The feral youth of today need a brand makeover. Georgia Gould, committed young politician and New Labour scion (her late father was the strategist Philip Gould), has produced an easy-to-read manifesto that debunks the derogatory tabloid stereotype of useless, narcissistic hoodies, thugs, yobs and chavs. Gould makes a clever argument: that the resignation and apathy that are supposed traits of a disenfranchised youth are actually the projection of a cynical adult populace whose political institutions are exclusionary and unfit for purpose.
In Wasted, Gould focuses largely on those born after 1980, meeting individuals from diverse backgrounds all over Britain. She encounters boys and girls who, far from being a generation of dead-eyed sext addicts, are brimming with creativity, entrepreneurialism, social ideals and community-mindedness. They engage with the world around them, not necessarily through mainstream political routes but through civil society, local organisations, cultural endeavours and informal bodies. Gould is all for it, urging establishment figures who would write off the young to look at these methods of social involvement, learn from them and change accordingly.
Wasted is not a thoroughgoing, elegant history of youth movements in postwar Britain but an urgent missive from a moment in time. It portrays a Britain that is socially stagnant, economically shrunken, beset by high youth unemployment, greedy, politically elitist and punitive towards those who need the most assistance. She notes that these factors “impact on young people differently depending on their class, gender, race, religion, region”, adding that she will “focus in particular on how social class impacts on young people’s experiences and opportunities”. This seems like a massive get-out: without the other fundamental and interlocking criteria she has mentioned, what else is there? Inequality is heavily influenced by race and gender and no amount of gung-ho bloviation about young people’s exciting blogs and networking ability and youth leadership and skills development can gloss it over.
Nonetheless, Gould has a refreshing faith that society can change: that institutions can be reformed, leaders challenged, methods altered. It demonstrates that disadvantaged young people are already actively seeking understanding, engagement and support but are being failed in their attempts to advance themselves or improve their peers’ environments. The book counters complacency with local dynamism and decentralised, civic can-do. Admittedly, Gould’s is a very New Labour/“big society” vision of the future – and indeed she was digital manager at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (if there’s ever a phrase to chill the blood, it’s that).
Despite forgoing political subtlety, basic feminist awareness and intersectional rigour, Wasted is inspiring, more in its general spirit than its specific wording. Gould is a born political activist, a doer, a joiner, a campaigner, a Labour party councillor who was elected when she was just 24. But she is not a natural writer and Wasted has a tendency to sound like a standard, sweeping speech: “A mutual agenda for unions could see them work with employers to provide opportunities for training, networking, representation and empowerment, creating a more skilled and motivated workforce. It would also help them to re-engage with a generation who prefer a collaborative approach to an oppositional one.”
Still, Gould offers a vision of Britain that will improve if it embraces the talents of its internet-savvy, multitasking, adaptable young people, instead of demonising them for their failure to live up to some ideal. To use a very New Labour term, the message to take away from Wasted is that there is plenty of cause for optimism, not only among Britain’s hungry and talented youth but also when it comes to society’s institutions, organisations, values and practices, which can always be transformed.
Wasted is published by Little, Brown (£14.99). Click here to buy it for £11.99
