Won't somebody think of "young people"? (Edit: and No, older people aren't "to blame")

[Rorschach]

I know I have mostly defended the young against the boomers but I am going to concede something today.

I am a member of a lot of facebook local "free" groups, occasionally I get useful items that no-one wants but mostly I use them to help others or give away items no longer needed.
Recently these groups have been cut down to essentials only due to C19 and a lot of what I am seeing being given away is food. This is not a bad thing of course, it's great to see people preventing food waste which really winds me up. But it's what is being given away that makes me sad, the thing I see multiple times a day is people giving away items from their free school meals boxes provided by the government, and they are giving away fruit, vegetables (and usually yoghurts weirdly). It's lovely looking stuff, apples, pears, oranges, melons, cabbages, potatoes etc, all lovely and fresh, quite a lot of value to it if you were to go to the supermarket and buy it, between £5-10 worth I would guess on average and it's all "unwanted". Even worse of course, you look at the people giving it away and they definitely look like they could do with eating a bit more fruit and veg shall we say.
Whether it's lack of knowledge of how to cook it or simply not liking "real" food it is a sad thing to see of the youth and even sadder to think of their children being brought up like this.

 

[Jameshow]

Interesting to read comment from all ages.

When leaving school (early '60's) we were advised to go for subjects that interested us. Getting a degree then meant you were in the highest 2.5% academically, and advisers said any pure subject degree would tell a future employer about your relevant transferrable skills. Job specific stuff called training came after you got the job. Mind you there were a lot of badly managed firms then, and a decade later Training Boards were set up to push more companies to train. Many didn't change and died in the Thatcher years - her lame ducks. Others blamed the unions, but a one time director af a Clyde side family of shipbuilders confessed recently that he now recognised how poor they were at management, and consequently they got the workers (attitudes) they deserved.

Now were're global and stuff gets made where it costs least - that's the market economy - so it's inevitable that only firms making higher order stuff can survive here, and higher order stuff requires higher order staff. There will be fewer jobs for those with low skills and abilities, and the education system has not begun to address this problem. Unfortunately my grandchildren appeared to take the view that the world owes them a living. Often soon with partner and 2 kids, renting, and claiming that should be entitled to move into a house just like mum and dad's with all the white goods and a good car or two. Reality came as a huge shock, from which some have not yet recovered, and still cannot see why their fractured employment record will make gaining an interview increasingly difficult.

Indeed it is now a different world...

I don't know what you mean by influencers....

All I know is whatever Paul Sellars or Rob Cosman et al.. recommends I buy.....



Cheers James