"The burden on your shoulders"

Today in Pastoral (an hour with your form tutor), it was time for a financial management lesson. The tutor began to list all of his set monthly outgoings (insurance, pension fund, mortgage, council tax, lecky bill, etc.), excluding extras like clothes and drink and food, etc. All in all, it added up to around £3500 a month. There were gasps around the classroom. There were more when he started to talk about the huge tax burden we'd all have to live with so long as Labour remained in office. We were told this was "the burden" he and millions like him had to carry around with him every day of the year.

It was a big reality check for all of us in the room. School has adjusted us to a life of set routine, where responsibility is limited to doing your coursework. Presumably, many had imagined their life beyond sixteen would be more of the same: college, university possibly, job, pension, dead. If only. We were told of loans, from the banks or from Picture or from whatever stupidly advertised company there was around. The fear of debt was being drummed into us, rightly.

So, I think a class educated about the massive tax burden and people being driven into debt might find today's lecture from our Darling in the Treasury a tad rich:

Mr Darling said both lenders and borrowers needed to "think long and hard" about the risks involved ... The chancellor told the Telegraph primary responsibility had to rest with individuals.