My granddad attended the Cable Street marches as part of the Jewish/Communist contingent. He then went on vote Tory as a business owner. My mum was a LibDem member later voting Labour and now Conservative despite a close call between that and spoiling her paper.

My colleagues largely vote Tory and friends mostly Labour.

Without sounding condescending I think it's out of a mentality of having been personally unaffected by the actions of whichever government was in power (but possibly most pertinently receiving free meals and generous grants at school from the Tory council) and not working in the public sector or arts. Later Labour looked after me as part of the New Deal which even my more impartial friends view as a bit of a frivolous handout.

Ironically the factors I observe in others are some sort of working class obligation (I've actually been told explicitly this year that I should be voting Labour to look after my own, which is laughable), and on the other side of the coin middle-class guilt from people who never had to worry regardless, but now have rendered themselves poor.

The other daft objection to my stance was on the grounds that I'm just a product of the system. Fcuk me, I'm more centrist now thanks to May, but patronising cnuts like that do swing me back to the right. Suggesting the majority of the population have been brainwashed by the evils of capitalism is one step below the more absurd conspiracy theories.

Edited by johnfirewall (31 Oct 2017 10.16pm)

My granddad attended the Cable Street marches as part of the Jewish/Communist contingent. He then went on vote Tory as a business owner. My mum was a LibDem member later voting Labour and now Conservative despite a close call between that and spoiling her paper.

My colleagues largely vote Tory and friends mostly Labour.

Without sounding condescending I think it's out of a mentality of having been personally unaffected by the actions of whichever government was in power (but possibly most pertinently receiving free meals and generous grants at school from the Tory council) and not working in the public sector or arts. Later Labour looked after me as part of the New Deal which even my more impartial friends view as a bit of a frivolous handout.

Ironically the factors I observe in others are some sort of working class obligation (I've actually been told explicitly this year that I should be voting Labour to look after my own, which is laughable), and on the other side of the coin middle-class guilt from people who never had to worry regardless, but now have rendered themselves poor.

The other daft objection to my stance was on the grounds that I'm just a product of the system. Fcuk me, I'm more centrist now thanks to May, but patronising cnuts like that do swing me back to the right. Suggesting the majority of the population have been brainwashed by the evils of capitalism is one step below the more absurd conspiracy theories.

Edited by johnfirewall (31 Oct 2017 10.16pm)

As most of us know there's been a fair bit of argument from quite polarised and fixed positions of late. It got me wondering how political views are formed. Was there a major event that stirred you? Part of what was handed down by your parents, or part of a group formed by friends or interest groups?

I've generally considered myself middle of the road, but pretty cynical. Much of that came from how pointless it felt marching against the war in Iraq, given everything went ahead anyway. I also read The Gun Seller - actually a fantastically funny book but paints a bit of a grim picture of how the world seemed to me to operate. That and Flat Earth News, which demonstrated the flaws in the way media works, and then I get exasperated about how decisions are framed.

What are your backgrounds?