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the_jubjub_birdMichael Deacon
According to The Guardian, families are being ‘torn apart’ by the ‘extreme’ Right-wing views of today’s pensioners. Seriously?
Here’s an idea for Louis Theroux. He’s just had a big hit with his Netflix documentary about “the manosphere”. So, as a sequel, perhaps he should make one about “the nanosphere”.
Because it’s not just young men who are being dangerously radicalised online. It’s old ladies.
Or at least, so I gather from The Guardian. At the weekend it ran a 3,736-word feature headlined, “‘I Feel Like I’m Losing Her’: The Families Torn Apart by Older Relatives Going Far-Right”. And it was all about how horrifying it is to see the political views of many “boomers” growing ever more “extreme”, under the influence of online “misinformation” – as well as AI-generated “nostalgia porn” about “how much better” life in Britain used to be.
Interviewees described their alarm at hearing their “boomer” parents express admiration for Nigel Farage, or ire over illegal immigration. One millennial woman said she “now thinks twice” about taking her children to her mother’s house, because she’s “nervous” that her mother “might say something offensive” about “small boats”. Meanwhile, a millennial man said he’d urged his mother, who is in her 60s, to cure herself of her Right-wing opinions by trying “therapy”. Frustratingly, she’d declined to take him up on this thoughtful suggestion.
Another interviewee – an academic in his early 50s – reported that his elderly parents have started supporting Reform, because they’ve been “radicalised” by “the discourse on immigration”. He complained: “It’s like they’ve lost the ability to think critically, so they’re in this sort of self-reinforcing cycle of ignorance. But they also can’t imagine they’re ignorant because they’re educated people who know about the world.”
Naturally I’m sure we all sympathise with these poor, worried Guardian readers. I hope they won’t think it insensitive, however, if I ask: are they quite certain that it’s only “boomers” whose “extreme” opinions are “tearing families apart”?
In the interests of balance, I suggest The Guardian run a follow-up piece, on what to do if your younger relatives are “going far-Left”. The author could interview pensioners who are distressed to hear their children and grandchildren spout unhinged views that are completely divorced from reality, such as “Zack Polanski would make a good prime minister”, or parrot misinformation they’ve picked up online, such as “women have penises”.
Oh, and one other thought. Maybe the piece could suggest that, if your “boomer” mother is quite a lot crosser about immigration than she used to be, it might be because immigration is quite a lot higher than it used to be. And, if she says that life in this country used to be better than it is now, it’s not necessarily because she’s been brainwashed by “nostalgia porn”. It might be because it actually did.
Even Britain’s loos are going down the pan
What a relief for Bridget Phillipson. For months, Labour’s minister for “women and equalities” has been under serious pressure to ban trans women (i.e., males) from using women’s public loos. Yet now, it seems, she needn’t worry.
Because, the way things are going, there soon won’t be any public loos left to ban them from.
In England, reports the Royal Society for Public Health, the number of these facilities has fallen by 14 per cent in the past decade. This means that there is now only one public lavatory for every 15,000 people.
This is of course a worrying state of affairs. But in particular, I should imagine, for the residents of Durham. Because they’ve got quite enough problems as it is.
Look away now if you’re eating breakfast. But six months ago, while strolling through the centre of that otherwise beautiful city, I was somewhat taken aback to see a sign from the council, sternly instructing people not to “defecate” in the street.
Still, it turns out that Durham isn’t alone, because in the past year similar signs have been erected in various other British cities, including London, Colchester and York. I find this a puzzling trend. Perhaps my memory deceives me, but I would swear that, when I was younger, councils didn’t feel the need to put up signs of this kind. In those days, it was taken for granted that the people of this country knew not to behave in such an utterly revolting manner.
Yet now, it appears, these signs are increasingly considered essential. I wonder what’s changed.
Here’s one theory. In January it was reported that a quarter of children starting primary school in 2025 hadn’t been toilet-trained. Could it be that their parents haven’t been toilet-trained, either?
Well, I suppose we shouldn’t rule it out. There is, however, an alternative possibility, which relates to another major change that has taken place in our country over recent years.
Then again, I’d better not go on, or The Guardian will call me a boomer.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/21/this-attack-on-boomers-exposes-hypocrisy-millennial-left/
According to The Guardian, families are being ‘torn apart’ by the ‘extreme’ Right-wing views of today’s pensioners. Seriously?
