Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:52 pm  

Damo-Leeds wrote:

It’ll be interesting to read what other people think of this statement but it’s absolutely spot on. My generation are the product of many generations work – whilst not perfect we certainly deserve to be dealt with a better hand than what some of us are currently been dealt with.

Take a look at The Olympic Closing Ceremony thread. It's the same issue - fat, middle-aged blokes who still think The Who are great stuffing our younger generation.

Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:16 pm  

Damo-Leeds wrote:

It’ll be interesting to read what other people think of this statement but it’s absolutely spot on. My generation are the product of many generations work – whilst not perfect we certainly deserve to be dealt with a better hand than what some of us are currently been dealt with.

What’s disappointing above all is back in the day the unemployed got to build Leeds Civic Hall which has paved the way for years of civic engagement. The unemployed must have felt they were building a future back then. These days the unemployed get shoved in ASDA stacking shelves.

great campaign D-L and all the best with it but to say the 'current set of youngsters are the best in british history' is laying it on a bit IMO
people of my generation (including The Who, ironically !) would have said the same at the time with the only difference being in my younger days jobs were more easy to find - the lack of jobs for the youth of today all over europe is alarming so any intiative such as yours is to be applauded mate
but don't underestimate the contribution made by my generation and the one after, they weren't necesarily the 'good old days', just a bit easier to cope with maybe ?

Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:20 pm  

sanjunien wrote:

great campaign D-L and all the best with it but to say the 'current set of youngsters are the best in british history' is laying it on a bit IMO
people of my generation (including The Who, ironically !) would have said the same at the time with the only difference being in my younger days jobs were more easy to find - the lack of jobs for the youth of today all over europe is alarming so any intiative such as yours is to be applauded mate
but don't underestimate the contribution made by my generation and the one after, they weren't necesarily the 'good old days', just a bit easier to cope with maybe ?

Perhaps it is an ego taking over when someone claims that their generation is the best. However I did also mention that my generation is a product of many generations work including your own so music for example as an art form is progressing all the time.

As much as I’m not a fan of One Direction, I thought their piece during the opening ceremony was one of the better ones throughout because they performed like a group in their prime. Likewise I thought that Freddie Mercury on screen was the highlight of the whole closing event because it showcased a talent is his prime rather than one living off past glories. Technology is getting so good now we can make great performances of yesteryear seem very realistic. For example 2pac was back as a holographic on stage earlier this year.

I don’t think things were easier in your day – it was just more hidden because the world didn’t have the internet back then to debate these things with the amount of information we have access to these days. In all as a species we should have gone onto better things by now. But someone somewhere is holding something back!

Thanks for the complents so far everyone

Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:18 pm  

Damo-Leeds wrote:

Perhaps it is an ego taking over when someone claims that their generation is the best. However I did also mention that my generation is a product of many generations work including your own so music for example as an art form is progressing all the time.

As much as I’m not a fan of One Direction, I thought their piece during the opening ceremony was one of the better ones throughout because they performed like a group in their prime. Likewise I thought that Freddie Mercury on screen was the highlight of the whole closing event because it showcased a talent is his prime rather than one living off past glories. Technology is getting so good now we can make great performances of yesteryear seem very realistic. For example 2pac was back as a holographic on stage earlier this year.

I don’t think things were easier in your day – it was just more hidden because the world didn’t have the internet back then to debate these things with the amount of information we have access to these days. In all as a species we should have gone onto better things by now. But someone somewhere is holding something back!

Thanks for the complents so far everyone

I didn't watch the ceremony so I can't judge on the musical performances on offer but the mid 60s to the mid 70s saw a massive leap in musical terms - probably the biggest progression musically there has ever been ?
jobwise, it was relatively easy to find employment compared to nowadays and one could change jobs when you wanted almost - my lad who is now 25 managed to find work after a few months in England (he applied for posts anywhere in europe) with two Masters with honours from La Sorbonne in his pocket and he realises how lucky he is to have a relatively stable employment - he knows he will probably be on the scrapheap when he hits 40 ish so is preparing for his working future - we live in an uncertain and unstable world and I fear for the youth of today and even more for the next generation

I don't know if they are 'doomed' to paraphrase the famous undertaker or if solutions can be found but it's hard to be optimistic nowadays - apologies if I sound negative but that's the way I believe many people of my age feel...

as I said, good luck to anyone with possible solutions and they will have my total support

Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:21 pm  

sanjunien wrote:

I didn't watch the ceremony so I can't judge on the musical performances on offer but the mid 60s to the mid 70s saw a massive leap in musical terms - probably the biggest progression musically there has ever been ?

I think fans of the prodigiously talented Mozart might disagree.

Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:25 pm  

Damo - there have been many times when it has been difficult to find jobs. It was in my era so I got on a train to London. In fact, back then half the population of Liverpool decamped to London and Milton Keynes.

