Labour’s £500m national youth strategy has some positives, but real change must start by tackling the root causes of unhappiness
Bonnie Blue, the porn actor who recently made headlines for her antics in Bali – which you probably shouldn’t Google – has come out in support of Nigel Farage.
And in not unconnected news, “rage baiting” – saying deliberately annoying things to get attention – is the Oxford University Press’s word of the year. Bonnie’s most effective way of advertising her X-rated content to the masses now is by generating enough controversy to get her publicly talked about, and she’s very good at making just enough noise (this time in the Spectator, of all places) to drum up a bit of traffic.
But to say that diversifying into hard-right politics makes her an outlier for her existing young fanbase is nonetheless an understatement, given Reform is now polling at just 5% among under-24s. If Bonnie is selling something young men want, it ain’t her take on inheritance tax policy.
What a lot of lost teenagers actually want from government, according to research launched this week by the culture secretary Lisa Nandy, is heartbreakingly simple: a trusted adult outside the family with time for them (one in five can’t identify anyone who fits this category, with boys twice as likely as girls to lack such a figure); something fun to do that gets them off the phones with which they have a love-hate relationship; a secure job; better mental health support.
