by the right of the Labour party and much of the rest of the country. After Corbyn was ousted, Labour just went back to the status quo of neoliberalism. They aren’t giving people anything to vote *for* it’s just “well, the other lot are worse.”
> Of course, none of this means Gen Z can opt out of the rights and responsibilities we owe to each other, including the scandal of claiming benefits designed to support people with genuine illness or disability.
Oh get fuuuuuuuuucked.
Provide some proof of this “scandal” or fuck the fuck off.
yeah they fucking can. I’m a millenial and this is factual info: (You being “The UK Government”)
You fucked us over a LOT.
And you’ve fucked over gen z… like, 5x more. So fuck you.
Why does Labour assume that young people will vote for them but they have to earn votes from the right wing? Just give young people something to vote for and stop taking them for granted
I’m not Gen Z, but if I was I’d be seriously pissed off.
What is the point going through the motions of university etc, racking up student debt, to get a job where you can’t afford to buy a house and basically have no prospects of doing so unless parents or relatives pass away?
Imagine being told when you’re young that your lot in life is as the renter class – paying off someone else’s second or third home mortgage, and then some, while the media talk about house prices going up every month like it’s a feel good story?
Modern luxuries – the stuff boomers say Gen Z should cut down on – are manageable on a median salary, the essentials or not.
Fixing this is completely out of control of Gen Z, and everyone else, because no government is going to radically address house building and property as investments, or act to lower house prices, because of the large cohort of voters who would vote them out because of it at the next election.
Given that what have they got to be engaged about?
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