Although the current Labour government is committed to developing the UK as a high skills society, there is much confusion as what such a society might look like and from where it might draw its inspiration. Some academic commentators have also expressed the need for a clearer vision of the kind of society to which the UK might choose to head for under the banner of 'high skills'. In this paper, the authors discuss whether such a vision is needed and what, in their view, this vision might look like. The authors argue that Germany and Scandinavia offer the best 'actually existing' examples of high skill societies and consider whether the UK could move towards a northern European inspired high skills model. Having identified some of the obstacles currently blocking such a project, the paper discusses whether a vision is still needed and why academics must continue to debate what it means to build a high skills society in the UK.