Who knows what they're doing?

Surely the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says we shall give our children better than we ourselves received.

This article first appeared in The Stornoway Gazette.

Credit: Parliament TV

Who knows what they’re doing anyway? Well, one would hope that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister might have some knowledge as they take office. The death of The Queen, the mourning period and funeral, gave politicians respite from politicking. It was pleasant, in hindsight, that there was political calm and we could all remember a person who was steadfast, solid, consistent and generally perceived to be pretty clued up on basically everything. But, that is now a distant memory of about 10 days ago. Politicians are back. And they’re going boom and bust all over the place.

As I type, the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury are - apparently - briefing Conservative MPs about the economic situation. It’s a shame they’re not briefing the rest of us, who are, instead, looking at line graphs going down, interest rates going up, bills blowing our savings and a future melting like an ice cream on a summer’s day. 

In their briefing, they stressed the need for calm heads and for the party to stay united. Sir Keir Starmer has just delivered his keynote speech as Labour leader at their party conference, receiving - I’m told - 12 standing ovations from an audience which seemed to lap up his anti-Tory messages, his positioning as heir to Blair, and boldness after YouGov’s latest analysis gave Labour their greatest poll lead in the history of YouGov polling (about 20 years) - some 17 points.

Young people are once again staring into an abyss. Where once we could rely on grown-ups to navigate us, we reach the stage of adulthood where staring, aghast, is the only option we seem to have left. Bystanders. The Chancellor’s not-very-mini budget gave a well-advertised boost to the wealthy. Bringing forward the 1p cut to income tax and reversing the 1.25p increase in national insurance contributions will not have a particularly generation-defining impact on young adults. The tax savings on an income of £20,000 will only be as much as £218, while someone on £200,000 will be rewarded with a whopping £4,333 in tax cuts. In this example, ten times more income brings 20 times more in savings.

But then, a glimmer of hope - the announcement of a discount on stamp duty - the tax paid when you buy a house. The discount is designed to help some first-time buyers. Oh, but then comes the analysis. The discount will probably keep house prices high. Mortgage interest rates are going up. The cost of living crisis is obliterating our savings. In the round, even if house prices do ultimately fall, killing off stamp duty will not offset higher energy prices, food costs and those dastardly rising interest rates. 

Morale seems low. Young adults have been pretty consistently whacked for several years now, for the reasons above, plus Covid’s detonation of education, the rent trap - where huge proportions of income are spent on affording a roof over our heads - and intense job pressures.

But wait - aren’t young people supposed to be the hope for a better future?

Photo by Charlotte Harrison on Unsplash

In some ways, that is in evidence. Progress on equality and social justice is made loudly. Young people are turning away from booze and binge drinking; standing up for themselves in the face of oppressive bosses and using technology to be the most impressive entrepreneurs at astonishingly young ages.

With independence like this, combined with economic catastrophe, political polarisation and an overwhelming sense of helplessness in the face of the climate crisis, comes political uncertainty. From The New Statesman: “According to a recent report by the think tank Onward, pithily titled “The Kids Aren’t Alright”, 18 to 34-year-olds in Britain are more likely than older age groups to favour experts over elected representatives, support placing the army in charge of the government, and vote for a strongman who ignores the rules of parliament.”

Young adults are more insular, independent and isolated - perhaps, even, unwittingly more selfish than before. There is a definite chicken-and-egg scenario here in terms of placing blame. For, it is true that young people wish to belong. You only have to look out for the latest hair style which you will see repeated on every youth in view so as to feel a part of something. But young people are losing a sense of where they should belong. Moreover, are the things we conform to and belong to, conducive to the good of community and society around us? An abandonment of politics will leave the young generation - and the future - even more at-sea than the new Chancellor. 

Says the report: “Young people today are unhappier, less socially trusting, and more detached from society than young people historically or older people today. They have fewer friends and lower-quality friendships.”

There is political failure at every turn. There is war. There is a climate emergency. There is the perception, which is crystallising even more, that the economic future is bleak and difficult to comprehend. There is futility. Political parties, traditionally, offer a home to those who are politically engaged, which leaves us with two considerations. Firstly, is the need for politicians to engage young people who are removing themselves from these traditional “tribes'', with the concrete and honest appeal of a hope-filled future. Secondly, is the need for political parties to work effectively for the sort of future that they exist to deliver. As one wise, fictional, president once said: “Surely the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says we shall give our children better than we ourselves received.” The grown-ups need to start acting like it.