Letter: Us ‘Baby Boomers’ Are To Blame

Published on: 10 Dec, 2016
Updated on: 11 Dec, 2016

From Andrew Backhurst

Brexit is a product of the “Baby Boomers”. This huge swell of people born between 1945-1965, of which I am one, has caused chaos and opportunity at every turn through our lives. Our 20 years population bulge has been a challenge to govern and remains a challenge at every stage of our development.

Firstly, we were the cause of the huge postwar social housing boom. We were subjected to overcrowded class sizes. We were the first true teenagers and expressed ourselves through fashion and pop culture by becoming among other things mods and rockers, punks and unfortunately we can also claim football hooligans.

We were what was known as “the one in 10” of Mrs Thatcher’s unemployed during the late 1970s, and when we found our feet some became the yuppies and helped make the 1980s a boom time. Our huge employment potential allowed the generation in front of us to be paid generous final salary pensions, something that we are unlikely to benefit so well from.

Due to or numbers we have always been able to flex our muscles and express ourselves at every stage of our development and have always got what we want. Any headline in the Daily Mail and we will vote for it! I am sure Brexit will not be our last hurrah.

As our number age, and our health deteriorates, expect us to flex our muscles at the NHS before long.

Responses to Letter: Us ‘Baby Boomers’ Are To Blame

Terry Duckmanton Reply

December 10, 2016 at 5:49 pm

Born in the same year as the beloved NHS, I can’t say I identify with the above comments at all. The most radical thing I ever did was to grow a beard against my grandmother’s wishes. What a rebel I was.

As for voting for Daily Mail headlines – in your dreams Andrew Backhurst, in your dreams.
Andrew Backhurst Reply

December 10, 2016 at 8:29 pm

I am grateful to Terry Duckmanton for replying.

I was never a rebel either and have never grown even a beard. In fact you will struggle to find a Boomer rebel out there, but my point is, us Boomers were all of those things.

Whatever your political views you can’t argue that the Boomers were mostly Brexit voters.
Jim Allen Reply

December 11, 2016 at 12:03 am

Me a baby boomer really! A rebel: well I got the beard and I make no claim to be ‘normal’ in the modern sense, but in my time I was recognised a typical ‘Allen’ (and Cloney).

Apparently my Irish grandmother’s family were into stirring English politicians into a frenzy!
Lindsay Jackson Reply

December 12, 2016 at 11:47 pm

The political attitude of the Brexit voter in favour of authoritarianism was more important than their age.

See: https://hypnogogicjerk.wordpress.com/2016/07/23/the-psychology-sociology-of-brexit/
Jim Allen Reply

December 13, 2016 at 12:40 pm

I guess we must now look at the political attitude of the Remoaners. Head in the sand, non-practical people who believe us engineers can fix everything: sort the water shortage, fix the lack of electricity, sort the sewage capacity, build more houses, find the missing financial records, build more jails.

Yes, every Remoaner I know has that touchy feely personal approach: “its nice to cuddle a foreigner but those Lazy English workers are shirkers”.

Yes, they like running down our country and the indigenous population in the process but they definitely lack the practical sense to observe problems lying in wait for the next generation.

For those of us who realise that, at some time, control of our borders must return (it’s just a matter of when) are practical people who can see all sides of a problem and try and sort them as we go.

So we are not authoritarian – we just have common sense.