All Young, No Fogey

Oh boy, the kids are in charge now. Already led by the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier, with the election of the even younger Ed Milliband to the leadership of the British Labour Party, Great Britain's ruling class is now firmly and completely in the hands of the X-Generation. They may not need a note to get out of gym class, but my lord, have the front benches in the House of Commons on both sides of the aisle ever looked so green?


Call me old fashioned, but is it not preferred that society be governed by the wisdom of its most experienced elders? When the young Tony Blair came to power in 1997, he later claimed (scandalously in his memoirs) that at their first meeting, the Queen told him: "You are my tenth prime minister. The first was Winston. That was before you were born."

That was more than thirteen years ago. You do wonder what Her Majesty must be thinking as yet another generation passes and the government keeps getting younger and younger. Thankfully, against this Coalition of Grandchildren presently enjoying the keys to elected power, the Queen stands as an ever more resounding and collosus figure (her stature only grows), she is now the world's premier elder statesperson. Knowing this must provide one with more than a little reassurance.