Jilted Generation: How Britain has Bankrupted its Youth

Why are so many adult children living still living with mum and dad? Why do young people seem so disinterested in politics? And what are the hidden threats to Britain’s long-term prosperity lurking in the next few decades? First published in 2010, Ed Howker and Shiv Mailk’s Jilted Generation answers fundamental questions about the society you thought you knew. It identified, for the first time, the perilous position of Britain’s young adults and, with a title brandished by everyone from Ed Miliband to student protesters, the book’s thesis has formed a controversial but essential part of Britain’s political debate. With significant additional material, this edition updates the argument and explains the real effects of austerity policies and the recession. And, crucially, it explains what must be done to protect a vital and underestimated national asset – Britain’s newest adults.

About the Author :
Ed Howker is a programme-maker for Channel 4’s Dispatches. Shiv Malik is an investigative journalist at the Guardian. Both live in London.

Review :
'Should be read as a strident call to arms for a partially disenfranchised generation that is burdened with debt.' The Times 'Howker and Malik knit together a taut and analytically rigorous narrative of 25 years of political myopia and mismanagement, outlining a series of gross policy errors that have disproportionately benefited the old at the expense of the young. These mistakes are likely to loom large over the UK for decades.' -- Spectator 'The run-up to the election saw a string of books on intergenerational unfairness ... The best was 'Jilted Generation' by Ed Howker and Shiv Malik.' -- Observer 'An excellent analysis of the hardship and inequity faced by today's generation of young people.' -- Morning Star 'What the authors eloquently trace is the consequences of a breathtakingly foolhardy thirty-year experiment in dismantling the state and individualising responsibility that has led straight to the debt crisis we face today. We should applaud their forensic skill in exposing the rarely discussed assumptions that have led us who ere are, and in setting out the consequences in concrete terms.' -- Oldie 'Ed Howker and Shiv Malik provide a more interesting perspective on the misdoing of the baby boomers because they write as members of the current generation, the 'jilted generation." -- Times Literary Supplement 'Howker and Malik are nuanced in their critique - focusing on political culture rather than vulgar abuse.' -- Daily Telegraph 'You must read it to discover why the young and the old are shouting at each other over the supper table in a way I've not heard since those great divides over drugs'n'rock'n'roll or even the Iraq invasion.' -- Independent on Sunday "Jilted Generation' is a tirade of fury... Ed Howker and Shiv Malik stake out their complaint with a waspishness which comes from personal experience - the struggle to find somewhere to live in London, and to find a secure job...the evidence of pokey overpriced housing and endless unpaid internships piles up convincingly.' -- Madeleine Bunting, Guardian 'no parent can dismiss this argument about our collective failure to invest in the future.' -- Madeleine Bunting, Guardian 'The book is hard to argue with.' -- Bright Green 'Following those books a fourth has just come out. Only last week we had the launch of an excellent book, 'The Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth' by Ed Howker and Shiv Malik. They mount an argument very similar to mine with powerful evidence of the raw deal for young people in the jobs market, in housing, and in pensions and savings.' -- David Willetts, in speech to the Policy Exchange 'Howker and Malik ... knit together a taut and analytically rigorous narrative (of 25 years of political myopia and mismanagement)' -- Spectator 'There's a new and noisy book just out which you must read to discover why the young and the old are shouting at each other over the supper table in a way I've not heard since those great divides over drugs'n'rock'n'roll or even the Iraq invasion.' -- Margareta Pagano, Independent 'Howker and Malik extend their analysis beyond an it's-not-fair tantrum to knit together a taut and analytically rigorous narrative of 25 years of political myopia and mismanagement, outlining a series of gross policy errors that have disproportionately benefited the old at the expense of the young. These mistakes are likely to loom large over the UK for decades.' -- Miles Johnson, Spectator "Jilted Generation'...brilliantly analyses the problems faced by today's generation of young adults.' . -- Joyce MacMillan, Scotsman 'A heady cocktail...that's enough to make anyone's blood boil. At times the writers become true polemicists... a compelling narrative that explains exactly how serial ministers' focus on individuals as 'self-interested and motive purely by money' has influenced our politics.' -- Alex Stevenson, Politics.co.uk 'Provocative' -- Robert Colvile, Telegraph. 'Ed Howker and Shiv Malik have written a critique of capitalism that is as powerful and provocative as anything written by Marx and Engels.' -- Tribune 'Builds an actuating account on the colossal generational inequalities that those born after 1979 in the UK are faced with ... compelling narrative.' -- Youth Opinion