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The Struggle to Find Employment in Grimsby In the Lincolnshire seaside town of Cleethorpes, a 19-year-old man named Cohen is sitting in the back seat of a car, putting on an Easter bunny outfit. He is hoping to use new photographs to advertise his mascot business for the upcoming holidays. Cohen, who has a learning disability, lives with his parents in neighbouring Grimsby and set up Co Co Mascots last year as one of his many attempts to find work. The Challenges of Job Hunting with a Disability Cohen has been applying for roles in holiday parks, retail, charity shops, and even the local football club Grimsby Town FC, which was recruiting for a new mascot. Despite his efforts, he has yet to find paid work. "The hardest thing is not hearing back [from a job application] and not getting feedback," says Cohen. "I start overthinking because I want it [a job] too much. A lot of the time, I think they [employers] will see you have a disability and will pick the person without one because they think the person with a disability is more work." The Economic Reality of Grimsby Grimsby was recently dubbed Britain's "worklessness capital" by the Telegraph due to the large proportion of its working-age people claiming benefits. The town has a higher number of working-age adults out of employment than the national average, and 41% of under-16s in the town live in relative low-income families. Once one of the world's largest fishing ports, Grimsby is still the UK's biggest fish-processing hub, reportedly making every other fish finger eaten across the country. The Impact on Young People For many young people in coastal places such as Grimsby, finding paid employment is hard – and having a disability compounds the issue. Cohen has been volunteering in charity shops and at food banks for more than a year now, and doesn't see his disability as a barrier to working. "My mind can wander a bit when I work so I need a nudge every so often. I just need a bit of support until I get used to the job and what is expected of me." The Future Outlook The Guardian's Against the Tide project aims to report on the lives of young people in coastal communities across England and Wales. The project will examine what kind of changes young people need to build the futures they want for themselves. For Cohen, he will continue to throw everything at his job search, hoping to find a permanent role that suits his needs and abilities.

The LeadDocumentary photographer Polly Braden has embarked on a groundbreaking year-long project capturing the lives of young people in coastal communities across England and Wales. Her work, titled 'Against the Tide,' reveals both the beauty and bleakness of growing up on the neglected fringes of these island communities, where young people face disproportionate challenges including poverty, poor housing, and limited opportunities.The Project VisionBraden's inspiration came from reading a landmark report about the poor health of people living on the English coast. As a single mother of teenagers who had become interested in young people growing up under austerity, through a pandemic, and becoming adults during a cost-of-living crisis, she saw an opportunity to tell a story about England's 'island nation' by focusing on those living in coastal towns.'It's about reaching the edges,' Braden explains. Her collaboration with the Guardian's Seascape section has produced this wide-reaching journalism project that puts the voices of 16- to 25-year-olds at the forefront of reporting about their lives and the places they inhabit.The Coastal RealityYoung people in many of England's coastal towns are disproportionately likely to face poverty, poor housing, lower educational attainment, and limited employment opportunities compared to their peers in equivalent inland areas. In the most deprived coastal towns, they struggle with crumbling and stripped-back public services and transportation that severely limit their life choices.The project specifically targets port towns, seaside resorts, and former fishing villages, documenting how these young people navigate their lives while dealing with systemic challenges that have been exacerbated by recent crises including austerity measures, the pandemic, and the current cost-of-living crisis.The Artistic PerspectiveBraden's photography captures both the harsh realities and moments of resilience and beauty in these young lives. One striking image shows Libby, a young woman from Whitehaven in Cumbria, depicted on a beach underneath a gloomy sky, holding a bag of oranges. A faint rainbow visible behind her right shoulder gives her a slight halo as she looks down, away from the camera.'There's beauty in it,' Braden says of her work. 'And there is bleakness.' Another notable photograph captures someone wearing an Easter bunny costume, with two other 'spare' heads—one of a bear, the other wearing a red Santa hat—at his feet, symbolizing both the absurdity and resilience of youth in these communities.The Exhibition TourBraden's work will now be presented to the public through a touring exhibition that opens at Arnolfini gallery in Bristol in June and moves to Colchester's Firstsite gallery in October. This exhibition brings visual attention to the issues faced by young people in coastal communities and aims to spark conversation about the changes needed to help them build the futures they desire.By documenting these often-overlooked communities and their young inhabitants, Braden's 'Against the Tide' project serves as both a powerful artistic statement and a call to action for addressing the systemic inequalities faced by coastal youth in England and Wales.

The Economist as Saviour: A Life in the CrossfireLord Robert Skidelsky, who died aged 86, was not merely a historian but a prophet of economic reality. His passing marks the end of an era for British intellectual life, leaving a void where a rigorous challenge to free-market orthodoxy once stood. Skidelsky’s career was defined by his monumental biography of John Maynard Keynes, a project that consumed two decades of his life.The Return of the Master: Keynesianism in the 21st CenturyThe defining moment of Skidelsky’s later career came on 15 September 2008, with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. This event rendered his decades of research suddenly relevant. While the global establishment was caught unawares by the crisis, Skidelsky felt a duty to "return to the fray."2008 Crisis: The plunge of the global financial system forced policymakers to dust down Keynes's General Theory.2009 Publication: Skidelsky released Keynes: The Return of the Master, validating the need for stimulus over austerity.Policy Shift: Governments briefly embraced stimulus, cutting rates and printing money to stave off a second Great Depression.The Austerity Critique: A Lost Decade for the UK EconomySkidelsky’s most significant impact lies in his prescient critique of the 2010-2015 austerity measures imposed by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. While he was part of an "embattled minority," his warnings proved prophetic.The immediate post-crisis recovery was halted by premature fiscal tightening. Skidelsky argued that the UK economy has yet to fully recover from the events of 2008, largely due to the failure to embrace Keynesian ideas long enough. His criticism of George Osborne and the subsequent Rachel Reeves budget highlights his enduring belief that the UK is shackled by "mistaken academic orthodoxy."A Legacy of Maverick OrthodoxySkidelsky was a political maverick, moving from Labour to the SDP to the Conservatives before becoming a crossbench peer. His career was characterized by swimming against the tide, whether supporting Jeremy Corbyn or advocating for a negotiated peace in Ukraine.His final work, Keynes for Our Times, due for release next month, suggests that his battle is not over. As the world grapples with economic stagnation and geopolitical instability, Skidelsky’s insistence that economics must serve human well-being rather than abstract growth remains a vital, if unheeded, prescription for the future.