Here’s an idea for Louis Theroux. He’s just had a big hit with his Netflix documentary about “the manosphere”. So, as a sequel, perhaps he should make one about “the nanosphere”.
Because it’s not just young men who are being dangerously radicalised online. It’s old ladies.
Or at least, so I gather from The Guardian. At the weekend it ran a 3,736-word feature headlined, “‘I Feel Like I’m Losing Her’: The Families Torn Apart by Older Relatives Going Far-Right”. And it was all about how horrifying it is to see the political views of many “boomers” growing ever more “extreme”, under the influence of online “misinformation” – as well as AI-generated “nostalgia porn” about “how much better” life in Britain used to be.
Interviewees described their alarm at hearing their “boomer” parents express admiration for Nigel Farage, or ire over illegal immigration. One millennial woman said she “now thinks twice” about taking her children to her mother’s house, because she’s “nervous” that her mother “might say something offensive” about “small boats”. Meanwhile, a millennial man said he’d urged his mother, who is in her 60s, to cure herself of her Right-wing opinions by trying “therapy”. Frustratingly, she’d declined to take him up on this thoughtful suggestion.
Another interviewee – an academic in his early 50s – reported that his elderly parents have started supporting Reform, because they’ve been “radicalised” by “the discourse on immigration”. He complained: “It’s like they’ve lost the ability to think critically, so they’re in this sort of self-reinforcing cycle of ignorance. But they also can’t imagine they’re ignorant because they’re educated people who know about the world.”
Naturally I’m sure we all sympathise with these poor, worried Guardian readers. I hope they won’t think it insensitive, however, if I ask: are they quite certain that it’s only “boomers” whose “extreme” opinions are “tearing families apart”?
In the interests of balance, I suggest The Guardian run a follow-up piece, on what to do if your younger relatives are “going far-Left”. The author could interview pensioners who are distressed to hear their children and grandchildren spout unhinged views that are completely divorced from reality, such as “Zack Polanski would make a good prime minister”, or parrot misinformation they’ve picked up online, such as “women have penises”.
Oh, and one other thought. Maybe the piece could suggest that, if your “boomer” mother is quite a lot crosser about immigration than she used to be, it might be because immigration is quite a lot higher than it used to be. And, if she says that life in this country used to be better than it is now, it’s not necessarily because she’s been brainwashed by “nostalgia porn”. It might be because it actually did.
Even Britain’s loos are going down the pan
What a relief for Bridget Phillipson. For months, Labour’s minister for “women and equalities” has been under serious pressure to ban trans women (i.e., males) from using women’s public loos. Yet now, it seems, she needn’t worry.
Because, the way things are going, there soon won’t be any public loos left to ban them from.
In England, reports the Royal Society for Public Health, the number of these facilities has fallen by 14 per cent in the past decade. This means that there is now only one public lavatory for every 15,000 people.
This is of course a worrying state of affairs. But in particular, I should imagine, for the residents of Durham. Because they’ve got quite enough problems as it is.
Look away now if you’re eating breakfast. But six months ago, while strolling through the centre of that otherwise beautiful city, I was somewhat taken aback to see a sign from the council, sternly instructing people not to “defecate” in the street.
Still, it turns out that Durham isn’t alone, because in the past year similar signs have been erected in various other British cities, including London, Colchester and York. I find this a puzzling trend. Perhaps my memory deceives me, but I would swear that, when I was younger, councils didn’t feel the need to put up signs of this kind. In those days, it was taken for granted that the people of this country knew not to behave in such an utterly revolting manner.
Yet now, it appears, these signs are increasingly considered essential. I wonder what’s changed.
Here’s one theory. In January it was reported that a quarter of children starting primary school in 2025 hadn’t been toilet-trained. Could it be that their parents haven’t been toilet-trained, either?
Well, I suppose we shouldn’t rule it out. There is, however, an alternative possibility, which relates to another major change that has taken place in our country over recent years.
Then again, I’d better not go on, or The Guardian will call me a boomer.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/21/this-attack-on-boomers-exposes-hypocrisy-millennial-left/
(no subject)
22/4/26 06:22 (UTC)(no subject)
22/4/26 06:31 (UTC)(no subject)
22/4/26 06:47 (UTC)