The lessons teenagers will learn from the prime minister’s behaviour will have a profound impact on society, says Kevin Naghten. Plus letters from Peter Thomas, Leo North, Christopher Packer, Patricia Baker-Cassidy and Felix Bellaby
John Harris rightly draws attention to the shocking levels of public distrust in politicians (Distrust, discord and disengagement will be the disgraceful legacy of Boris Johnson, 24 January), but there is another insidious and dangerous social effect about which little has been said: the impact on the young. As a teacher with more than 40 years’ experience, I know only too well that children and young people tend to be much more profoundly influenced by the things that they see adults in authority do as opposed to the things adults tell them to do.
I have rarely seen a political story resonate so strongly with teenagers (even those with no interest in the news) as the scandal about lockdown parties. And while the rights and wrongs of the matter may be clear to them, many will learn the lesson that if you are in trouble, the right thing to do is to lie your way out of it, that if you are suspected of wrongdoing you should let others take the blame, and that it is acceptable to ask other people to do things that you are not prepared to do yourself.
Kevin Naghten
London
