Whether age verification is a justified idea or not, it feels awfully like the UK is createing a new generation of single-issue voters here.

Even wilder, they're lowering voting age to 16 [0]. So there would be a demographic group who can vote but cannot watch porn...?

[0]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628ep4j5kno

Or watch certain films because they can’t be trusted to contextualise them correctly. It’s pretty absurd.

Well, you cannot drink alcohol if you are less than 21 in the USA, but you can vote.

You can also be drafted and/or die in a war. Absolutely absurd to think someone is old enough to enlist, but not have a beer

Its an easy distinction. In war you can be controlled, when you are drunk you cannot.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a petition on that website with a positive outcome.

Online petitions aren't worth the paper they're written on.

If people want change, they'll need to find alternative avenues. (Like civil disobedience.)

Or write to your MP. They care slightly more about that.

I've done this for so many issues in the past and not once have I had anything more than an automated reply. Often those replies then go on and reference a totally different bill that I'm voicing an opinion on. This isn't all just one MP either, I've lived in many different areas of the UK in recent years and most of them have flipped parties at some point or another.

Maybe this is the "Westminster Bubble" the journo's keep talking about. Whatever it is, MP's seem very reluctant to interact with their constituents unless they're campaigning for re-election. At that point they'll turn up on your door step in the middle of the day, expecting a half hour conversation.

How is a citizen meant to adovcate and voice their opinions when their representivies, and every candidate looking to replace them, refuses to engage?

This isn't really a specific question, or a critism on your point. It's just venting on my experience in recent years. Maybe someone else has had a more positive experience they'd be interested in sharing?

I've written to mine several times and usually I get a stock reply vaguely relating to the subject, but occasionally I've got actual replies. Once I sent a message about ordnance survey open data and they sent a clearly custom reply and forwarded my message to someone else.

In any case, my sister used to work in an MP's office and even when you get auto replies they tally it, and weight it quite heavily as a representation of constituents' views (unless it's a template letter in which case it goes straight in the bin).

It definitely has more effect than signing a petition - most of them are super dumb (lower taxes!) and as far as I know not a single one has actually changed the government's position. It's just too easy to sign them and too many dumb people do it.

At which point you just get the usual stock response from their secretary which is basically no different than the response you get from the petition.

> The Government has no plans to repeal the Online Safety Act, and is working closely with Ofcom to implement the Act as quickly and effectively as possible to enable UK users to benefit from its protections.

Government responded

"I would like to thank all those who signed the petition."

Who "I" ?

i dont understand after (15?) years of petitions with zero results, how anyone is stupid enough to keep thinking they should be mentioned