Sorry, had to vote GAH! on this one....

a) Left and Right are too broad, and frankly outdated, as concepts to describe how my views have changed.
b) When I was younger my political views were largely incoherent, as are those of most people who have had limited experience of life, the universe and everything. Reminds me of a sign one of my friends put up for the benefit of his teenage son: "Happy sixteenth birthday - leave home now whilst you still know everything"

I was a typical "angry young man" who thought things had to change, but looking back I was long on idealism but very short on understanding, either of the problems or proposed solutions. I still think things need to change, but having crawled through some of the dustier back corridors of power I think I am a lot more realistic and a lot more cynical about the chances that they ever will.....

The young have a tendency towards stereotyped "soundbite" politics - most who would, for instance, describe themselves as Communists, have probably never read "Das Kapital", and how many "free-marketeers" have read "The Wealth of Nations" etc etc?

Political extremism in the young is more of a fashion statement than a reasoned position - even in today's society where the tendency is towards extreme apathy. Those that do engage in politics tend more towards confrontational stances, and the older and more experienced you get, the more you value alliance-building, consensus, negotiation and persuasion. The old polarisation of "revolution" vs. "conservatism" mellows towards a more productive synthesis of "ordered change".

I have certainly lost a lot of faith in political parties, especially as their distintiveness has been eroded over recent years, and that they follow the focus groups instead of being opinion-leaders.