4/4 Rugby matters in Swansea and to far more people than those who make it to an Ospreys match each week, from the importance of the grassroots game to the vital redevelopment of St Helens stadium. We deserve better than this latest round of turmoil imposed on them by the WRU.

3/4 This isn’t over by any means –legal advice is being taken on the next steps and I am urgently writing to Y11 to call for a meeting to clarify their intentions in the coming days.

2/4 On this, as with so much else, the WRU has behaved disgracefully from start to finish. They will need to justify their chaotic decision-making when facing questions in Parliament tomorrow.

3/3 I have been in touch with Sketty Mosque to offer my solidarity and support. More importantly so have many parents and others across Swansea and Llanelli.

2/3 It won’t work because parents know education should be celebrated not weaponised by extremists. And it won’t work because across Swansea and South Wales people want to celebrate the different communities that contribute so much to our civic, cultural and economic life.

There is huge potential for Wales to enter a new era of green energy jobs/investment. Whether we seize that opportunity rather than spending the years ahead mired in division (Reform) or constitutional rows (Plaid) is what the Senedd elections are actually about

This boost comes straight after the confirmation that Wylfa will house the UK’s first nuclear SMRs - two Labour government’s delivering the biggest industrial investment in North Wales for a generation

What is increasingly clear is that while other parties only offer division or the distraction of independence, Labour has concrete plans to tackle the cost of living and bring down bills.

Thanks Ian.

Think you’ve got the absolute number of people - not the proportions/rates

Plus there are almost certainly cultural norms shaping some of this - amongst children/parents and some employers (the truth is young people have never just popped out of school entirely “work ready”)

We should keep looking at policy incentives. For example this reinforces the case for a good volume of apprenticeships being for young people starting work (not older existing employees as increasingly became the case over the last decade)

Just to preempt the inevitable - this isn’t about the last 18 months. These trends are long term and not just in the UK. (Remember there’s basically no employer National Insurance paid if you employ under 21s so there’s a strong financial incentive to do so)

But the decline of working while studying also means more people getting into their early/mid-20s having never worked. That is a big problem because by then things start happening in life - kids or ill health - that more long-term interrupt a successful school to work transition

There’s the obvious effects of this - the lost opportunities to learn (not just earn) what work (and life) is about. I definitely learnt a lot from scrubbing pots and then pulling pints in pubs from 15/16 onwards

This isn’t just about those in school/college. Despite what you hear about more uni students working these days the opposite is true - 18-21 year olds studying for degrees have seen chunky falls in employment. So have those studying for other qualifications.