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Spectator
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Why shouldn't 16 year olds get the vote?
On 18 September 2014, Scotland went to the polls to decide its future in the United Kingdom. While the outcome was decisive – 55 per cent of voters couldn't bring themselves to back independence – the turnout for the poll, at 85 per cent, was one of the highest recorded in Britain. The significance of the 'one-off' vote (plus anxieties on either side of the debate about the outcome coming down to the wire) saw full-throated campaign efforts deliver a swathe of voters to polling stations. A number of these were under 18-years-old, including me – with my birthday falling just six days before the poll. It was the 2012 Edinburgh Agreement that allowed the Scottish parliament to choose who could vote in an independence referendum. Using temporary powers under the Scotland Act, the Scottish government extended the say to 16- and 17-year olds – and subsequently over 100,000 under-18s registered to vote. The argument put forward by the SNP was similar to that of Labour's Angela Rayner on Thursday: the decision is good for democracy and gets young people excited about politics. And the same criticisms were levelled at the Scottish government as the UK one: that the move was more about party politics than progress. History has demonstrated how expanding the vote is hardly the most effective form of gerrymandering: while the SNP expected younger voters to be more open to the idea of independence, Scottish Referendum Study analysis showed that 54 per cent of 16-19-year-olds voted 'no'. The BBC described the union-backing bloc at the time as an 'unusual alliance' of 'average earners, Protestants and women'. Labour should take heed: currently polling suggests that while younger voters would tend to lean left, there is a significant proportion of young people – generally men – attracted by the straight-talking, anti-establishment rhetoric of Reform. As More in Common pollster Luke Tryl pointed out on Friday's Coffee House Shots, the voting reform doesn't make it much more obvious who would win the next general election at this point. What it does signal is yet more bad news for the Conservatives, who poll in the single figures among young people. But there is a case to be made for extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds, particularly at a point when trust in politicians is at an all-time low and people across the country are increasingly disillusioned by and disengaging from national politics. Research by academics from both Edinburgh and Sheffield University after the 2014 poll found that not only do 16- and 17-year-olds tend to vote more frequently than their slightly older peers who got the vote at 18, they maintain these voting habits for longer – usurping the turnout dip that was once common among the early adult age group. 'If you give people the right to vote earlier in life, they appear more likely to make voting a habit,' the researchers noted. Polling company FocalData conducted research in conjunction with work done by former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown on the state of social cohesion in Britain. The findings are stark: nine in ten people said they had less than five close friends, while 16 per cent admitted they had no friends at all. Looking at Gen Z more specifically, YouGov noted in February this year that only 15 per cent of young people feel they live in a united country. Communities – and generations – look increasingly fragmented in the UK and a kind of local-level protectionism is being bred, as economic pressures tied into the cost of living crisis and housing shortage remain a feature of public life. People are growing less interested in each other and more disillusioned by the state of the country. Of course the simple fact of giving young people a vote wouldn't sort all this out – but the triple shot of getting people interested in political policies from an early age, increasing turnout and, crucially, maintaining that increase in engagement ensures more people are actively invested in the country's future. That cannot be a bad thing. Why is this important? Recent elections have seen more and more people turn off from mainstream politics – indeed, Sir Keir Starmer's Labour party won its supermajority on a very thin share of the vote, with only 38 per cent of Brits backing them. They've only had a year in power but already their legitimacy has been challenged as a result – as much internally as externally. Awareness of the vote share (and indeed low turnout) has created an atmosphere of awkwardness. As one Labour grandee remarked to me recently: 'There is a bashfulness about our success.' It sums up the degree to which this realisation has undermined the confidence of the party leadership, with MPs acknowledging the government hasn't exploited its supermajority to its fullest potential. And now that backbenchers are growing increasingly vocal – and disruptive – it seems unlikely Labour ever will. Parties would do well to better consider how to speak to a cohort of people that will shortly make up the bulk of the country's workforce, especially if various reforms – that are hard sells in the short term but beneficial down the line – are to be pulled off. Starmer's biggest U-turns during his first year in office show a government allowing non-workers to dictate policy: from the winter fuel payment cut reversal to the rowback on disability benefits. Long overdue conversations about issues like the pension triple lock tend to be avoided thanks to fears about losing the silver vote. While allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to head to the ballot box isn't going to radically dent the impact of the pensioner class, it provides an additional opportunity for parties to consider how to get young people on side – and stick with them over the course of their voting careers. There are numerous counterpoints: for example, if 16- and 17-year-olds can't, in England, do things like get married or drink alcohol, they shouldn't be allowed to vote. (You could argue it seems strange to shower a person with a whole host of new liberties at any one age.) And there is a certain sneeriness from older generations about the intellectual capacity of teens now – perhaps a rattled awareness that they too were the future once. But this ignores a number of responsibilities that already rest with young people: it is at this age that you are expected to figure out what you want to do with your life – what to study at university, or which apprenticeships or jobs to apply for. And it's often at this age that students are at their most curious. I remember the buzz around school when the independence election approached – friends who had never so much as talked about the news before were discussing things like the future of Trident (we were only a few miles down the road from Faslane), our reliance on oil and gas and even questions of cultural identity. It didn't split people down partisan lines; it persuaded us not only to voice our opinions but appreciate that they carried weight. And, vitally, it encouraged more people to get involved. The government's latest move doesn't quite deserve the criticism that has been thrown its way.
