Tony Blair visit to Museum of Science and Industry/ Extract from speech ' Our Nation's Future'

Tony Blair visit to Museum of Science and Industry/ Extract from speech ' Our Nation's Future'; * * Beware flash photography * * Blair along to podium Prime Minister Tony Blair speech SOT (extracts only) - Want hope is there for a man in his 50s who is about to change his career (laughter from audience SOT) / It is time to put 'work' back at the centre of the political debate / Of course, 20 years ago, it was / We had 3 million unemployed, but the debate was about the number of jobs; and the despair of unemployment / In the last 10 years, with over 2 and a half million more jobs, that debate and all its attendant political clash, overwhelming at the time, has virtually disappeared / The debate about work more recently has been about work/life balance / The Conservative leader made a speech not so long ago, following this fashion, where he said happiness was more important than mere wealth or work / the assumption running throughout this line of argument is that 'work/life' balance is about a balance between 'work', the necessary drudgery to keep hearth and home together and 'life' which is about personal fulfilment, pleasure and contentment / It is not about balancing something we do because we have to; with something by contrast we want to do / It is about taking control over our own lives, at work and at home and managing both to our own satisfaction / today's generation want more than a job, more than to earn simply to enjoy / They want a good job / They want a career, they want to develop as individuals through work as well as through the hopes and fears of family life / Our purpose should be to help them achieve that ambition / the purpose should be to give people greater power over what they decide for their own lives / They believe they can do what they want to do / For all the pressure, insecurity and change, they know the world is far more open, rich in possibility CUTAWAYs Audience and press