Do you think that the legal minimum age for doing certain things should be raised or lowered?
Currently in the UK (and AFAIK in most other countries at least in Europe, North America and Australasia) 18 is the age of legal majority, i.e. the age at which you legally become an adult and, as such, are considered to be mature enough to have most, if not all, the rights and duties of an adult citizen. In practice, though, the legal minimum age for doing some age-restricted things is lower or higher than 18.
For example the age of consent in the UK is 16, and until recently you could get married at 16 with parental consent (or without it in Scotland). But I believe that a new Act has recently been passed that has raised the legal age for marriage to 18 in all cases (except in Scotland where it's still 16, at least for now, though it remains to be seen whether Scotland will follow suit and raise it to 18).
In many ways this would seem sensible and logical, given that you now have to be in education or training until you're 18, although it raises the question of whether the age of consent (and therefore the age at which you can legally become a parent) should also be raised to 18.
In some ways doing that would be ironic, though, as the age of consent for gay men was 21 until some time in the 1990s or early 2000s when it was lowered to 18, and more recently it was lowered to 16 to bring it into line with the age of consent for heterosexuals and lesbian women.
Conversely, there have been calls from certain quarters for the voting age to be lowered to 16 (as I believe it now is for local elections in Scotland and Wales).
In the USA, the drinking age is 21 even though the age of legal majority in most other respects is 18 in most states. This creates an anomaly whereby at 18 you can do just about everything that an adult can do except drinking: for example at 18 you can vote, get married (but you presumably have to have a dry wedding reception), take out a mortgage, join the armed forces and be called for jury service, but booze remains a forbidden fruit for another three years. IMO it beggars belief that at 18 you're deemed mature enough to do all of those things but not mature enough to be responsible with alcohol.
Some other European countries also have 18 for drinking and some have 16. AIUI in Germany it's 16 for beer and wine and 18 for spirits. I believe that France and the Netherlands have raised their drinking ages from 16 to 18 in the last few years, presumably to combat teenage binge drinking. On the other hand, New Zealand lowered its drinking age from 20 to 18 in the late 1990s or early 2000s, presumably to bring it into line with the age of legal majority.
Currently in the UK (and AFAIK in most other countries at least in Europe, North America and Australasia) 18 is the age of legal majority, i.e. the age at which you legally become an adult and, as such, are considered to be mature enough to have most, if not all, the rights and duties of an adult citizen. In practice, though, the legal minimum age for doing some age-restricted things is lower or higher than 18.
For example the age of consent in the UK is 16, and until recently you could get married at 16 with parental consent (or without it in Scotland). But I believe that a new Act has recently been passed that has raised the legal age for marriage to 18 in all cases (except in Scotland where it's still 16, at least for now, though it remains to be seen whether Scotland will follow suit and raise it to 18).
In many ways this would seem sensible and logical, given that you now have to be in education or training until you're 18, although it raises the question of whether the age of consent (and therefore the age at which you can legally become a parent) should also be raised to 18.
In some ways doing that would be ironic, though, as the age of consent for gay men was 21 until some time in the 1990s or early 2000s when it was lowered to 18, and more recently it was lowered to 16 to bring it into line with the age of consent for heterosexuals and lesbian women.
Conversely, there have been calls from certain quarters for the voting age to be lowered to 16 (as I believe it now is for local elections in Scotland and Wales).
In the USA, the drinking age is 21 even though the age of legal majority in most other respects is 18 in most states. This creates an anomaly whereby at 18 you can do just about everything that an adult can do except drinking: for example at 18 you can vote, get married (but you presumably have to have a dry wedding reception), take out a mortgage, join the armed forces and be called for jury service, but booze remains a forbidden fruit for another three years. IMO it beggars belief that at 18 you're deemed mature enough to do all of those things but not mature enough to be responsible with alcohol.
Some other European countries also have 18 for drinking and some have 16. AIUI in Germany it's 16 for beer and wine and 18 for spirits. I believe that France and the Netherlands have raised their drinking ages from 16 to 18 in the last few years, presumably to combat teenage binge drinking. On the other hand, New Zealand lowered its drinking age from 20 to 18 in the late 1990s or early 2000s, presumably to bring it into line with the age of legal majority.
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). I appreciate there may be an argument for this, but there's also an argument that alcohol should be banned because it's consumption causes all sorts of societal ills. But that's not going to happen...
