Kids in the UK - A Forgotten Generation?

Discussion in 'Western Europe' started by Sokkos, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. Sokkos

    Sokkos New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2011
    Messages:
    34
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Read this article a few days ago and it pointed out some major problems for The Great British Empire of tomorrow.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/19/sad-society-young-riots

    I feel I am extremely lucky to have taken the opportunity to go to university for free and be debt-free being a Scot living in Scotland while my peers in England could be paying off debts for going to university just before they retire.

    One wonders how there was rioting in England while this phenomenal did not go northwards? Well is my be due to the fact Scottish young adults have hope they can be doctors or lawyers without the need of a wealthy parent paying their education fees. And as more and more employment requires a university degree, what hope is there for the youth of England getting a job.
     
    Viv and (deleted member) like this.
  2. Viv

    Viv Banned by Request

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2008
    Messages:
    8,174
    Likes Received:
    174
    Trophy Points:
    63
    This is a good point and the previous protests about university fees may well have lead into the riots. People are too busy decrying young people and attributing the riots to consumer greed and no morals. We know that is not the case, young people are no different now than they ever were except these young people are being treated unfairly in comparison to those in other UK countries.
     
  3. Anders Hoveland

    Anders Hoveland Banned

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2011
    Messages:
    11,044
    Likes Received:
    138
    Trophy Points:
    0
    What you should really be asking yourself is why the eductational qualifications required to secure decent employment have been rising.

    Most of the young adults in Briton are stuck in low paying jobs, with little opportunity for advancement. Many are unable to afford to move out of their parents house. It is no wonder so many a putting off having families.
    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...tes-moving-back-in-with-parents-16026900.html

    Meanwhile, Britain is bringing in more immigrants to try to balance out the declining population. Immigrants are more accustomed to poverty, and will keep having plenty of children, whether they can afford to or not.

    Apparently living standards are falling back to the dreadful levels of the past.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...930s-mothers-starved-death-feed-children.html

    "The stark reality is that in 1933, for the mass of the population, Britain is a hungry Britain. Half the children living in areas of economic depression survived on a diet that was inadequate to maintain normal growth and health. Surveys indicated that 80 per cent of children in the mining areas of County Durham and the poorest areas of London showed signs of rickets. Dole payments to the unemployed were not nearly enough to provide the minimum diet. 'We are told we ought to eat fruit, but it is very seldom that I can afford it', said one housewife. Yet the government ignored, and vigorously denied, the obvious. 'There is no medical evidence of any general increase in physical impairment, sickness or mortality as a result of the economic depression or unemployment,' insisted the Minister of Health.
    Unsympathetic politicians were quick to blame inadequate diets on a lack of education or the fecklessness of the much-maligned working-class housewife.
    Any professionals brave enough to oppose this view were accused of promoting socialism, and the medical officer of health for Stockton-on-Tees was threatened with removal from the medical register for misconduct if he participated in a BBC broadcast on the problem of malnutrition. The government frequently tried to ban broadcasts which discussed poverty and unemployment. In 1934, Sir John Reith, the BBC's director-general, was summoned to Downing Street to be told by the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, that a series called 'Time To Spare' could not continue. The intent of the series was to inform people with no personal experience of unemployment what it was actually like by sending journalists to regions in the country with high unemployment. The director, though recognising the government's authority to pull the program, threatened to announce that the government had 'refused to allow the unemployed to express their view'.
    The British Board of Film Censors twice refused to allow a film version of Love On The Dole, a popular novel of the Depression, to be shown in cinemas on the grounds that it was a 'very sordid story in very sordid surroundings'.

    "I learned the meaning of hunger," wrote Max Cohen, a single, unemployed cabinet-maker. Friday was dole day, 'when, after feverish waiting at the Labour Exchange, I received the life-giving 14s. After paying 6s 6d a week rent, I was able, with much care and discrimination, to exist during the first half of the week, though I could spend nothing on replacing my clothes, or on minor luxuries of any kind, no matter how trifling. From Tuesday on came bankruptcy. I had no money at all. I lived on dry bread and bits of tasteless cheese left from the beginning of the week. All I could do was pull my belt tighter, ignore the ache in my stomach and hang on till Friday and deliverance came round again."
     

Share This Page