“Forget those ‘best practice’ blueprints and planning models and frameworks - we should allow people near to the problems the time, space and resources to innovate, learn and manage change effectively…”

Research from the University of Montreal has reopened and reinvigorated the controversial debate about whether genetics holds the key to understanding the flaws and frailties in human behavior.

None of it is new, of course. Youth and excess go together and “substance” problems of one kind and another thread their way through history. Wormwood, peyote, tobacco, gin, amphetamine… take your pick. But for Blueprints conference delegates the modern danger is inescapable: it’s time to worry about the damage drink, drugs and both together are doing to young people the world over.