[jambutty]

If you think that the kids of today are responsible for today’s economic growth then you need to take a reality check Mancie. I’ll grant you that the few who do take a job at McDonalds, Kentucky etc are to be commended but they rarely last very long. Staff turnover in those places is probably the highest in the country due to poor wages and long hours and virtually no job satisfaction.

If this country has got the best wage earnings of all time then tell that to a family man on the minimum wage of £5 odd per hour.

Yobbo blocking Neil? Try some council estates in the evenings.
Tripped. Yes but it is more likely to relieve them of some of their personal possessions.
Unlocked doors. In those days people had the man from the Pru coming round for the weekly insurance payment plus others for other payments, particularly on a Thursday or Friday evening. The money and the card would be stored in the sideboard. So if you didn’t have a PC, microwave etc. you would be happy to leave your house with the door unlocked? People lock their doors when they go out so that no one can just walk in.
Park. We didn’t have mobile phones in those days. In fact very few people had landline phones. People who did were considered posh.
Pram assistance. You are a rarity.
Apprenticeship. Your comment says it all for me. It’s hardly surprising that many kids are not keen on taking on an apprenticeship if they have to be a skivvy for the first 12 months. By definition an apprentice is someone who is learning the trade, so what has making brews or fetching the chip dinners got to do with plumbing etc? I don’t suppose that the attitude has anything to do with the fact that the current skilled workers were skivvies during their apprenticeship and they see it as their right to do the same to new apprentices? A sort of getting their own back.