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| Young have knocks to come | Young have knocks to come |
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| Despite aspiring to become a well-informed, well-rounded person, I didn't bother watching the parliamentary reading of the 2013 budget. Snaffling a sandwich at my desk, watching grown men jeer like schoolboys, then telling social media, "Gideon, ha ha! He's called Gideon!", really wasn't on my agenda. Because, even though it's a useless excuse of an admission, I know we're in trouble, and a couple of pennies off fuel tax isn't going to change that. | Despite aspiring to become a well-informed, well-rounded person, I didn't bother watching the parliamentary reading of the 2013 budget. Snaffling a sandwich at my desk, watching grown men jeer like schoolboys, then telling social media, "Gideon, ha ha! He's called Gideon!", really wasn't on my agenda. Because, even though it's a useless excuse of an admission, I know we're in trouble, and a couple of pennies off fuel tax isn't going to change that. |
| It's not only because I'm not allowed to drive – the DVLA has had a beef with me ever since I went the wrong way on that roundabout – but because nothing of effect seems to be happening. The only step forward the government has managed in the past three months is getting a second reading of the marriage (same sex couples) bill. But more on that later. | It's not only because I'm not allowed to drive – the DVLA has had a beef with me ever since I went the wrong way on that roundabout – but because nothing of effect seems to be happening. The only step forward the government has managed in the past three months is getting a second reading of the marriage (same sex couples) bill. But more on that later. |
| Pressurising the budget is the UK's ageing population, the greying lot who've become so needy. But it's not only the over-65s who are ageing rapidly. People in their twenties might not develop wrinkles at the same pace – how can we afford to smoke, anyway? – but we're certainly growing up faster, foregoing the traditional rites of passage, like, say, living in comfort, or being appreciated for our work. | Pressurising the budget is the UK's ageing population, the greying lot who've become so needy. But it's not only the over-65s who are ageing rapidly. People in their twenties might not develop wrinkles at the same pace – how can we afford to smoke, anyway? – but we're certainly growing up faster, foregoing the traditional rites of passage, like, say, living in comfort, or being appreciated for our work. |
| While rent and work occupy most of our energies, how are we meant to get on with relationships? Of course love can exist without money, but while young people's thoughts are taken up with worries of where we can afford to live and how we can convince our employer to remunerate us for our 9-5 input, relationships aren't a priority. | While rent and work occupy most of our energies, how are we meant to get on with relationships? Of course love can exist without money, but while young people's thoughts are taken up with worries of where we can afford to live and how we can convince our employer to remunerate us for our 9-5 input, relationships aren't a priority. |
| If these sound like obstacles enough to the progression of young people's development and wellbeing, then imagine that you're LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). The gene pool of potential dates is smaller… and you can't afford to go out for a drink. The spaces where you can interact with your boo are limited… and your new flatmate off Gumtree is "all right with it but don't want it in my face". But hey, why should we gripe? Soon we'll be able to marry people of our own sex, thanks to the second reading of the equal marriage bill! Apologies for not joining in with the fanfare, but I'm 25. I'm more sensible than that. | If these sound like obstacles enough to the progression of young people's development and wellbeing, then imagine that you're LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). The gene pool of potential dates is smaller… and you can't afford to go out for a drink. The spaces where you can interact with your boo are limited… and your new flatmate off Gumtree is "all right with it but don't want it in my face". But hey, why should we gripe? Soon we'll be able to marry people of our own sex, thanks to the second reading of the equal marriage bill! Apologies for not joining in with the fanfare, but I'm 25. I'm more sensible than that. |
| It's not that I'm unromantic, or want to spend my autumn years eating out of cobwebbed saucepans. But what use is it letting happy, settled couples marry if there is no correlating commitment to the younger versions of these people through sex education in schools? Last week, junior education minister Liz Truss announced that, after a consultation on the subject was made with parents – of course – sex education would remain voluntary. So legislators allow people to love, but parents are allowed to keep children ignorant of its machinations. | It's not that I'm unromantic, or want to spend my autumn years eating out of cobwebbed saucepans. But what use is it letting happy, settled couples marry if there is no correlating commitment to the younger versions of these people through sex education in schools? Last week, junior education minister Liz Truss announced that, after a consultation on the subject was made with parents – of course – sex education would remain voluntary. So legislators allow people to love, but parents are allowed to keep children ignorant of its machinations. |
