We had it all – sex freedom, money……..

It's Sunday so it must be another 60 year old whining on about how his or her generation screwed up the world. This Sunday it was the turn of Will Hutton to add his two pennies' worth. Needless to say but it was accompanied by the mandatory picture of a half crazed hippie.

I nearly trashed the article when I got to this section

Having enjoyed a life of free love, free school meals, free universities, defined benefit pensions, mainly full employment and a 40-year-long housing boom, they are bequeathing their children sky-high house prices, debts and shrivelled pensions. A 60-year-old in 2010 is a very privileged and lucky human being – an object of resentment as much as admiration.

Having got to the end of the article it was not as bad as I expected. Hutton and I have a lot in common (regarding age and background) – not a jot in terms of political beliefs. I felt rather sorry for the guy. He seems to be suffering from a real dose of destructive self-introspection.

Where he, and most of the people who have dished up their homilies on this subject, get it so wrong is that they extrapolate their generation's history from their own experiences. This is basic mistake of marketers who think the market universe is an extrapolation of their own needs and wants.

Hutton tells us how when he was at university he was part of the revolt against the university authorities. My university (Sussex) was probably the most revolutionary and I remember how the vast majority of students thought the Hutton’s of this world were an absolute pain in the a****. The 'revolting' Huttons were a particularly vocal bunch of self opinionated students, nearly always from an arts faculty. Believe me, they didn't represent their generation anywhere as much as they think they did.

The Hutton’s of this world went to university but in those days only 8% of kids did – unlike 38% today. The Huttons of this world worked in jobs that provided final salary pension schemes. For large numbers of his peers, the 92% who did not go to university, they were luck to get any pension.

The media/political/chattering class are those who have taken on the mantle of commentators about the baby boomer generation. It is a great pity that they are incapable of thinking outside their own, very limited, social group.

Reading the comments to the article was one thing more depressing than the article itself. From their tone I assume they were penned by the UK’s Yoof. How very depressing. Dick Stroud