# 77 (2013) It's Time To Deal With Our Burgeoning Graduate Population

Could we please all start directing our school leavers to websites like this, rather than websites like this?

Because if there is one thing I'm fairly sure of, it's that getting school leavers onto work schemes that teach them business skills, social skills, work ethics and gives them an income whilst they are still living at home, has to be better than three years in the hermetically sealed environment of the classroom living off what is essentially a Government handout.

Study rooms give a classroom protected view of working environments which offer them little experience of what life is really like and does not shape them ready for the real world. Additionally, it means that those students who are severely academically lacking may never get a job at all, which probably partly explains our huge problem with youth unemployment.

It strikes me that we don't need any more post-graduate students. We need skilled workers not statistic meeting, classroom boffins. Now, this may seem like a hark back to the old days of the 'class system'. And that's because it is. And what is wrong with the class system? Not everyone is an academic. Not everyone is fit for Government office, and not everyone can be a plumber. We have a class system because we are an animal with a pecking order and you cannot change that no matter how many degrees you introduce or how many times you put up the minimum wage.

There are people who are good with their hands and not their minds and they have huge potential in the job market if they are given the right education and the right direction. Putting vocational students into academic classrooms and converting vocational courses in BA's and MA's kills these students potential because it is sterile and nonconstructive to their needs and abilities.

And because it is all about hitting targets it often makes their industry appear pretentious (I use fashion and Graduate Fashion Week as a case in point) and unrealistic.

We killed off the polytechnic years ago. But the apprenticeship is making a comeback. Businesses are already seeing the advantage to taking apprentices under their wing. But we need more. To me it represents possibly the best chance we have of rescuing our floundering employment market and our lack of properly skilled workers.

Vocational skills are learnt on the job and not in the classroom. They help students to decide what they want to do because they get the opportunity to try the job for real. How many students have gone through the university system only to discover they don't like the industry they spent three years training to join? 

That nothing seems to change year on year just surprises me. Everything seem to be about statistics and league tables these days, not about people and aspirations and abilities. And it just doesn't work. 

Vocational skills are learnt on the job, not in the classroom (source)

# 33 (2013) The Price Of Peas

In less than 6 months the price of a bag of value brand frozen peas at Tesco has gone from 84p to £1.20.

I'm already down to one bag per month and I expect prices to keep on rising. Cheese, butter and potatoes are all off my list now and I stopped buying washing powder about 2 years ago thanks to a handy gadget from Lakeland which has saved me a lot of money.

More than 13 million people live in poverty in the UK, suffering 

food shortages on a scale not seen since wartime rationing

We are all feeling the pinch. Even the most basic things are starting to become luxuries and I'm thinking that I can't be the only one streamlining my shopping basket to such lengths. I am however now beginning to worry how the restricted diets many of us are being forced into are going to affect our health in years to come. Scrimping on fresh fruit, vegetables and a balanced diet is surely going to have long term effects?

Over the last few years my diet has become incredibly restricted. Most of the veg I consume has to be grown in the garden which means that for a large part of the year I don't have much variety. Supermarket prices are now too prohibitive as the price of peas demonstrates. I now have an intake of just five vegetables.

(source)

My staple diet consists mostly of meat, fish, carbohydrates (pasta, rice, homemade bread, porridge), milk and eggs which I am sure cannot be good for me. Despite this I've not lost any weight at all which is also a concern because it means I must be eating calorie rich foods and am not getting the right nutrition.

Over the last few weeks I've noticed I am going to bed hungry more often and I skip at least a few meals a week. The food I am eating at home is becoming routine and uninteresting which often means I just can't be bothered with it. And I'm not the only one. This is becoming a regular pattern across the country for people in all wage brackets, in all classes. 

A recent report by Save the Children looked at 5,000 families with incomes 

of up to £30,000 a year....to ensure their children get enough food to eat, 

nearly two-thirds of parents skip meals, go into debt, avoid paying 

bills, and put off replacing worn-out clothing

And there's more to come. As harvests fail due to the weather and we rely more and more on imported food (about 40%), it is estimated that the cost of the weekly shop will continue to rise by about 4% a year until 2022.

