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Lucy Kavanagh |
Thanks CNJ for giving us a voice
Lucy Kavanagh says many of her peers care deeply about today’s issues – but are powerless to help bring about change
I AM so happy to see this new feature in the New Journal (Book of Grievances) and I am really looking forward to reading letters from other young people who have something important to say to everybody.
My name is Lucy and I am an 18-year-old living, studying and working in Camden. There is a lot I want to say, and was excited when my dad showed me the page in last week’s New Journal requesting comments from under 21s.
There are many of my generation who actually care about society and have many ideas which we feel are positive – yet we have no power.
How can we even consider being able to change the way things are when simple and fundamental basics of life – housing, safety and travel – are not up to standard? It feels hopeless and scary.
There is a horrendous shortage of council housing available to people my age looking to become independent. Increasingly the only choice is to land yourself in a hostel for a few years and hope to be placed in a studio flat eventually, or gather together a group of friends and rent privately. There should be a bigger focus on building affordable housing for youth in the borough, as well as a recognition of the fact that although the right-to-buy was fundamentally good, that in fact it is now widely abused and used as a profit venture, leaving flats often empty or occupied by the very rich. The right to buy was surely a concept enabling the working class to become more stable and self-sufficient rather than a scheme for increasing the class gap and separation through real estate?
When it comes to travel the Oyster Card prices are being increased again and as under 18s get free travel – in theory an excellent policy – I feel as though I am funding a huge amount of my fellow young people to get on the bus for one stop, fill it up, become rowdy, rude and sometimes even aggressive and violent towards other passengers. In my opinion London Mayor Ken Livingstone has used this policy as a way to prove he still has the remnants of social justice policy left in him, whilst of course giving him more reason to charge everybody more – even with a student discount my weekly travelcard now costs almost £20. It is therefore incredibly lucky that I do work part time as I would be left with no other money for my education expenses after paying this ridiculous fee to travel. I am also concerned with the violent culture among a lot of my peers. A much bigger police presence is desperately needed, as well as a lot more interest and serious funding from the government in such schemes as Camden Summer University.
Also needed is an acceptance that not everybody can be educated in a mainstream school.
There is a lack of specialist units for children who have suffered violence or trauma, often from their own peers, such as day or stay units with therapeutic and educational staff. Many such existing centres face closure.
I have first-hand experience of having to abandon mainstream education and count myself very lucky to have been placed in such a specialist unit – my particular unit having only 12 places available and covering five north London boroughs.
If you can make it in mainstream that is the ideal way to go, but far too many adolescents are simply too worn down, ill, fed up or terrified to continue in education and can benefit immensely from specialised, smaller schemes and groups of peers with professional and caring NHS nurses, psychologists and so on – so why on earth should these places have to struggle for funding or even their existence?
I am very happy to have been able to air my grievances with the way things are right now and hope that I will reach other people with similar thoughts with these words.
Thank you for offering us as youth the chance to express ourselves in the paper.
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