Hey besties, we’ve come to the end of Brat Summer and with it the annual mass exodus of young people leaving the fam as they head off over the water to slay at university.

It got me thinking, is the Isle of Wight a place for Gen-Z-ers? 

The latest population stats don’t look very lit for young people.

If we’re not careful we could be heading into our permanent boomer retirement home era. It’s cheugy, no cap.

The Island isn’t giving employment, it’s not giving housing, it’s not giving good prospects for anyone under 60. 

Is it time we gave the Island a vibe check? 

Now, I stan the Island. I think it’s very cutesy, very mindful, very demure. But it’s not giving main character energy. It’s a beige flag. What can we do to make our Island the GOAT? How can we make it hit different?

We are high key obsessed with the past.

For too long the Island has looked backwards, trying to replicate its picture postcard history.

Yeah sure that Victorian stuff ate and left no crumbs but we’re not there any more. We need to look forward instead and make the Island an exciting place for the future. 

Ok Boomers, rather than getting an ick over changing anything from what it looked like in its ‘heyday’ why don’t we think about how we take the Island into its new heyday? 

The Victorians live rent-free in a lot of minds!

We’re not a living museum. Let’s stop obsessing about what buildings looked like but think about what drew people here in the first place.

What brought those people over here? People like the Freshwater set.

The greatest minds in the country would come here to hang out IRL and escape the menty-b of their busy lives.

It was a lit space to get creative. Those poets, playwrights, scientists, authors, photographers all came here to be inspired, to exchange ideas, to dream up an exciting future. It had good clout, very Gucci. 

Yeah sure the ferries didn’t cost an insane amount of guap like we have to pay. Maybe that’s one of the radical changes we need to make. 

I believe we can be that lit place again. It’s time to start our new era. 

The council are delulu to all of this though. Too busy cutting primary schools rather than dealing with the actual problems. Very sus.

The population imbalance requires positive change. Period. It requires positive action rather than negative reaction. 

We need the council to understand the assignment and help make this a better place to live and work for young people and families.

We need them focused on providing support for people to start their own business not trying to make a quick buck licensing A frames in the street.

We need them to come up with a plan. We need creative solutions to make this a place we are proud of. 

But it’s not just down to the council, we’ve all got to do it.

The NIMBY era is over. The future is coming, embrace it. It’s not just a positive future for the next generation but for everyone. 

There are exciting times ahead with news of the new film studio, of creative transformations of buildings and a fresh set of MPs. 

The Island has got to be a place to live in, not somewhere people want to come to die.

Embrace change because brat Island is coming, fam. We can’t afford for it not to.