Cast Aside

Recommended reading: Adita Chakrabortty's Guardian piece last week on the de-industrialisation of the north-east (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/16/why-britain-doesnt-make-things-manufacturing).
Although the piece focused on that particular region, there were stark parallels with Merseyside. Like the north east, Merseyside has a large number of people working in the public sector & the cuts will markedly increase the unemployment figures for the region. With the number of NEETS (young people not in education, employment or traning) rising perhaps exponentially, the gravity of the situation will deepen even further. We can all see the social consequences of having what is already acknowledged to be the lost generation (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/18/aspiration-nation-youth-unemployment) on street corners. Indeed, Tony Schumacher recently essayed a dispiriting encounter with an unemployed (&, sadly, unemployable) NEET (anthonyschumacher.blogspot.com/2011/11/devil-and-me.html).