Who do we want to be?

Spring. First signs...

"Those who tell the stories rule the world".

Plato

For just about all my life, the dominant stories were pretty simple. Work hard, study hard, obey the rules and you will succeed. It was of course always somebody else's definition of success and it has defined our society for several generations.

But not now, There are plenty of people who work hard and study hard, but that old definition of success (a job, a regular income, security, respect) have become elusive. We have a young generation in work, and another whose education is being disrupted about to enter the world of work for whom the mantra triggers contempt. NeoClassical economics has run its course. It is dead, but still twitching. Success now is far more than ever a consequence of background, geography, personal connection and sheer luck.

The story of our economy has been hugely undermined, as the road ahead becomes littered with the carcases of previously sacred cows, and the system itself has been hugely …