Waiting for the vote

Swelling the August unemployment figures to over 600 000, last summer's school leavers are the latest to bear the consequences of the years of neglect of the bulk of the schools' population after they finish their statutory schooling. In the fat years this neglect can be masked — the vans need drivers, the drivers need van‐boys, and presto the early school leaver disappears quickly from the list of the long‐term unemployed. This year will be different.