Neets

It was, I believe, Fraser Nelson, the former editor of this magazine, who more than two years ago brought to Spectator readers’ attention the ballooning cost of disability benefits, and the way in which claims for mental-health disorders were skewing the system. Since then, the problem Fraser described has been universally recognised and its gravity acknowledged. The present government is worried about the cost and the trend and has commissioned Alan Milburn to report on the situation. Milburn is an impressive former (Labour) health secretary, who can be counted on for thorough research and balanced and intelligent judgment. His report is due next month.

The only photo I could find of the invited audience at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry for John Healey’s first speech as Chancellor was from above and behind, so it wasn’t easy to pick out the apprentices with whom he ‘looked forward to spending time later’. Were they the four youngsters in work gear at the front? Or might they have included several balding blokes in suits, representing older trainees? Whichever, their small number, combined with Healey’s staging in front of a pair of robots, offered a metaphor of the state of UK industrial employment in a week when Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) at nearby Solihull confirmed 4,000 job cuts.