In these gloomy economic times, the sooner we set the kids to work, the better

Children should be encouraged to follow their dreams, says Will Gore – but let’s not ignore the money completely

My son has aspirations of being a YouTuber, though that may be tricky for a child who gets embarrassed having his photo taken (Getty Images)

It was very kind of Jeremy Hunt to reduce the rate of national insurance by a couple more pennies in the pound last week. But with the overall tax burden in the UK set to hit its highest level for 80 years, and with the price of everything skyrocketing, I doubt many people were celebrating the chancellor’s latest Budget.

It certainly didn’t feel like a moment that would swing the political pendulum in favour of the government. If anything, it simply served to show what a budget country the UK has become. The only good thing about being collectively tin-pot, is that at least we’ve still got something to p*** in.

I’m an optimist usually, and a lover of the many good things Britain has to offer, but it’s hard not to feel a mite anxious for today’s children, who appear to be walking headlong into a tsunami of their forebears’ problems, and are further burdened by the expectation that they’ll be able to find solutions for us all beneath the serf. Still, they might as well get on with it.