As I think about the new generation of skills, these words rang out to me on this morning’s radio. They are words of Tony Benn who died today:
The second thing is, despite the fact we have been told we are an entrepreneurial society, this is a country today that has an utter contempt for skill. You talk to people who dig coal, run trains, doctors, nurses, dentists, tool-makers – nobody in Britain is interested in them! The whole of the so-called entrepreneurial society has focused on the City news we get in every bulletin, telling us what has happened to the Pound Sterling, to three points of decimals, against a basket of European currencies. Skill is what built this country’s strength, and it is treated with contempt!
from here
If we are going to build a strong future I am convinced that it’s going to have to be through the strength of our skills.
I didn’t always agree with Tony Benn’s viewpoint but he was a man of conviction, a true statesman.
Graham Chastney 