VALENTINE BELL
In his first talk on Monday Valentine Bell discussed ' Youth at Work '. This evening he is to discuss ' Youth at Leisure '. And the two talks go hand in hand. It is not generally realised that eighty per cent. of those who have left elementary schools have got to do what are known as repetition or non-progressive jobs-the twenty per cent. having been weeded out at the age of eleven to go on automatically to higher education. But these eighty per cent. who are not destined to be foremen, or something as ambitious, are quite content as long as the money is all right-they do their job and enjoy their leisure.
And how do they spend their leisure ?
They are not so keen as one might imagine on watching football. At a big factory at Leeds the other day, Valentine Bell saw lads knock off at five o'clock, take off their overalls, and go off into the country. He will speak of the need of more playing fields.
As to the other side-ill-spent leisure.
He will speak of the problems of big seaside resorts, of cheap, injurious fiction. Valentine Bell won't have the pictures blamed for crime. If they didn't have films ', he says, ' the black sheep would be a lot blacker '. He has spoken to Probation Officers all over the country. The young men who go to prison are mostly out of work.
As to the modern tragedy of ' Youth
Unemployed ', he will reserve that for his third talk next Monday.