Less than a generation ago, students could get a degree without accruing a lifetime of debt. Some received maintenance grants to give them the confidence to go university, often as the first members of their family to do so.
House prices were around three times average incomes, or maybe four at a push. I remember writing stories in 2003 about housing in parts of Sheffield costing more than £100,000 for the first time. Saving for a deposit was possible within a year or two.
More recently, young people could travel, work and live all over Europe.
These basics are much harder to get today, thanks to the actions of a generation of leaders who benefitted from them and compounded the interest.
Rather than understand, or even acknowledge, these challenges, the beneficiaries feed a sense that if young people stopped protesting and worked harder (like we did) all will be fine.
Worried about the climate crisis? You’re a snowflake! Need a £50,000 deposit to get on the housing ladder, on top of your £1,500 a month rent? Stop eating avocados! And so, it goes on. Statements and sponsored social ads speak to an older, home-owning group of voters but don’t get near addressing the challenges facing an entire generation.
This is the lens through which I see Rishi Sunak’s weird and hurriedly compiled weekend announcement about rolling out National Service for 18-year-olds.
Whether the policy would work, and others ask questions here, here and here that I won’t repeat, is barely relevant. This is part of a pattern of behaviour from a political class that appears to prize spin above delivery.
Continue reading “National Service spin sidesteps today’s challenges”
