Violence in England is a pandemic, hearing young people is the antidote
Throughout 2024 riots have broken out across England, causing mass hysteria and chaos. In a bid to diffuse the fires, Integrational England – a new charity – claims we need to get young and old people talking to each other.
As the courts clamped down following the recent violent clashes across the UK, the first person charged with riot was just 15 years old.
The first conviction over the initial unrest in Southport was handed to a boy of 12. Two further 12-year-olds were found guilty of violence against police officers in Manchester and an 11-year-old for possessing petrol bombs in Belfast. In Hampshire, a 13-year-old girl held her mother’s hand as she pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
Fifty people of the nearly 400 people charged over the rioting are under 18. Of the approximately 1,000 suspects arrested, over a quarter are under 21.
The unrest, which spread across England and Northern Ireland after three young girls were stabbed to death at a holiday dance club in Southport and a man arrested over the killings was wrongly identified online as a Muslim asylum-seeker, was undoubtedly instigated by racism. But that doesn’t explain why so very many young people felt motivated to take part in the violence. Or that the worst rioting occurred in seven of the 10 most socially deprived areas in the country.
‘This was a clear indication of how disaffected and alienated young people feel,” says Emily Abbott, co-founder of new charitable organisation Intergenerational England. “Thousands don’t feel valued, respected or listened to. If people of all ages were simply included in the conversation, we’d have a much more inclusive, harmonious and productive society.’
Attitudes to age, says Intergenerational England, are polarising communities leading to mutual suspicion and fear among young, old and all ages in between. So, it believes, getting those ages together to communicate and learn from each other could just be the glue that puts broken Britain back together.
The organisation, which promotes all-age collaboration right across society including health, housing, transport, education, and employment, recently launched Talking Generations, a campaign to challenge pre-conceptions about age and promote connection between people of every generation.
‘People across generations have valuable experiences, insights, and perspectives to share,’ says Emily. ‘By bringing these different perspectives together, we can create a more cohesive and compassionate society. Talking Generations is a call for everyone to use their voice to shape how we live, connect and thrive as a country.’
Age segregation negatively shapes our society more than we think. Housing policy and programmes tend to place older people together, while generational wealth in many areas freezes out younger buyers. While home ownership among older people has soared – pensioners own about half of homeowners’ housing wealth – this has prevented many younger people getting a foot on the ladder and little future prospect of doing so.
In health and social care, generalised presumptions around age, especially in hospitals, can shape treatment plans and restrict patient access to certain services. Many workplaces arbitrarily freeze out older or younger workers from many conversations. All of this, says Intergenerational England, inevitably stymies productivity but also brings division and exacerbates loneliness and physical and mental health issues.
‘It just makes sense to include all voices,’ Emily continues. ‘Hearing and respecting all points of view from all ages by definition gives a richer, better-informed backdrop from which to think and act. By encouraging and empowering people to engage in conversations across generational divides, we can improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities.’
Intergenerational England developed from an organisation called Intergenerational Music Making, which runs programmes, training, research and campaigns to encourage all-age participation. Its range of events including major concerts at the Royal Albert Hall brought so much positive social, mental and emotional impact on the lives of those taking part that Emily and her IMM co-founder Charlotte Hill decided to broaden their ambition through Intergenerational England. Talking Generations, which is itself an IMM project, aims to encourage intergenerational connection by inviting people posting images, films and stories of the special connections they share with friends, family members, neighbours or colleagues and the common passion that bridges their age gap.
Britain is consistently partitioned by age:
Geographically, half of the populations of London, Manchester and Birmingham are under 30, while since 1991 the population in rural locations has aged twice as much as those in urban area. Children now have just a 5% chance of living near someone over 65, compared with 15% 30 years ago.
Politically, despite Labour’s recent landslide election victory, nearly half – 46% – of over-70s voted Conservative and a majority of over 60s did the same.
Healthwise: Living further apart makes it harder for young and old to look after each other, thereby increasing care costs. Having elderly people concentrated in certain areas puts a bigger local strain on the NHS and social care.
In the job market: 12% of the workforce aged between 18 and 24 is unemployed – roughly five times the proportion of those aged over 35. Yet a Chartered Management Institute survey also found 75% of managers willing to hire workers aged up to 35, but only 30% would give a job to someone in their 60s.
This is the landscape in which separateness thrives, says Intergenerational England. What logically follows is Isolation, lower self-esteem, a sense of not belonging, not being noticed or valued, merely because of how long you have – or haven’t – lived. From there it’s easy to see the logical progression to individual and collective dissociation and in more extreme cases, individual and collective resentment – which fans the flames of the unrest sparked by the Southport murders.
Intergenerational approaches have been proved by literally hundreds of studies to improve lives and communities. Social connections have regularly been proved one of the strongest drivers of well-being and essential for us to thrive. A happier, healthier nation by definition has a positive economic influence on health and social care services, meaning resources are not stretched, leading to better access for all. Research by the 90-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Economic Forum concluded that age-diverse workforces will ‘create a more efficient, productive and profitable economy and raise GDP per capita by almost 19% in the next three decades’.
On top of all of that, there is the unquantifiable benefit of personal connection between the generations – mentoring, discovering a shared interest, the exchange of experiences that encourages greater empathy and understanding. People who are more socially connected to family, friends and their community are happier, healthier and live longer, according to the Mental Health Foundation.
‘These benefits grow through individuals and shape communities,’ explains Emily. ‘Connecting with people of different generations can bring joy to our lives, promote empathy and understanding and provide opportunities for mutual learning and growth.’
Horrific events such as the Southport murders will, tragically, always be with us, and inevitably spark a human response within us. But it’s not isolated incidents that define the society we live in, and who we are – it’s how we respond individually and collectively as a community. And that depends on our sense of belonging and our own self esteem. To build a positive society that encourages, includes and values people of all ages, it’s time to get talking.
Images: Benjamin Elliott and Markus Spiske
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