The knock on effect is that supermarkets are going to see their profits fall. To encourage shoppers they either have to drop their prices or cover the short fall by putting them even higher. Something has to give. And I can't see an easy resolution to the problem.

# 24 (2013) Financial Forecast

(source)

You know you're getting old when you're worrying about the interest rates on your savings accounts. Every April I re-evaluate and move things around. Because someone has to.

I've worked out that if I can keep my ISA at a 3% rate for the rest of my working life I'll be able to retire at 62 with a marginally comfortable pension using today's prices. Which is kind of sad but clearly a necessity. But with no end to the recession in sight, finding that 3% deal is proving tricky. And that's how I know the recession is a real problem.

I didn't have a pension when I worked full time and money was the least of my worries. I spent my money, and spent and spent. And now I have a lot of catching up to do. Let that be a warning to you.

If I want to retire at around about state pension age I've only got 21 years left to muster up about £220,000 which may just keep me in food and heating if I live into my 80s. And who knows how long I'll live after that if I get that far.

Today, for the first time, a person in their 80s 

has higher living standards than someone 

working in their 20s

It's disconcerting how all through your twenties retirement is a whole other existence away. But then suddenly your thirties arrives and you think uh-huh. Real life. But those vital years do make all the difference.

Of course if you think I'm worrying now you need to read this to understand how catastrophic things could get not only for younger generations but also those approaching retirement now. The pension you might be putting away now, isn't actually there. It's being used to pay for a generation of retirees who are already there. But if fewer people are now putting away for their retirement where are current pensions coming from? The state pension may now in some cases be comparable to an early twenties income but an increasing number of pensionable age workers are now hanging in there and still working because they cannot afford to retire.

Many children are now living at home into their 40s because the costs of moving out are too prohibitive and older mothers who have held off starting a family due to careers and money concerns are being blamed for the steep rises in births in the last decade.

(source)

I posted a link to a savings calculator above so you can find out how much work you've got to do to give yourself that comfortable retirement package you might already be dreaming of.

Of course, you might get lucky and make your millions, but if you don't this could be all you have so it's worth planning ahead to save yourself from years in poverty or an extended working life when you're older.

Sadly it won't be practical for a lot of us but be armed with the information and make informed choices wherever you can. That holiday in the sun might be just what you need right now but one week and it's gone. Put that money away and it could be paying for that retirement cruise instead.

# 19 (2013) Hit Rates

Is it all about the hits or it is the content of your blog that makes it successful?

I finally reached my 6000 hits milestone this last week. I've been running this site for over a year now and I have friends who have been running blogs for far less time and have more hits than me. But is it the hits that count, the content or the quality of the content?

If you're looking for a blog to read do you look at their hit counter first or study the subject matter or do you search by tag words? I tend to struggle with blogs that are poorly spelt so even if the content is interesting I will probably be distracted enough by the way it is written to go elsewhere.

Whilst I am guilty of posting up 'Wooooo look how many hits I've got' style updates, it's more about generating interest in keenly felt subjects or just venting because if I don't I may well explode.  My particular subjects of interest are body image, economy, business and finance and general day to day well being.

Clearly people are reading my blog but I don't worry about how many or who because I know that what I post isn't for everyone but for the people that do read it, it is useful or amuses. Many of my posts are personal to me or local in nature and won't necessarily relate to many of my readers but I do try to touch on subjects that I think will have readership appeal. 

And of course I do check my statistics to see where the trends lie generally or in regards to individual posts. Even so, I have no idea if I have a readership following or if I am randomly collecting readers on a post by post basis. Google tells me I have only three followers but I know more are regularly dropping by.

Some of my fellow bloggers post on subjects that will naturally generate higher hit rates. Fashion, ethical subjects, feminism, naturism and sex are cases in point and I know that if I tag posts that relate to these subjects that the hit rates on these entries will receive more attention. To prove the point I will be tagging the aforementioned words in this one and comparing the results over the next few weeks.

