Down with the summer holidays “I ink therefore I am”

Many parents returning home this August to find an unwashed teenager languishing on the sofa playing Fortnite will ask themselves: “Why are the summer holidays so insufferably long?” It’s a more serious question than it sounds, says The Economist. Many children return from the long break having forgotten much of what they learnt in the previous year. Indeed, studies suggest that “summer learning loss” could be as high as “a quarter of the year’s education”, with children from poorer backgrounds worst affected. “Youngsters will hate the idea of a longer school year. Many grown-ups will object to it too”, not least because it would cost taxpayers more. But there are ways to pay for it, including having larger classes. “Many parents are obsessed with teacherto-pupil ratios”, but there is little evidence they make a difference. More time in school needn’t mean “repeating the same old lessons”. Children from well-off families often use the summer to “broaden their minds”, burnish their college applications or find summer jobs. “Schools should help the rest catch up.”

Corporate culture can be “frustratingly inert”, says Andrew Hill. But evidence appears to be growing that tattoos and other “body art” are “not as much a hurdle to employment as they were once thought to be”. Although most people with tattoos I canvassed said they would still cover them up for a first interview, recent research suggests that “inked individuals” no longer face any actual wage or employment discrimination in the US. In fact, “tattooed men may even be slightly more likely to find a job”. This may be down to sheer force of numbers. In 2015, nearly half of US millennials “owned up to a tattoo”, as did 30% of Britons of a similar age – and “those figures have almost certainly risen since”. But a relaxation of the corporate tats taboo is “positive not just for closet tattoo-wearers, but for anyone wishing to express themselves at work”. I used to advise entrepreneurs to invest in tattoo removal parlours. I’m now planning to hedge that recommendation “with a side bet on an upmarket chain discreetly offering inking and piercing to conservative older customers”.