jilted generation - blad
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Advertising Jilted Generation, a book to be published by Icon Books in September 2010TRANSCRIPT
Why can so few young peopleafford to buy a house?
Why do even top graduatesstruggle to find jobs?
And when they do, why are thosejobs poorly paid and unstable?
Why does politics – from voting toprotesting – seem so pointless?
Why is Britain not just ‘broken’but also broke?
Welcome to theJilted Generation
THE AUTHORS:ED HOWKER, 29, is associate editor of TheSpectator, and previously worked for Channel4’s Dispatches and the Independent.
SHIV MALIK, 29, was listed among the EveningStandard’s most influential Londoners in 2008.
Between them they have written for the NewStatesman, Observer, Private Eye and theSunday Times and Daily Telegraph, and haveappeared on Sky News, Front Row, Newsnightand the Jeremy Vine Show as well as Radio 4’sPM and The Moral Maze.
www.thejiltedgeneration.com
Jilted GenerationHow Britain Has Bankrupted Its YouthEd Howker & Shiv Malik
2nd September 2010 • 9781848311985£8.99 B format paperback original
For interview, serial or other press enquiries please contact:
Najma Finlay, Publicity Director, Icon Books 0207 700 9962 / [email protected]
Icon Books are part of the Independent Alliance. Please speak to your Independent Alliance rep or the Fabersales office: 020 7927 3800 / [email protected]. Orders to TBS.
www.iconbooks.co.uk
Jilted_Generation_Blad_A4.QXD:Layout 1 28/06/2010 15:06 Page 1
The jilted generation – those bornafter Thatcher came to power – facehard times. While their parentswere handed free education, thejilted will spend decades paying fortheirs; while previous generationsgot jobs for life and bought homesto return to, the jilted generationare being locked out.
But if Britain’s young people areinsecure, unstable and poor, theirparents are the richest generationever to have lived and they haveflatly failed to share the wealth.
Twenty-something journalists EdHowker and Shiv Malik tell thesad, maddening story of how theirgeneration’s future, once alivewith possibility, is being strangledby the culture of short-termism;how the baby-boomers – theirparents’ generation – seeminglysquandered a nation’s communalwealth, turned their backs onsociety and broke all barriers in alifelong quest to expressthemselves.
Instead of creating a new world,their actions really fostered anation riddled with inequality,elitism and political corruption.Jilted Generation sets out how thenext generation might succeedwhere this one failed.
Radical, angry andpassionate – whilemeticulously researchedand carefully argued –Jilted Generation is a call-to-arms that will make sureyou never look at yourparents (or your children)in the same way again.
ON HOUSING: ‘The NationalInstitute of Economic andSocial Research estimatedthat if house prices had
grown in line with the stock marketover the last two decades (5 per cent peryear) then average house prices wouldnow be 50 per cent cheaper. This, theybelieve, should be the fair cost ofhousing. Anything higher than thatleads to a skewed economy becausethose who already own houses stopinvesting in useful things likecompanies and business and start usingtheir house as an ATM. So who pays thecost? The answer is simple: thoseentering the market for the first time.It’s our generation who must pay theolder generation to live the good life, sothat we can have a place to live. So howmuch is this overpayment worth? Onetrillion, three hundred billion pounds –that’s nearly Britain’s total GrossDomestic Product in 2009.’
ON POLITICS: ‘Politiciansfrom all parties, eager to getbabyboomer votes, havebecome prone to paying
them special attention, giving themspecial favours. And, of course, thesefavours might not merely include theodd free TV licence or bus pass, but alsothe decision to encourage housingspeculation of the kind that has lockedyoung people out of the housingmarket, or to encourage post-retirement working while millions ofunemployed young people are ignored.Suddenly, it is possible to perceive askewing of policy away from theinterests of the jilted generation andtowards those of their more numerousand electorally engaged parents – notthrough any conscious effort by voters,but simply because of their numbers.’
ON JOBS: ‘We’re in theclosing moments of thegrand experiment playedout on us by predecessorswho started their work
before we were even born, whoabolished the “stop-go economy” andgave us stop-go lives, who gave us a“knowledge economy” and thencharged us for the knowledge, whoremoved all stability and wonder whywe stumble. And the conclusion of thisgrand experiment is already clear. Wehave been infantilised, marginalised,ultimately stigmatised ...’
•Powerful, timely polemic that taps straight into the post-election mood, especiallyamong younger people
•From two young and well-connected journalists – wide-ranging media coverage guaranteed
•Online campaign including extensive web advertising, a free audio version on Spotify, audio and video podcasts, and direct author interaction through Facebook and Twitter.
• Innovative offline campaign including public stickering, flyers in club handouts, giveaways and events
•B format paperback original– cheap and pickupable!
