I think that when two 60 year olds start making assumptions about 'what youth are like' then we open ourselves to all sorts of criticism Leo

I do not think that 'youth' is associated with idealism as such - but most teenagers live in a kind of bubble. This means that their group of friends are rarely more than about a year older (or younger) than themselves - nobody else really matters at that age. This 'bubble' continues for some years and the generations only start to really mix on equal terms after all studies are over. It's only then that ideas really start circulating. As you grow older you learn more tolerance of other conflicting ideas - so your politics may be the same but you learn to understand the alternatives better. I cannot really speak about British youth because most of my work over the last 30 years has been with their German (or Turkish) counterparts. My feeling is that the youth of today are not as political as in former times - maybe on individual issues, but not in terms of party politics. In some ways they are more socially left - ie. they respond to issues like gay rights, freedom of movement, multi culturalism - also to environmental themes. But they are economically more right wing in as much as the ideas of communal ownership, or solidarity are more likely to still be found in older generations. Many of todays youth are, at any rate, more materialistic than we were - and materialism does not marry up with socialism.
As for the repeated referendums - they were not a repetition. The reason for this is that the question asked was an amended one. It was never a case of simply holding referendums until you get the right result - if 'A' is rejected then you go away and amend it until it is acceptable. Quite simple really, and perfectly democratic.