Sallust
The Daily Sceptic
The Telegraph has published an exposé of the privations and hardships to which young people are subjected today.
Ruby Borg, who appears to be the paper’s social media editor (there’s a 21st century job, if ever there was), reports on the exacting experience she has every day trying to get to work from her parental home in Hemel Hempstead (apparently – it’s not entirely clear) on a West Midlands Railway service that runs from there into Euston.
Note that the journey for this under-26 year-old starts with a taxi ride to the station, which will surely resonate with those who started their working lives in the 1960s and ’70s:
Every week, I spend hours on their trains. I’m often hit by delays or cancellations, and am nearly always late home, questioning my sanity as I sprint alongside hundreds of others to fight for a space.
It should take an hour to get to work – taxi to the station, train to Euston, then four stops on the Victoria line.
But one day last week, I spent a record seven hours of my life commuting. That’s a full work day, and I had to pay for the privilege of being there.
Seven hours is “a full work day”, note.
My monthly travel outgoings consist of taxis to and from the station, costing between £10 and £15. My peak-time return train journey costs £18.60, even with a 16-25 railcard. Then add another £5.80 a day for a sweltering ride on the Victoria line.
In all, I spend an average of £247 a week, or £988 a month. It’s no longer financially beneficial for me to continue living at home.
It seems even her brother is struggling to get around:
Even my 17-year-old brother spends £100 on train fares just to get to college… one stop away.
That’s “one stop away”, presumably from home. How on earth did people get to school or college before trains were invented?
Ruby is planning to solve everything by moving into London. But it’s an unattractive prospect, because that too is no bowl of cherries:
Moving to London is, financially, barely palatable. According to Spareroom, the listings site, the average price for rent in London is £980 per month. This excludes ever-rising council tax, groceries – and of course, the cost of a pint.
Even worse, she might have to do without basic kitchen equipment:
My number one priority when I move into the city is to cut down my commute. Thankfully, my housemates-to-be are keen to live fairly centrally. But £1,000 a month really does not go very far. I’ll likely end up in an ex-council flat, with no outdoor space, dishwasher or nearby tube station.
Heaven forbid, though it’s not certain what the worst of those features is. Nor is it clear what she and her chums mean by “fairly centrally”, and it’s unlikely she means the actual ‘city’. Instead, Park Lane perhaps, Kensington, or Bloomsbury? Disappointment is looming, it seems from the lack of dishwasher to the sordid prospect of a former council flat, let alone the geographical spot.
To be fair, there is a serious mismatch for many people in Britain between the cost of living and what they earn, and between people’s expectations and chronic disintegrating services.
On the other hand, are Generation Z thronging forth into the working world with an astonishing presumption of entitlement? And if so, whose fault is that?
Worth reading in full.
This article was originally published by the Daily Sceptic.
