Friday, 29 May 2026
The background noise of public life
Keir Starmer defends policy choices in rebuttal of Blair’s criticism
Keir Starmer has dismissed Tony’s Blair’s argument that his government is on the wrong track, saying he is implementing the policies needed for today, not the very different situation faced by the former prime minister in 1997.
“You won’t be surprised to know that I don’t agree with much that Tony says about what the government is doing,” Starmer said during a visit to an apprentice training centre in west London.
It came as Andy Burnham, who was also criticised by Blair, responded by saying the ex-PM’s analysis was undermined by the “gaping omission” of acknowledging the impact of falling living standards.
Meanwhile -
One million lives.
Nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 in the United Kingdom are not in education, employment or training. One in 8 young people. And rising. Behind the statistics lie individual lives: aspirations thwarted, opportunities lost, futures placed on hold.
Numbers on that scale should command national attention in their own right. Too often they haven’t. The NEET rate has barely crept below 10% in 25 years. What should have been treated as an urgent national crisis has been absorbed into the background noise of public life.
That tolerance is no longer acceptable...
Time and again the system from education through health to welfare fails to enable labour market participation. Instead, all too often it ends up putting young people on a path to a life on benefits. These faultlines are limiting the opportunities for too many young people to learn or earn.
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8 comments:
Give 'em bows and arrows and tell them to go and defend the beaches.
Wisdom from Dearieme.
dearieme - that's a good idea, they could learn all the arts of bowmanship.
James - naturally!
My old grammar school (nostalgic sigh) explicitly aimed to turn out well rounded young men.
Things to note:
It was a boys school - aimed at converting young male animal spirits into useful members of society. Something probably deemed immoral now days.
It was a selective school by means of the 11 plus. Something probably deemed immoral now days.
It aimed to prepare young men for academic success, such as entry to Oxford or Cambridge. Something probably deemed unnecessary now days.
As a result of the attack on such grammar schools one path of upward social mobility was deliberately closed off. Apprenticeship schemes closed. Technical colleges given a coat of academic stripes. Reduced recruitment into the armed forces. And politicians have the nerve to witter on about the numbers of NEETS making the place look untidy.
Avoiding praising success for the sake of not criticising failure *will* have long term consequences.
DJ - sounds like my old grammar school (another nostalgic sigh). I agree, upward social mobility was deliberately closed off. Some years ago there was a comment on this blog about a conversation with a Labour councillor which went something like this -
"Decent working class lads pass the 11 plus, go to grammar school then university, get a middle class job and start voting Tory. We're going to put a stop to that."
I wonder if he told the apprentices that his father was a toolmaker?
Doonhamer - if he didn't he's a fake, so now we'll have fake Starmers to worry about. Not that we'll notice much difference.
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