Irish Examiner
18-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Blessed West Cork setting for born again Georgian era glebe house in great nick
WEST Cork's Rathclaren House is as good as old — the supremely comfortable former Georgian rectory was effectively rebuilt from the roof down, and from its dug-up floor upwards, when it last changed hands, in jig-time, in 2008. Gorgeous Georgian glebe on five acres of groomed and green grounds Apart from its walls, just about everything within is new, and high end, but its aesthetic and the quality of its workmanship is 100% faithful to its past, leaving confusion only as to whether the 1820s rooted home is as good as new, better than new, or as good as it gets for an veteran coastal home with deep local roots. Despite being over 200 years in age and built to a template common at the time for 19th-century rectories and glebe houses, Rathclaren is not the oldest kid on its block: that honour belongs to its next door neighbour, the Anglican Holy Trinity Church, with portions going back to the 1650s (even earlier ruins of a church nearby date to the 13th century). Holy Trinity, or Rathclaren Church, was added to and altered several times in the 1800s, including a tower with clock and a so-called lychgate covered entrance — quintessentially English, also seen in Scandinavia, rarely in Ireland. Lychgate at Holy Trinity church. Picture Dan Linehan With its adjacent church, graveyard, and cemetery holding the remains of both Catholics and Protestants and its lychgate, the Rathclaren ensemble is picture postcard pretty, just a few hundred metres uphill from the coastal road (and, Wild Atlantic Way) running west of Kinsale towards Clonakilty, between Ballinspittle and Timoleague near Burren and Kilbrittain. Old bones, updated inside It's in good company with a handful of other period homes in the vicinity, including the early 1800s Georgian villa Gortaglenna, and the late 1700s Burren House, while nearby on the coastline is Coolmain Castle, currently for sale for the Disney family with a €7.5m AMV on 56 acres of 'Disney-land', in immaculate order. Rathclaren House is near Disney's Coolamain Castle Coolmain went to the international market in April with joint agents Andy Donoghue of Hodnett Forde and Lisney Sotheby's International Realty: now the same pairing are lined up to sell Rathclaren House, on five minded acres with sea glimpses, with a price guide considerably less that the area's magical Disney castle ... it's launched at €2.95m. Coolmain Castle Rathclaren House previously featured here, back in 2008 when the market was still strong, priced at that time at €1.5m and in a condition that — diplomatically — reflected its age, despite being generally well presented and maintained. Previous owners included the Wilson family for c 20 years prior, and before that the UK diplomat Sir Geofroy Tory (1912 to 2012) who served as Britain's ambassador to Ireland in the 1960s and who retired after an international career to Rathclaren, in a gentle West Cork setting. Interior grace at Rathclaren Buyers in 2008 were Axel Thiel, CEO of a specialist industrial company related to the auto sector Thiel & Heuche in Germany, and his wife Philippa (nee Graves), internationally based and who fell for its charms upon their very first glimpse of it. They bought it straight away, after first viewing from the Wilsons after it appeared in the Irish Examiner Property pages and before any rival bidding could take place. Upwardly mobile The couple then with teenage children had been in the hunt for a Georgian property in Cork at the time and knew just what they hoped for. Philippa's family home is Ballylickey House, between Bantry and Glengarriff, now four generations in Graves hands (related to the poet and author Robert Graves) and the family are now only selling Rathclaren to take over at Ballylickey House: 'It's a very difficult decision to sell,' Philippa acknowledges. Kitchen with German limestone floor with fossil traces What they are selling both is — and is not — what they bought back in '08, given its near total internal rebuild in the original retained building envelope, the construction equivalent of a total organ transplant and rebirth. Bright side in Not only is the mainc 4,000sq ft house as good as, or better, than new, so too is the former coach house and outbuilding, brought down to retention of the stone front wall and arch only and then fully rebuilt as a three-bedroom 2,300sq ft guesthouse, fully self-contained (bar a proper kitchen, easily provided) and, at its far end, a two-bed staff house, currently lived in by the full-time caretaker and attentive groundsman. Guest cottage The rebuilding work took a full two years, to painstaking detail, with a local crew headed by builder Dan Healy whom the Thiels praise highly. Specialist conservation and new joinery work was done to an exceptional standard by London-based Patrick O'Donovan, who did the windows, typically six-over-six sliding sashes, working window shutters on the