I doubt that the "trades" ever had much respect - its just that those bright kids would have left school at 16 and done the vocational route all go to uni now.

I doubt that the "trades" ever had much respect - its just that those bright kids would have left school at 16 and done the vocational route all go to uni now. Apprenticeships in the UK have to pick from those that are left and deal with the damage done by TV shows and super markets saying you can do an apprenticeship in shelf stacking - when in fact its just cheap labour.