No, of course the “Youth Parliament” (posh schools’ booze-up, cokefest and orgy, doubtless at public expense) should not be permitted to use the chamber of the House of Commons. Or the chamber of the House of Lords, come to that. Or Westminster Hall.
More broadly, politics is like Radio Four and so many other things: something into which one grows. Changing any of them to suit the unformed misses the whole point, and cruelly robs those unformed of the means to their own formation.
We have things similar to the "Youth Parliament" in the United States, and they pretty much fit the description you gave.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you about growing into politics. My own politics have changed quite a bit since college. I was an unbearable little neocon snot when I was in college. I am embarrassed when I think of the things I used to say to people in political discussions.