deep walls, doors, architraves and pristine staircase, the works, while reclaimed pitch pine wood lines the modestly-sized study en route to the dining room. Modest add-ons or wings were placed, with glass roof lanterns, for a feature triple aspect dining room and for the large and hospitable kitchen, done by House of Coolmore, with a limestone floor brought in from Germany, complete with fossils to spot in the stone underfoot. From the floors (dug out, and redone and finished in solid oak when found to be wringing wet), right up to the roof, all inside is new or newly finished, bar superb original fireplaces (one an Adam chimneypiece or Adam style, with polished brass insert) and thick internal walls. Courtyard cluster with lustre It's quite the experience to go up into the spacious attic of a 200-year-old house, with hipped roof and internal valley (holding solar panels) and see every stout roof timber is new: there's reassurance in this for the centuries yet to come... For all of its Georgian grace, the five-bay home is far from being overly grand or grandeur, and from day one had quite simple plasterwork and internal architectural embellishment. It functions really well as a manageable home of supreme comfort, with twin formal reception rooms interlinked via solid double doors (it's BER exempt, having been listed post-upgrades), with four bedrooms and a mod estly enlarged great ground level floor plan which, originally, held a small room for the rector to meet his parishioners in. It was just to the right of the off-centre fan-lit 'front' door, which is around to the far side of the long and leafy approach drive. Guest/staff accommodation in a converted stable/coachhouse Each façade is different: that entrance with ornate fan over the original door is slate-hung, with slates in graduated sizes for perspective. The main five-bay faces south for views to the water by Courtmacsherry bay and village, whose lights sparkle in evenings and night, amid otherwise perfect night skies, delineated by soaring trees, including a beast of a macrocarpa, likely as old as Rathclaren itself. I see the sea Joint agents Eileen Neville of Lisney Sotheby's IR and Hodnett Forde's Andy Donoghue say Rathclaren House 'stands as a refined and meticulously restored period residence of notable architectural and historical interest,' adding, 'this distinguished home was conceived in alignment with the ecclesiastical and social heritage of the time.' Now wholly secular since about the 1950s when it left Church of Ireland hands for a series of private owners, it's on five acres, largely wooded, with extensive planting done by the Thiels during their caring tenure, including adding the likes of European black pines, Sequoia redwoods, Ginkos, Handkerchief trees, and Silver Birches to the existing long-settled stock, of indigenous deciduous trees and pines, including the signature, stand-out macrocarpa. Green fingered The grounds, on a gentle slope east to west and also down away from the house to the south, remain largely wooded, with defined sections, walks, walled sections and old stone boundaries, and openings, interspersed with rhododendron and other colourful intercessions and include lawns which included a tennis court at some time, fruit gardens and frames. There is joyous growth and greenery right up to the walls of the main house, to the coach house, and adjoining staff house (with a mix of six dormer windows and conservation-style Veluxes in slate roofs), all the time with glimpses back through the trees to the pyramidal roof of the 1870s added tower at Rathclaren Church. Rathclaren's Holy Trinity church Picture: Dan Linehan Departing vendors the Thiels say most of the time their private retreat property is so quiet 'you can hear a pin drop', but perhaps at this stage they are more than used to the chimes and peal of the 10 tubular bells installed in the belfry in the 1890s … which appeared to be out by an hour to the 'real' time when visited in the past week? (The refinished clock face in black and gilt has a pock mark by the7 o'clock setting, said to be from a bullet in the Civil War era.) Something to aspire to.... Image: Dan Linehan The auctioneers say Rathclaren 'offers a rare combination of privacy, serenity, and natural beauty', within short distances of Cork City, international airport, Kinsale, and the further roll out of West Cork towns from Bandon and Clonakilty. It mixes preservation of its original layout and essential charms, upgrades of outbuildings, double garage, wine and fuel stores 'with thoughtful incorporation of modern conveniences, representing a harmonious fusion of traditional elegance and contemporary luxury'. Pitch pine perfection VERDICT: It's rare to find a glebe home of such local history and heritage with new life breathed into its old bones, in such a timeless setting, with huge peace of mind thanks to the quality and thoroughness of the works done. Next owners can be expected to fall as heavily for Rathclaren House as its owners did back in 2008.
