Most of us have had disagreements with friends over politics at some point in our lives. Or worse. One of the constant threats to friendships is that such differences could one day spill over into acrimony or result in a full-blown falling-out. In my youth, the election night parties held by my parents seldom ended without raised voices and tearful eruptions – aided, admittedly, by the vast consumption of alcohol – and who could forget the divisions and severed friendships occasioned by the EU referendum in 2016? 

At least most folk above a certain age have been able to establish and sustain friendships with those of contrasting political persuasions. The same can’t be said for Gen Z. According to recent research by the BBC, more than a third of 16 to 24-year-olds now admit that they would struggle to be friends with those who have ‘different views’, compared with around a fifth of over-25-year-olds. We are seeing the emergence of the ‘belief-based’ relationship. 

This development is sad but not surprising. While the word ‘snowflake’ enjoyed a brief vogue at the end of the last decade, ours remains an age in which many youngsters feel themselves to be delicate creatures in need of protection from offensive words and people........

© The Spectator