How did that happen then? I woke up this morning and was presented with a card that said 45, and ‘Happy birthday daddy’. Touching of course but there is something peculiarly chilling about the mid point of a decade, it’s the cusp upon which your status changes from bizarre imposture to settled fact; and then there is the road ahead.....shudder.
Age seems to be on the mind of a vast gaggle of commentators as well. From this morning I have harvested the following exciting observations on the spectral Conservative Conference :
Andrew Pierce ( Teleraph)- “It used to be fair to lampoon the Tory Conference as the annual gathering of the blue rinse brigade . But no longer. There were thousands of smart young people ....”
Martin Bright New Statesman – “Birmingham was noticeably lacking in the braying Tory boys and the blue rinse bigots that paraded through Blackpool and Bournemouth ...”
Back on Tuesday Lord Blog of Blogshire ( Iain Dale ) was whispering in our ear...
“There is one striking difference at this party conference. The age profile of the representatives (we don't 'do' delegates in the Tory Party) is much younger than normal. Everyone is remarking on it, even journalists... “
As we would expect from the outstanding columnist of the moment Fraser Nelson has grasped the phenomenon best in the Spectator
“The average age seemed to drop by two decades ...The whole conference was packed with those priceless political assets : young Tories who seem to be in the same wavelength as the rest of their generation “
To me this is hugely significant as is the presence of glorious Totty swanking around the place( Boris said he knew Labour were going to win when he saw the standard of totty at their conference in 97).Margaret Thatcher won the intellectual argument , New Labour implicitly accepted that. She, and we,lost the cultural argument in the 90s albeit under attack from entrenched baby boomers at the BBC. You know what we are now FASHIONABLE. ..how did that happen then?Oh yes that reminds me , I `m 45 ..boo hoo
Age seems to be on the mind of a vast gaggle of commentators as well. From this morning I have harvested the following exciting observations on the spectral Conservative Conference :
Andrew Pierce ( Teleraph)- “It used to be fair to lampoon the Tory Conference as the annual gathering of the blue rinse brigade . But no longer. There were thousands of smart young people ....”
Martin Bright New Statesman – “Birmingham was noticeably lacking in the braying Tory boys and the blue rinse bigots that paraded through Blackpool and Bournemouth ...”
Back on Tuesday Lord Blog of Blogshire ( Iain Dale ) was whispering in our ear...
“There is one striking difference at this party conference. The age profile of the representatives (we don't 'do' delegates in the Tory Party) is much younger than normal. Everyone is remarking on it, even journalists... “
As we would expect from the outstanding columnist of the moment Fraser Nelson has grasped the phenomenon best in the Spectator
“The average age seemed to drop by two decades ...The whole conference was packed with those priceless political assets : young Tories who seem to be in the same wavelength as the rest of their generation “
To me this is hugely significant as is the presence of glorious Totty swanking around the place( Boris said he knew Labour were going to win when he saw the standard of totty at their conference in 97).Margaret Thatcher won the intellectual argument , New Labour implicitly accepted that. She, and we,lost the cultural argument in the 90s albeit under attack from entrenched baby boomers at the BBC. You know what we are now FASHIONABLE. ..how did that happen then?Oh yes that reminds me , I `m 45 ..boo hoo
18 comments:
Happy birthday if it is indeed your birthday. I had you down for nearer 35 than 45. PS I think the card designers need a grammar lesson!
Happy birthday, Newmania, have good one!
Speaking as one who can give you ten years and more, I'm with Simone de Beauvoir on age.
Though it's perfectly understandable that young things dread growing older, as S de B says, growing older is so liberating, it deserves a better press.
I'm doing more of the things I want to do now than at any other time in my life. It's a good age to be, n.
Yeah, the age profile of conference reps has reduced relative to the age of the reporters who keep getting older.
Of course this is nothing to do with the fact that the Conservative party has alienated all it's traditional supporter base and is losing members hand over fist.
Conservative party has alienated all it's traditional supporter base and is losing members hand over fist.
All Parties are losing members and no-one is alienated ( not that I have noticed anyway)
Thanks Flo
"All Parties are losing members and no-one is alienated"
You contradict yourself, chum. Are you a comedian?
Happy Birthday, Paul! I shall treasure being 2 years younger than you, vain, shallow person that I am.
Wasn't in Birmingham myself, but seem to recall from some 15 past Toryfests attended that both old and young were always 'over-represented': professional politicians aside, those in their middle years with family responsibilities, were always thin on the ground due to not having the time/ money/ childcare cover to bugger off to the seaside for a week.
You contradict yourself, chum. Are you a comedian?
If you assume that peope are not members of Political Parties as much any more because they are alienated by this or that party that might follow . Actually that is not the case you mouth breathing teas-made brain .
David ...how nice ...and you are soooooooo right !
Many happy returns!
And congratulations on getting your very own Derek Draper RRU troll for the blog. Not as many as Guido yet, but it's a start...
NM, you've been at the sauce already.
Party membership is falling among the Conservatives (ahem), whereas it appears Labour and LibDem have stabilised recently. This suggests to me (even if I'm biased) that Cameron is bad news.
Osborne is a nobody who gets swatted every time he opens his mouth and the rest of the front bench are damaged goods one way or another.
They'll only end up shafting themselves and you too - is that what you want?
Time for a change, yeah, already.
Happy Birthday, Paul, have a great day xx
I'm 47 in um.. 11 days and keep telling everyone I'm 'knocking 50'. I just hope I don't die before I get old. I wish to live pain free for as long as possible. Wishing you that too, dear heart. We want to watch our babies grow :-))
At least long enough for them to become lawyers and keep us in the manner we'd like to become accustomed to ;-)
OM...I have indeed been on the sauce now and I am ready to admit that cameron is bad news. Dreadful if only we had a charismatic genius like Gordon Brown...I shall lose sleeep I really really will
Cheers PP
Phillipa ...my oldest has already been expelled from Nursey . Looks grim
Deepest Sympathy on the loss of your first 45 years. But there is nothing to fear.. Mandy the indestructible is back.
I know , Hilarious isn`t it
Happy Birthday, Paul.
I know. Where does it go ?
It used to be that the monthly curry night seemed to happen every week ...
... now it feels like I'm getting the Christmas tree out of the loft every bloody week !
My two-year-olds are now reaching puberty and my wife is starting to look like her granny.
The purest EK ...great stuff !
Happy birthday gorgeous :)
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