Challenges for 'Facebook generation'

MOVE over, old, old Labour and make way for what Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy calls the Facebook generation. But what is that, exactly? And is the party in danger of rampant ageism?

Scots constituencies replacing retiring Labour MPs look to be skipping a generation and going for young candidates barely out of university. Gemma Doyle, 28, has been adopted as the candidate for the Labour seat of West Dunbartonshire, where John McFall, 65, is retiring. Pamela Nash, 25, has been selected for the Airdrie and Shotts seat, replacing former home secretary John Reid, 61. Gregg McClymont, an academic, is 31 and seems a greybeard by comparison – he's been selected to replace 68-year-old Rosemary McKenna to contest the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East seat.

Mr Murphy claims "the Facebook generation understands the complexities of the world we live in, and engages in a world without borders every day". Is this the same Facebook generation frequently under fire for its nerdish tendencies and reluctance to engage with the world of real events? And how much of the world is really understood by iPhone-glued twentysomethings outside a narrow circle of political groupies? The intake will certainly be fresher than those who spent years working their way up through local politics. But cutting it with voters not on Facebook will be the test.