Amidst all the angst, hand-wringing and gloomy forecasts, a rather encouraging thing is happening in the UK: young people are drinking and smoking less, taking fewer drugs and having fewer babies. In 1998 54% of young people said they had taken drugs; by 2016 this percentage was down to 36%. The use of LSD and heroin use is down, and the only drug that has maintained a steady use is cocaine at 10%.

In 1999 64% of youngsters were smoking; by 2014 that figure had fallen to 36%. Excessive drinking is out of fashion – in 2005 29% of 16-24 year olds said they had drunk excessively during the previous week. By 2014 that percentage was 20, with 36% saying they were teetotallers. Meanwhile, there has been a drastic drop in teen pregnancies (qQQq15-17), from 47 conceptions per 1000 in 1998 to 21 per 1000 in 2015. Young women, it seems, are using contraceptives (or abstinence), but not getting abortions.

How to interpret all this? It could be cause and effect. By this I mean that jobs are harder to get, insecurity has grown as wages have stagnated. Young people might be looking with trepidation at this scene appearing on the horizon and coming up with their own, intelligent, answers: if I am to survive in what seems a grim environment I have to work hard, be sober, be responsible. Tearaways, drunks, know-nothings and wastrels will be very much on their own; the old social props are being whittled away by hard, cold employers and uncaring politicians. To thrive I have to know something and be smart.