Headline, January13, 2014

''' THESE !^ 

AWESOME BRITISH ^! YOUTH '''

The  ''great honour of this humble Post''  is dedicated to the loving memory of this great Pakistani student, Aitzaz  Hassan, who sacrificed his life defending his school, and his school mates from total destruction:

!WOW!  the Samurai, the whole world mourns his sacrifice. The World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless is honoured to name a '''Legacy module'''  in his memory.

   

Watching and observing a group of 17 and 18 year-olds assembled in their lunch hour at a diverse London school offers cross=section of political views.

Some more left wing than others; some more apathetic. But they are not as different as they seem.

When pushed to describe their politics, they agree that the state's primary role is to protect ''individual freedom''. For them moral causes such as gay rights and sex equality loom larger than things like welfare and health.

When asked whether any had joined recent protests against government spending cuts, they respond with raised eyebrows, laughter and effusive denials. One admits to going, ''but only for a look.'' The pavement -  pounding youth of the past decades this is not.

''Any man who is under 30 and is not a liberal has no heart; and any man who is over 30 and is not a conservative has no brains.''

So Winston Churchill,  among others, is supposed to have observed.

Young Britons are still liberal today. But not in the way Churchill meant, or in the common sense of the word. Nor, probably, will they grow out of their liberalism.

The young are less likely than their elders to consider themselves part of any particular religion, less likely to join a political party or a trade union and, according to the long running British Social Attitudes survey, less likely to have a ''high or very high opinion'' of the armed forces.

As far as they are concerned, people have a right to express themselves by what they consume and how they choose to live.

Predictably, that translates into a tolerance for social and cultural difference. Polls show that the young are more relaxed than others about drug, sex, alcohol, euthanasia and non-traditional family structures.

They dislike immigration, but not as strongly as do their elders. And they are becoming even more liberal. The survey has tracked attitudes for three decades. It shows that the young are far more tolerant of many deviations, than previous generations at the same age.

Experimenters with new technologies, fashions and ideas, young people in Britain and elsewhere have long tweaked established social institutions. But their iconoclasm goes further than this.

Young Britons are classical liberals: as well as prizing social freedom, they believe in low taxes, limited welfare and personal responsibility. In America they would be called libertarians.

More than two-thirds of people before 1939 consider the welfare state ''one of Britain's proudest achievements''. Less than one-third of those born after 1979 say the same. According to the survey, members of Generation Y are not just half as likely as older people to consider it the state's responsibility to cover the costs of residential care in old age.

They are also more likely to take such a hard-hearted view than were members of the famously jaded Generation X  -born between 1966 and 1979- at the same stage of life.

''Every successive generation is less collectivist than the last,'' says Ben Page a pollster. All age groups are becoming more socially and economically liberal. But the young are ahead of the general trend. They have a more sceptical view of state transfers, even allowing for the general shift in attitudes.

Polling by YouGov shows that those aged 18 to 24 are also more likely than older people to consider social problems the responsibility of individuals rather than the government. They are deficit hawks. They care about the environment, but are also keen on commerce:

More supportive of the privatization of the utilities, more likely to reject government attempts to ban branding on cigarette packets are more likely to agree that Tesco Britain's Supermarket giant,   ''has only become so large by offering customers what they want.''

Great reasoning that : True : 100%

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Pakistan. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless :

With special dedication and warm personal wishes for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. United Nations.

''' The Everlasting Light  '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless