I was asked the other day where I stood on striking the balance between universal and targeted provision in youth work. I smiled at the juxtaposition. Such a stark division has caused a lot of argument, heartache and grief at ideological and political levels, and in policy and practice. It allows for the drawing up of battle lines: on the one side, those advocating value for money and reaching those somehow objectively assessed as most "in need", on the other, those espousing open doors, thus enabling responsiveness to all forms of "need" as subjectively expressed.