In one of the most poignant vox pops I ever did, I wasn’t even looking for Neets, AKA young people who aren’t in education, employment or training. I was just looking for people on the streets near Liverpool with enough time to speak to me. As A-level results loom this week, I constantly have my beak in teenagers’ business. The emotional rhythms are irresistible: you strive for a thing, you get close to the thing, conditionally, you strive harder and you hopefully hit the jackpot. At the same time, I’m not going to be the one paying for that idealism – they are.