Jilted_Generation_Blad_A4.QXD:Layout 1 28/06/2010 15:06 Page 3
The jilted generation – those bornafter Thatcher came to power – facehard times. While their parentswere handed free education, thejilted will spend decades paying fortheirs; while previous generationsgot jobs for life and bought homesto return to, the jilted generationare being locked out.
But if Britain’s young people areinsecure, unstable and poor, theirparents are the richest generationever to have lived and they haveflatly failed to share the wealth.
Twenty-something journalists EdHowker and Shiv Malik tell thesad, maddening story of how theirgeneration’s future, once alivewith possibility, is being strangledby the culture of short-termism;how the baby-boomers – theirparents’ generation – seeminglysquandered a nation’s communalwealth, turned their backs onsociety and broke all barriers in alifelong quest to expressthemselves.
Instead of creating a new world,their actions really fostered anation riddled with inequality,elitism and political corruption.Jilted Generation sets out how thenext generation might succeedwhere this one failed.
Radical, angry andpassionate – whilemeticulously researchedand carefully argued –Jilted Generation is a call-to-arms that will make sureyou never look at yourparents (or your children)in the same way again.
ON HOUSING: ‘The NationalInstitute of Economic andSocial Research estimatedthat if house prices had
grown in line with the stock marketover the last two decades (5 per cent peryear) then average house prices wouldnow be 50 per cent cheaper. This, theybelieve, should be the fair cost ofhousing. Anything higher than thatleads to a skewed economy becausethose who already own houses stopinvesting in useful things likecompanies and business and start usingtheir house as an ATM. So who pays thecost? The answer is simple: thoseentering the market for the first time.It’s our generation who must pay theolder generation to live the good life, sothat we can have a place to live. So howmuch is this overpayment worth? Onetrillion, three hundred billion pounds –that’s nearly Britain’s total GrossDomestic Product in 2009.’
ON POLITICS: ‘Politiciansfrom all parties, eager to getbabyboomer votes, havebecome prone to paying
them special attention, giving themspecial favours. And, of course, thesefavours might not merely include theodd free TV licence or bus pass, but alsothe decision to encourage housingspeculation of the kind that has lockedyoung people out of the housingmarket, or to encourage post-retirement working while millions ofunemployed young people are ignored.Suddenly, it is possible to perceive askewing of policy away from theinterests of the jilted generation andtowards those of their more numerousand electorally engaged parents – notthrough any conscious effort by voters,but simply because of their numbers.’
ON JOBS: ‘We’re in theclosing moments of thegrand experiment playedout on us by predecessorswho started their work
before we were even born, whoabolished the “stop-go economy” andgave us stop-go lives, who gave us a“knowledge economy” and thencharged us for the knowledge, whoremoved all stability and wonder whywe stumble. And the conclusion of thisgrand experiment is already clear. Wehave been infantilised, marginalised,ultimately stigmatised ...’
•Powerful, timely polemic that taps straight into the post-election mood, especiallyamong younger people
•From two young and well-connected journalists – wide-ranging media coverage guaranteed
•Online campaign including extensive web advertising, a free audio version on Spotify, audio and video podcasts, and direct author interaction through Facebook and Twitter.
• Innovative offline campaign including public stickering, flyers in club handouts, giveaways and events
•B format paperback original– cheap and pickupable!
Jilted_Generation_Blad_A4.QXD:Layout 1 28/06/2010 15:06 Page 3
Why can so few young peopleafford to buy a house?
Why do even top graduatesstruggle to find jobs?
And when they do, why are thosejobs poorly paid and unstable?
Why does politics – from voting toprotesting – seem so pointless?
Why is Britain not just ‘broken’but also broke?
Welcome to theJilted Generation
THE AUTHORS:ED HOWKER, 29, is associate editor of TheSpectator, and previously worked for Channel4’s Dispatches and the Independent.
SHIV MALIK, 29, was listed among the EveningStandard’s most influential Londoners in 2008.
Between them they have written for the NewStatesman, Observer, Private Eye and theSunday Times and Daily Telegraph, and haveappeared on Sky News, Front Row, Newsnightand the Jeremy Vine Show as well as Radio 4’sPM and The Moral Maze.
www.thejiltedgeneration.com
Jilted GenerationHow Britain Has Bankrupted Its YouthEd Howker & Shiv Malik
2nd September 2010 • 9781848311985£8.99 B format paperback original
For interview, serial or other press enquiries please contact:
Najma Finlay, Publicity Director, Icon Books 0207 700 9962 / [email protected]
Icon Books are part of the Independent Alliance. Please speak to your Independent Alliance rep or the Fabersales office: 020 7927 3800 / [email protected]. Orders to TBS.
www.iconbooks.co.uk
Jilted_Generation_Blad_A4.QXD:Layout 1 28/06/2010 15:06 Page 1