It was a moment of optimism for the West, it was anything but that for the Kremlin.
Was given some incredible stats on how younger people's voting attitudes have changed since 1992.
Its startling.
In 1992, 40% of men under 24 voted Tory, 34% voted Labour. In 2019, that same voting group voted 22% Tory, 59% Labour.
The Tories did better among 18-24s in 1997 than they did in 2019.
Until the government and the wider establishment start listening to the concerns of younger people and be a government for all and not for one particular group, the gap in values between Millenials and those who vote for the incumbent government is going to get wider and wider.
I have to say that I am surprised by those early 90s figures - I guess that era was the beginning of the "YUPPIE" phase so I presume those most likely to be a part of that will have started from a well off background and have been more likely to have had parents who voted Tory so would do so in kind.
It feels an awful lot like the chicken and the egg with your second point - whilst voting levels are so low in the lower age brackets, why would the various parties focus their efforts towards them? Conversely, why would young people vote if the parties are not trying to appeal to them? (this does remind me of the old Anfield Atmosphere debates about a decade ago over whether the players should entertain or the fans should encourage - obviously distilled into one sentence doesn't cover the nuance of it).
Coming out of the Brexit ref, the argument was that those who had voted for it had, therefore, stolen the future of the young. A solid campaign based around taking that future back should then be the logical approach - by coming out and voting in high numbers only then can people start to take control of their possible future.
The issue seems to be that over the last 10 years the narrative that "they are all the same" has become more prevalent - I do feel it has come with the Twitterification of society such that there is a need to say things in the fewest words, in the pithiest, or most aggressive, or most "like inducing" manner and it has left calm debate and reason in it's wake to an extent. This is not for everyone obviously - some of the finest discussion and debate I have seen has been found on RAWK for example - but you can see it in the general population.
I wonder if (certainly in Liverpool where politics is almost treated like football - you don't change teams and generally you follow who your parents did) the feeling of having to vote the same way every time is part of the problem. It seems like the choice is either vote for party x or don't vote at all. Surely it makes more sense to look outside the Big 3 (Big 2.5 these days? I guess LD vote % is still solid even if their seat numbers aren't) and vote for a smaller party that aligns with your views rather than not vote at all.
Some may say that it is a waste of a vote, but every vote the Greens, for example, get outside of Brighton is one more towards a potential Green voter feeling that they are a worthwhile venture and voting that way themselves and possibly building towards critical mass.
Trying to get away from all or nothing politics and world views and taking a more collegiate approach (especially when it comes to national elections and working with left sided parties to maximise seats) surely has to be the way to start to make "it all go right"