Shocking new figures show that, outside London, a combination of poor transport, failing schools and lack of housing has brought the country low

Stuck. Too many Britons are stuck in neighbourhoods they find unlovely and depressing, jobs that are going nowhere and lives with too little sense of purpose. To escape, or at least to have some prospect of improvement, would be wonderful. Part of the mood of despondency that has settled over the country is that the already slim chances of improvement – as the Labour government’s dark messages of gloom refract and magnify – now seem negligible. The smart strategists who win elections have badly misjudged the national mood: they are much less smart advisers to government.

Public transport beyond London is in decay, forcing immobility on the poorest. The lack of social housing, expense of private sector rents and high property prices operate as padlocks on movement and ambition. There may be work, but the growth in real wages for the last 15 years has been negligible. Schools, especially in distressed areas, have their backs against the wall. With “hard choices” ahead, to be stuck seems an irreversible condition.