Straits Times
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
A modern interpretation of Islam in Indonesia fuels a push for ‘global Muslims'
What happens in Indonesia, the world's largest nation of Muslims, is critical, says the writer. In a world where religion and faith-based politics are gaining ground, what happens in Indonesia, the world's largest nation of Muslims, is critical. The sprawling archipelagic nation has more than 200 million Muslims, most of whom live peaceably with minority Hindus, Catholics and Protestants, and a smattering of other denominations. Indonesians broadly follow their nation's founding philosophy of Pancasila – five principles which include a tolerance for other faiths given the belief in one God, and a just and civilised humanity.
Boston Globe
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Mass. residents: We will not be bystanders to ICE thuggery
Advertisement It's daunting, but a powerful counterforce has emerged: communities of faith. They include groups of Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and others. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up The American Catholic hierarchy has stepped up as well. Michael Pham, then San Diego bishop-elect, Here in Boston, the Paulist Center, where we worship, has an active Advertisement Communities of faith are a powerful and growing force for resistance to injustice and the pursuit of the common good. They are worthy of your journalistic attention. Christopher M. O'Keeffe Marlborough Mi-Rang Yoon Malden We need Governor Healey to lead resistance It is not only immigrants who are frightened by the masked thugs of ICE that the rogue Trump administration has loosed upon the US citizenry, in what seems like an attempt to cow ordinary Americans. There are many others throughout the community who view these vicious actions with some trepidation. Indeed, many people of this great Commonwealth stand with indomitable spirit against the illegal and unconstitutional actions of this administration. But we need the help of our governor to continue to do so. The primary duty of our governor is to protect Massachusetts residents from harm. It is within the governor's authority to Governor Maura Healey, please exercise that power and authorize the Guard to monitor the actions of ICE agents and to ascertain that those agents are clearly identified, carry legal warrants, and never, ever use bodily force on peaceful citizens. Bill Tragakis Westwood The Founders must be turning in their graves For the past several years we have been helping two legal refugee families. They were originally expected to arrive in 2016, but that was delayed until Donald Trump left office after his first term. They are thriving: men gainfully employed; women raising children, who are excelling in school; English nearly mastered. Now permanent residents, they eagerly await becoming US citizens. Advertisement We also have been helping those less fortunate, who are undocumented but otherwise hoping someday to become permanent residents. The lack of a legal pathway for these families, who are essential to our economic future, is the fault of the GOP for opposing immigration reform at every turn. The Republican Party began in opposition to slavery; undoubtedly the Founders are turning in their graves as they watch America, the country immigrants have made and continue to make great, be ripped apart for no reason other than one party's hunger to amass power through the politics of fear. Alan Wright Roslindale
Irish Examiner
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: Learn the right lessons from history
Just days ago, we passed the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, when some 10,000 people were murdered in the biggest mass killing since the Second World War. Many survivors never came back, and those who finally have are treated as foreigners even on their own property. But what have we learned from that event in history, as revisited by UN special rapporteur Mary Lawlor on these pages? The genocide isn't even taught in local schools, while hardline politicians in the region have taken to say that there wasn't a genocide at all and the numbers were inflated. So many people have been killed by the Israeli invasion of Gaza that the official death toll must be behind the times: some 800 have been killed trying to access food alone since May. And what about Sudan, as highlighted by our columnist Jennifer Horgan last week? Or eastern Ukraine, where a sustained campaign of war crimes by Russia has been ongoing since 2014, well before the wider invasion? We can learn well or badly from history. Critics of the Trump regime noting that it is following the German playbook of the 1930s are now being reminded that