WHAT can 18 year olds faced with a vote that will shape the next 20 years of their lives make of the EU referendum debate?

They see and hear their parents and grandparents generation predicting either the misery of national and personal economic privation, or of the country being swamped by hordes of immigrants.

They are offered a choice of growing up in a nation condemned to doom or gloom foisted on us by foreigners and self-serving politicians.

I thank God that when I was their age - 65 years ago - the politics I was hearing was of the steps we needed to vote for to bring about a more just and compassionate global society.

This spoke to the youthful ideals I felt having lived through the war and military service in Germany.

The establishment of the United Nations demonstrated the will and ability of human beings to co-operate for the common good across national, ethnic and religious barriers.

All today’s young voters hear are appeals to selfishness and tribalism by the embittered middle-aged.

Maurice Vassie, Deighton, York