When Did We Stop Caring?

Okay, so for years now I've been really interested in politics, and politcally active in various campaigns even though I'm not yet old enough to vote. When I took part in the Make Poverty History demonstrations in Edinburgh in 2005, I couldn't help but notice that I was one of the few young people there, although at the time I could forgive this seeing as for most people like me it meant getting a few days off school to protest. However, at last year's North West Amnesty International Conferense, I noticed a similar shortage of young people again, with just me and two others from our college group as well an equal number from another local institution. Everyone else in the relatively large group of people were 50+. This would've struck me as odd had I not been told a few weeks earlier by a group of Lower 6ths from my college group that it was 'pointless' and 'we weren't gonna change anything', much to my sadness. Since then it has aggravated me more and more that my generation seems to be largely apathetic to politics, as when I've brought this topic up with friends and classmates I've had a similarly disinterested response. For instance, I asked one of my closest friends why she wouldn't vote when she turned 18 and was given the answer, "What's the bloody point, it makes no difference, it's not gonna change anything." Some gave slightly more helpful answers, mostly referring to the fact that New Labour and the Conservatives are moving ever closer together, but the majority just didn't think political activity of any kind was productive.
Now I have racked my brains about this on more than one occassion, and I don't quite understand, perhaps because I am from a family who have always been involved in politics, and it is consequently my one real passion, and so I thought I'd ask you out there on the world wide web.
So my first question is: Why do young people today seem disinterested in politics and why do they not take part in political activity, be it protest, pressure group membership or [most importantly for me] voting?
Secondly: What would encourage young people to vote and/or how do you think people generally could be made more politically aware [politics in high school etc.]

If you could reply in a comment to this blog that would be great, cheers!

So begin the mumblings and ramblings

Ahoy traveller of webspace! Welcome to my shiny new blog, the result of a sudden urge to document things. I've had a pop at various things like this in the past, LiveJournal being the one that lasted the longest, but that was only really worth it for the graphics community, which I continue to trawl for iconic delights. And so it begins, the start of the Blogger era, heck, maybe this one will stay the course and not die a death.
Onwards [lesbians for the glory of Roma Downey]!