Germany then was following the examples it had seen of how America had treated its indigenous and black populations. That's exactly the sort of thing people should be learning never to do again, not repeating with concentration camps in the Florida swamps. We have a duty of care, not only to our own descendants but the wider world we'd like to see. But we also have to put a structure and system in place where following generations can be clearly taught the wrongs of our collective past. As Mick Clifford noted on Saturday, much online hate speech is driven by fear. We have avoided the worst excesses of far right and anti-immigrant hate so far in Ireland, but that is no reason to be complacent. You never think it can happen to you, or your neighbours, until it does. No action exists in a vacuum, and that includes violence and hate. Any single incident — Tulsa race riots to gerrymandering, or the massacre of Protestants at Scullabogue during the 1798 rebellion — is a culmination of a steady drip of other pressures, fears, and flashpoints. We must always, always do our utmost to learn from history to make sure such things never happen here. Changing the narrative While we consider the lessons from history, and the history we hope to leave to our descendants, it's worth noting that sometimes the lessons are simply not heeded — or, indeed, are completely forgotten. The conservative US backlash to James Gunn's Superman film should, perhaps, have been expected given the charged environment and the cult-like status of the current regime, but is nonetheless sobering. Superman has variously been criticised as 'woke' (is empathy and helping those less fortunate a bad thing?). Somewhat depressingly, one of the critics has been Dean Cain, who while playing Superman on TV for several years evidently internalised nothing about the character. Meanwhile, Superman's background is seemingly being retconned by social media commentators, with 'he is not an immigrant, he's an orphan' being a typical critique. Let us remind ourselves, if we need reminding, that Superman's origin story is landing on Earth as an unaccompanied child refugee from space. He didn't exactly present a passport and papers on arrival. This same Superman was created by Jewish immigrants to America. His chief antagonist throughout the comic strips of the 1930s was the Ku Klux Klan. He featured in posters in the 1950s and 1960s reminding American schoolchildren that bigotry and discrimination was un-American. He has always been woke. It is sad, to say the least, that we are living in a world where comic book supervillains are with us in daily life. Sadder still that a character created to show the commonality of humanity and its trials, joys, and potentials can become demonised by a social group who want to deny such basic unity, emboldened by a president who has never had an empathetic thought in his life. Presidential race At least, for all this country's faults, we have a legacy of presidents who actually stand for something. It is a plum job, and prestigious, so it should be no surprise that the first party-backed presidential candidate has finally been declared, but it is still a surprise that the big three — Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Sinn Féin — were not the ones to do it. Independent TD Catherine Connolly, endorsed by the Social Democrats and with support from members of Solidarity and People Before Profit, is effectively first out of the traps, with her campaign to officially begin next week. She needs 20 members of the Oireachtas to back her bid, and believes between parties and Independents that she has the numbers. Mairead McGuinness is expected to get the nod for Fine Gael now that Seán Kelly has ruled himself out, while Fianna Fáil, Labour, and Sinn Féin are still deliberating. While the election is still months away — expected in October or November, with incumbent Michael D Higgins finishing his second term in November — it remains surprising that there has been so little organised campaigning by the big parties. Or by any party, really, with some non-party candidates occasionally taking centre stage, even if the odds of them being on the ballot are slim (but not impossible). In his column last week, Fergus Finlay stressed the importance of having an open contest for the presidency, rather than a candidate elected by default by being the only choice. At least now we have the makings of a contest between individuals who demonstrate the sort of heart and quality advocated by our columnist Sarah Harte. Will there be more? One hopes so. But ultimately, the president is our most prominent ambassador, and the choice should very much lie with the people. Read More Irish Examiner view: Knowing what is literally the truth
