Are young people really getting shafted?

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival 2022 on Saturday 15 October at Church House, Westminster.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

The war between the generations has never felt stronger. Your age supposedly determines how you vote, your views on the world and your prospects for the future. Older people decry younger citizens as ‘woke snowflakes’, while the young in turn dismiss their parents as stealing their future via Brexit, climate change and house prices. As 50 per cent of young people – for now – attend university, generational attitudes towards free speech and pluralism have also come under strain.

When it comes to financial matters, it’s easy to see the insecure employment and housing market as proof that young people’s prospects are bleak. On the other hand, many argue that young people have never had it so good, enjoying more opportunities and innovation than any previous generation. Today’s young generation are more likely to own cars, go on foreign holidays and eat in restaurants than their parents or grandparents.

So is this really a generation war? Or does class still create a greater dividing line? After all, economic struggle is not unique to today’s youngsters. And whether it’s owning a home or being able to afford avocado on toast, what are the prospects, hopes and dreams for young people in the 2020s?

SPEAKERS
Emily Carver
acting director of communications and head of media, Institute of Economic Affairs

Ceri Dingle
director, WORLDwrite and WORLDbytes

Kunle Olulode
director, Voice4Change England

Sam Parker
European financial regulation specialist; former parliamentary assistant, European Parliament and House of Lords

Freddie Poser
director, PricedOut

CHAIR
Noah Keate
journalist and writer