….and that is the role of young men in society. Chris Grayling MP today referred to a ‘Jeremy Kyle Future’. This is an extremely serious matter and has been surely played a huge part in the breakdown of some communities in the UK. I am glad that Chris Grayling has raised it.
Some will know that when I was in my teens, and lived in Llanelli with my parents, I was an active member of the Labour Party. One of the most frequent disagreements I had with my then ‘Comrades’ (apart from my loathing for the idea of establishing a Welsh Assembly), was my belief that the Labour Party needed to focus very heavily on the issue of youth male unemployment as an issue in its own right. Some agreed (such as the then local MP, Denzil Davies) and others did not.
The words that are worth considering for me were written by the American, Charles Murray:
“It is an irretrievable disaster for young men to grow up without being socialized into the world of work.
….By remaining out of the work force during the crucial formative years, young men aren’t just losing the few years of job experience. They are missing out on the time in which they need to have been acquiring the skills and the networks of friends and experiences that enable them to establish a place for themselves – not only in the workplace, but a vantage point from which they can make sense of themselves and their lives.”
Fortunately, there is access to jobs in this area but I think for the country as a whole this needs to be a much higher priority in the future.
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