IN my lifetime the period of greatest potential for social advancement, largely based on merit, seemed to be the grammar school era of the immediate post-war years.

Given good fortune, clever children had a chance of advancement in most careers.

Recent surveys have indicated that this was a false dawn and that current social mobility is regressing.

One of the most obvious brakes on mobility is the insidious practice of employers using unpaid internships as a condition of recruitment.

The legal profession has long used this method, but now many jobs in politics, and especially journalism, are allocated in the same way.

This is a restrictive practice and short-sighted.

We need the most talented people in such positions and particularly some, who by way of less privileged upbringings, may bring new ideas.

Unsurprisingly, as a means of cheap labour similar recruitment methods are now being introduced in the retail and manufacturing sectors. This does not bode well for the prosperity of future generations.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.