| During the Commons debate on the bill, Margot James said that young people would appreciate the legalising of equal marriage. But what effect does equal marriage have on young people, when they don't get to learn what equal love is? | During the Commons debate on the bill, Margot James said that young people would appreciate the legalising of equal marriage. But what effect does equal marriage have on young people, when they don't get to learn what equal love is? |
| If you're LGBT, you've cleared the hurdles of finding a home and a career, and you've found someone who wants to join in matrimony with you, so you may spend the rest of your lives bickering over empty loo-roll holders, then you're lucky, and I'm jealous. You've successfully negotiated the toughest parts of all contemporary life. I don't want to check your privilege, because it's so hard won, and I can't imagine how much tougher it was to be out in the previous millennium, because I wasn't. But the battle for acceptance isn't over, and policies cannot change public opinion if public opinion can be so easily misinformed at the whim of a prudish parent. | If you're LGBT, you've cleared the hurdles of finding a home and a career, and you've found someone who wants to join in matrimony with you, so you may spend the rest of your lives bickering over empty loo-roll holders, then you're lucky, and I'm jealous. You've successfully negotiated the toughest parts of all contemporary life. I don't want to check your privilege, because it's so hard won, and I can't imagine how much tougher it was to be out in the previous millennium, because I wasn't. But the battle for acceptance isn't over, and policies cannot change public opinion if public opinion can be so easily misinformed at the whim of a prudish parent. |
| So spare a thought, and a bit of fanfare – even if it is just a sad trombone – for the younger versions of you, the ones with all the hard bits to come, those who are still at the starting blocks. | So spare a thought, and a bit of fanfare – even if it is just a sad trombone – for the younger versions of you, the ones with all the hard bits to come, those who are still at the starting blocks. |
| Geri still flies the flag | Geri still flies the flag |
| Fresh from Girls Aloud's split, Nadine Coyle is bitter. She angrily tweeted: "You should know by now I had no part in any of this split business. I couldn't stop them. I had the best time & want to keep going. Xxxx." | Fresh from Girls Aloud's split, Nadine Coyle is bitter. She angrily tweeted: "You should know by now I had no part in any of this split business. I couldn't stop them. I had the best time & want to keep going. Xxxx." |
| A scroll away, though, lay hope; Geri Halliwell, tweeting her visit to London Zoo's new tiger enclosure. Knowing she was off to discover a ginger cat, she'd paid stylish homage to the final scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's, with an Audrey Hepburn beehive and a beige trenchcoat. It was only dress-up, because unlike Holly Golightly, Geri is happy. As well as sharing mantras with her lucky followers: "Maybe we should stop worrying about which god we believe in and just love each other ? #pope", she builds her cult with happiness. Even while cleaning up literal crap, she can poke fun at how mundane she's become: "Ok so glamorous Saturday start, cleaning up dog sick." | A scroll away, though, lay hope; Geri Halliwell, tweeting her visit to London Zoo's new tiger enclosure. Knowing she was off to discover a ginger cat, she'd paid stylish homage to the final scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's, with an Audrey Hepburn beehive and a beige trenchcoat. It was only dress-up, because unlike Holly Golightly, Geri is happy. As well as sharing mantras with her lucky followers: "Maybe we should stop worrying about which god we believe in and just love each other ? #pope", she builds her cult with happiness. Even while cleaning up literal crap, she can poke fun at how mundane she's become: "Ok so glamorous Saturday start, cleaning up dog sick." |
| What a fall from grace! Geri Halliwell, all squidgy pout and titchy Union Jack dress, used to be universal shorthand for a British pop culture when British pop culture was all pop, and it was gobby and fun. But then she became a mockery, simply for doing everything that we do, or would like to. She promoted the wrong sort of feminism – well, who doesn't? She clung on to Robbie Williams as if joined by rivets – who wouldn't? And she had an odd relationship with food – don't we all? | What a fall from grace! Geri Halliwell, all squidgy pout and titchy Union Jack dress, used to be universal shorthand for a British pop culture when British pop culture was all pop, and it was gobby and fun. But then she became a mockery, simply for doing everything that we do, or would like to. She promoted the wrong sort of feminism – well, who doesn't? She clung on to Robbie Williams as if joined by rivets – who wouldn't? And she had an odd relationship with food – don't we all? |
| Geri will prevail, though, because she's still got that naive self-assurance of a youngster, despite being a woman who's seen too much (Russell Brand naked, anyone?). Danny Boyle might wail about having to scrimp and save to get the Olympic opening ceremony's message – of hard work, unity and celebration – across. Why didn't he just plonk Gezza on stage with a megaphone? | Geri will prevail, though, because she's still got that naive self-assurance of a youngster, despite being a woman who's seen too much (Russell Brand naked, anyone?). Danny Boyle might wail about having to scrimp and save to get the Olympic opening ceremony's message – of hard work, unity and celebration – across. Why didn't he just plonk Gezza on stage with a megaphone? |