Freedom's Orphans has been a welcome distraction for me during Christmas. Subtitled 'Raising youth in a changing world', the report from the Institute of Public Policy Reasearch (ippr) considers whether society's negitivity towards young people has any justification. It is well researched, drawing on a wide range of statistical reports - fortunately lots of graphs for those of us who get lost in detail! Their diagnosis, in very general terms, is that the need for social skills is much more critical than it ever used to be and that we are failing to nurture these in young people. I have to say that this diagnosis really resonates with our experience at Guildford YMCA. Many of the young people we work with who are not in any form of education, employment, or training (NEET) are hugely lacking in broad social skills. They don't really know who they are (although they often adopt a strong 'image' from the shelf of youth culture); they find it difficult to share their problems in a way of owning responsibility to do something about it; and they have little appreciation of other peoples' feelings. A good read, and very sobering (quite helpful at Christmas!).