Well, by the time you read this, I will be dead... no, sorry, I will be 25. While most of the time, I want to know where the past quarter century has gone, part of me wishes it had been my 26^th birthday last Wednesday.

If I was twenty six, by now, I'd have more money, a house and who knows what else, all because the last couple of governments hate people born in 1980.

The Conservatives weren't too bad, they only lumbered me as the guinea-pig year for SATs at 14, triggering teaching industrial actions which meant I was being forced into sitting 6 exams while kids with other teachers didn't have any.

It was when St Tony came to power, things really took off for me on the road to ruin. First day of a Labour Government, the train I normally caught was 30 minutes late. It didn't get much better. I was preparing to head off to university in the fine city of Manchester as he rushed in the Student Fees idea. Personally I wasn't against it too much as he'd spelt it out; he said that nobody would have to pay in advance for their education and the fees would come out of my vast graduate pay packet afterwards (in those days I still had ideas of staying on through academia and never having to bother getting a proper job anyway). It was only when I was sitting in the Great Hall of UMIST being made to pay the lions share of a grand before they'd let me have my student card that I was told different.

It was rather difficult at the time, since the only way to get my chequebook for my new student account was with a student card for ID, which I couldn't get till I'd written UMIST a cheque!

Anyway, I spent the next three years occasionally attending lectures with 2 mates, both of whom were a year older than me. They'd retaken their A-Levels and so had been let in without having to pay fees. In St Tony's fairer education system I was having to pay nearly £3000 more in fees for exactly the same education, not because my family were richer, poorer, from a different part of the country or such like, only because their parents got their end away 6 months before mine.

Coming out of uni and into the working world 3 grand down on colleagues who'd come out of 4 year courses, meant I'd have to wait to get my cash together to get onto the property ladder. Okay, buying a stupidly expensive car with silly terms of repayment wasn't a good idea but, after 3 years of a job which pays more than the average wage of this city, you'd think I'd have managed to find a house by now.

In 2001, when I first started working here, there was a 5 bed house across the road from me that was going for £80,000. In 2005, that same money cannot buy a house in areas such as Moss Side and Longsight (places only featured on the local news with stories involving guns and gangs) unless the house needs gutting.

With St Tony now allowing property to be included in pension funds, with reports saying how 90% of towns are out of reach of first time buyers and with Aunty Beeb plotting to send more of its minions up here, the only winners up here are the landlords.

Till next time

Love, peace and blues

tjm

Mancunian Blues Archive

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