I came of age when tuition fees were negligible, jobs felt abundant and a night out didn’t cost the equivalent of a month’s rent. Working-class heroes created Britpop and the Young British Artists movement, and it felt like anything was possible as I looked out from high school to the optimistic and democratic world in front of me.
Taking the first steps from the sanctuary of school to the big wide world has always been unnerving, but I am sure for those taking their first steps into the outside world today, it is even more daunting.
We hear it constantly – that the young are losing faith. Polls suggest that growing numbers feel disillusioned with democracy with some polls even saying they would rather see strong, authoritarian leadership. University fees remain daunting, degrees no longer carry the certainty they once did, graduate schemes are thinning out, and more than a third of UK teenagers worry that artificial intelligence will shrink the job market before they have even entered it.
