I'm a Dutchman living in the U.K. now for almost 45 years. When I arrived I was a teenager and teenagers aren't really into politics. Once I turned 18, I have never been able to vote in general elections in the U.K. because I am not a British Citizen, despite the fact that all the policies, laws and behaviour of politicians have affected my personal and working life in the U.K.
My father got the whole family a permanent residence permit back in 1978 and despite having that and thanks to Brexit, I still had to apply for the EU settlement scheme, bizarre, I did and of course I was accepted.
The only place I can cast a vote is during local elections, which usually are a big waste of time and I'm getting very close to not bothering any longer.
I rarely comment publicly about politics, although I have been doing in the past few years. I guess when you are moving into the Autumn of your life, you take more notice of the news and are more sensitive to a sense of what's right and what's wrong. The sense of what's right and wrong gets instilled into us usually by our parents and the impact of growing up with siblings. I could probably write a book about the "unfairness" I believed I experienced when growing up as a twin and comparing what my twin sister used to get, in terms of clothes, presents and even our Birthday cakes, yes we each had a different cake! Of course when you're a kid you believe that your siblings always are treated more favourably compared to yourself.