Re: Youth Unemployment : Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:39 pm  

Dally wrote:

I think fans of the prodigiously talented Mozart might disagree.

Yes, it's amazing what Mozart managed to produce in his short lfetime (about 600 pieces in about 25 years !) but I would argue that quantity doesn't equal quality and that Tchaikovsky changed the face of music more than dear old Amadeus and the progression from Tchaik to The Mighy Handful was even more important only to be surpassed by Mahler & co and then the big leap to the likes of Shost, Stravinsky, Scriabin and the brilliant Prokofiev et al who really changed the face of modern classical music.Probably the biggest musical progression of the so called classical era ie. post baroque (bearing in mind 'Classical Music' dates from about 1750 - 1825 ish followed by 'Romantic' then 'Modern Classical' etc)

bet jobs were plentiful then ?




we really need a classical music thread and keep on topic maybe ?

Re: Youth Unemployment : Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:55 am  

sanjunien wrote:

Jobwise, it was relatively easy to find employment compared to nowadays and one could change jobs when you wanted almost - my lad who is now 25 managed to find work after a few months in England (he applied for posts anywhere in europe) with two Masters with honours from La Sorbonne in his pocket and he realises how lucky he is to have a relatively stable employment - he knows he will probably be on the scrapheap when he hits 40 ish so is preparing for his working future - we live in an uncertain and unstable world and I fear for the youth of today and even more for the next generation

I don't know if they are 'doomed' to paraphrase the famous undertaker or if solutions can be found but it's hard to be optimistic nowadays - apologies if I sound negative but that's the way I believe many people of my age feel...

as I said, good luck to anyone with possible solutions and they will have my total support

We’ll leave the music behind now till it becomes relevant again in this thread.

A lot of graduates have gone through and are going through what your son went through. Although credit to your son he does tend to have a lot more higher education qualifications than the average long term unemployed graduate. I’m glad he’s found something to do.

I think the most demoralising thing for university graduates is getting turned down for a relatively easy job like stacking shelves at a supermarket. One of the battlefront campaigners went for a job at ASDA and was told she was unsuitable – like who are ASDA to judge whose suitable and unsuitable to9 stack their shelves? If anyone’s a job snob these days then its employers who turn down well educated people for a menial job. You’d think that the biggest supermarkets in this country would be more than happy to provide employment for our graduates until they find employment in their preferred field. But then again supermarkets have been getting people on the cheap through government programmes that give the unemployed a harsh choice between working for their benefits or not getting any benefits at all. The unemployed in some cases are getting paid under £2 an hour to stack shelves. It’s just a terrible situation for many at the moment but not for everyone.

When tacking youth unemployment I think that the focus is all on the wrong things. Rather than try and look for the solution we end up focusing on the negative end of things. Lobbying the government to stop taking advantage of a bad situation isn’t going to solve anything – they’ve made a decision and there likely to stick with it good or bad.

Likewise protesting at firms who take advantage of a bad situation isn’t going to solve anything. If anything we could end up losing these firms abroad which could make this country much worse off.

Didn’t the unions (as much as I support the unions) back in the day scare many companies to distant shores?

Look at what we’re left with..

Re: Youth Unemployment : Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:13 am  

Damo-Leeds wrote:

I think the most demoralising thing for university graduates is getting turned down for a relatively easy job like stacking shelves at a supermarket. One of the battlefront campaigners went for a job at ASDA and was told she was unsuitable – like who are ASDA to judge whose suitable and unsuitable to9 stack their shelves? If anyone’s a job snob these days then its employers who turn down well educated people for a menial job. You’d think that the biggest supermarkets in this country would be more than happy to provide employment for our graduates until they find employment in their preferred field. But then again supermarkets have been getting people on the cheap through government programmes that give the unemployed a harsh choice between working for their benefits or not getting any benefits at all. The unemployed in some cases are getting paid under £2 an hour to stack shelves. It’s just a terrible situation for many at the moment but not for everyone.


Didn’t the unions (as much as I support the unions) back in the day scare many companies to distant shores?

yes, it seems a senseless situation at the moment with no easy way out

the french government did as they said and slashed youth unemployment quite easily - unfortunately the apprenticeships that are being offerered were just that, apprenticeships with no job at the end of it - all that happened was that kids were/are being taken on to do the adult (over 25 jobs) which worked out far cheaper for the employers who made people like me redundant - the employers just change apprentices every two or three years to take advantage of he cheap labour - the result is a big reduction in youth unemployment but rocketing unemployment for the 25-50 age groups !

I thought the minimum wage existed in the UK ? how come employers can pay as little as £2 p/h ?

Re: Youth Unemployment : Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:43 am  

sanjunien wrote:

I thought the minimum wage existed in the UK ? how come employers can pay as little as £2 p/h ?

Because they are claiming Job Seekers Allowance or other job related benefits and are forced, sorry, encouraged, to work for nothing at selected major retaillers in order to keep the smugness factor quite high among Daily Mail readers.