As well as regular readers there are drifters, people who pass through using search words to find individual subjects that interest them. Feminism, sex and business being cases in point.

More than anything, this is where I post what is going on in my life. I know that people have huge concerns about privacy and not letting the world know all about 'you'. I'm not about to post up my address or other intensely personal information but I find this place incredibly useful to me.

I also try to take care that I am not overly posting on subjects that directly link to those around me in real life. Well, not usually anyway. But if something really needs saying, I will say it.

I have many pent up emotions and frustrations and find that they are often best communicated in type face. I never kept a diary, I couldn't see the point in writing only for myself. Once I've written about something I don't necessarily want to be reminded about it. But I love to write. It has always been one of my passions and it's one of the things I have kept up with throughout my life.

Besides which I can reach a lot more people and that can only be a good thing, right?

(source)

# 13 (2013) Student Economy

People get very upset when you say that students don't contribute to the economy of a town. I read something about Lincoln today as yet more student accommodation looks set to take shape on derelict land in the town. And even though Lincoln apparently only houses around 12,000 students in any one academic year, a small drop in the ocean compared to its 93,000 population, you can't deny that certain aspects of the city are geared almost entirely to the student population.

Of more concern in that respect is the drop in student recruitment numbers in the last two years - something I saw quite dramatically even in my second year in 2010. It is changes like this - due in part to the raising of student fees - which will have a detrimental effect on the town in the long term.

Student accommodation dominates sections of the skyline (source)

The lower city - including the High Street, Brayford and West End - is the area most predominantly taken over by student related businesses. It is mainly accommodation (both halls and house share rents), bars, clubs, academic buildings and their associated bars such as The Shed and the Engine Shed, and a whole host of cheap and cheerful food and drink outlets, lower end clothing stores and other cheap chain brands more often seen in depressed towns. They are places that regular shoppers have cottoned on to. If I'm going to go out to eat, I am more likely to go to a student bar or budget restaurant than anywhere else.

The upper town - Bailgate and surrounding areas - does have a student presence, but there is a whole different feel to the area, with more expensive restaurants, tourist attractions and niche interest shops, all of which are outside the budget of most students.

Students are part time residents for 9 months of the year. They rarely spend their summer breaks or Christmases here and instead go home to jobs or the bank of mum and dad to stretch their grants still further.

Part time work that fits in around studies is sometimes essential but not so easy to find (source)

Grants are spent mostly on accommodation, food and entertaining, although the standard is to get tanked up before you go out and make a couple of drinks out last all evening. Last year rent alone exceeded the student grant. I survived on savings I had put aside and a limited food budget. Entertainment was off the cards completely.

New Year  2013 when you would have expected the town to be packed with students, was like a ghost town. And with the recession as it is, the population isn't that appealing to other types of business.

Someone claimed that students do remain on in the city after their courses finish but I don't believe there is much here for them post education. I didn't find any actual figures for the numbers remaining on in the town and I know of only a few from my course who are still here. Two (including me) were residents anyway and the others are still doing the jobs they were doing to top up their grants whilst they were at Uni.  They are not in their industry of choice.

Lincoln does not offer a wide range of job opportunities pertaining to courses although it has the usual smattering of jobs - administration, legal, press, retail etc. Many students migrate to bigger cities such as London or back home to recover their finances. I don't remember anyone being encouraged to stay on here.

Lincoln may be called a city but it is not big enough to sustain people like one. It's really a town and it behaves like one.

I've been here four and a half years now. I've decided, perhaps foolishly, to hang on just a bit longer, but I have to say I'm not feeling much love for the place right now. For my business, the population, size of the town, plus the recession are stretching me to breaking point and I'm having to downsize yet again to keep a roof over my head. I have found no client base here and I have no resources on which to draw to help run my business so limited is the high street.  

Lincoln was a dying town before the University arrived - so I am told over and over again - and yes, its transformation into a University town must be doing something for it, but I think all the talk about the students being the saving grace of the place are a little exaggerated. It may also be that the strong University presence has pushed other businesses out of the area.