Male, Pale, Stale?

[mushroom25]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/09/theresa-may-reshuffle-brings-on-more-women-and-ethnic-minorities

//Theresa May has insisted that her government looks “more like the country it serves” after axing a string of white men in their 50s and 60s while promoting a number of younger, female and minority ethnic MPs.//

in terms of government - or any public service organization - is it important that they look good and accurately reflect the look of the population it serves or represents? in which case, is competence now considered to be a secondary attribute?

[Jackdaw33]

Hitler was only 56 when he committed suicide, and only 44 when he came to power.

[douglas9401]

He was also male, pale and very stale when he was unearthed.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-5267013/PETER-HITCHENS-stale-male-MPs-best-choice.html

/// Sometimes we are told that the Cabinet, or the fire brigade, or the police should ‘look like the people they serve’, or even that they should ‘look like Britain’. ///

/// In fact, this generally means that they should look like the population of London, now one of the great multicultural and multi- ethnic city-states of the world, but completely unlike most of the rest of the country. ///

/// Does a member of an ethnic minority really want to be saved from a fire by a member of the same minority? ///

/// Does a woman threatened by a rapist insist on being rescued from her plight by a female officer? ///

[Kidas]

AOG, you chose to quote that arch pale-male-stale representative Hitchens?

Oh joy !

here's a couple of counter quotes:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/daily-mail-reshuffle-massacre_uk_5a55c226e4b0d614e48accab

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/10/pity-white-middle-aged-men-may-cabinet-massacre


Hotchenss is the guy who says ("The Abolition of Britain") that the reaction to Diana's funeral shows that the UK has gone through a cultural revolution equivalent to that of China under Mao Zedong.

He simply has no understanding of the changes that took place in China at that time. The UK saw no purge of intellectuals, sent to farms; no mass starvation; no policy restricting families to a single child.

If you are going to pick your sources, at least pick someone with an ounce of credibility.

In response to your selected quotes, they are reductio ad absurdem: Take a generalised point from your debating partner and reduce it to the most ridiculous scenario. It's a cheap, well-worn and intellectually weak style of debating that loses on every point.

My point is that in politics as in business, if you fail to keep up with changing demographics, you risk losing your audience.

That's where the Conservatives are today.
You know the average age of the Party better than me, but I think the //Average// age of Party members is over 60.

Compare that with the Labour party and you can quickly see that the Conservative Party's support is dying. Literally.

If you care at all about Conservatism, you will welcome this move.

But maybe you prefer to see the Labour party in power for an extended period, thanks to their appeal to an electorate ignored and alienated by the Conservatives.

[anotheoldgit]

/// My point is that in politics as in business, if you fail to keep up with changing demographics, you risk losing your audience. ///

I don't think that there is any risk of myself losing my audience, do you?