that one day, old will sweep her up in its path and given that she's clearly such a mean spirited so and so, nobody is going to be interested. Schadenfreude - not the nicest of human traits, but I find it keeps me going. But then I'm just a mean spirited old person.

Speaking as one of those who is at the magical halfway stage between 16 and 30, I can assure you we're not all like that.

I find the attitude of that girl terrible; I would've definitely gone to the funeral but then again, I travel well over 30 miles every morning just to get to work.

As for us being the "me generation" - well, guilty as charged. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter have led us to publish our every thought; it's just unfortunate most of them seem to be "OMFG, Simon Cowell is, like, soooooo mean lol xoxoxox"

who thinks your 23-year-old friend is a wrinkled old bat.

of 39, my life experiences, journeys, bus rides, walk home from the pub on a Tuesday night in August 1994, have taught me two things. When you follow through, change your pants if you have an impending rendezvous with a new lover and secondly, that history repeats itself.

CAN YOU SPEAK UP.

It also means you listen to Thousand Foot Krutch on Spotify, because drink has been taken, and you tut because they sound just like Strife, Stray or whatever rock band you saw in the 70's.

I've felt a generation gap ever since Pete Doherty appeared on the scene and appeared to be highly thought of by the young 'uns.

I now embrace my decrepitude with some joy and spend my time listening to older and older music (that Django Reinhardt seems awfully promising) and harrumphing at the news. Slippers are on even as I type and the only reason I don't smoke a pipe is that giving up fags was hard enough and you can't sip your real ale in a cosy snug while smoking anymore anyway, not like when I were a lad...

death and grief here which affects people in many ways. Not "facing" going to a funeral can happen to people at any age. Being young probably makes her more susceptible to avoiding what can be a horrible event. Not sure I would build a big thesis on the basis of someone who's recently lost a relative could be she's fallen out with her family etc there could be lost of reasons rather than just the callousness of youth.

Chris G, good points well made.

However, I was simply using it as an example - I hadn't intended to suggest that one person not going to a funeral equals a whole generation of selfish sluggards. It was really to illustrate this whole depressing attitude of "Why should I put myself out? How will it benefit ME?"

a recent poll, where the results suggested that 40% of people thought there was nothing wrong with a care-worker getting an elderly person to change their will, in order for them to be the beneficiary? I don't think the poll was aimed at young people especially, but it's apparently led to a legal re-think about how to we define right/wrong in certain cases.

My long-winded point is that I don't think young people today are more selfish than any other generation - people always react to the environment they grow up in. Facebook, Big Brother and MySpace convince youngsters that they are somehow hallowed and important, but a sense of arrogance in youth has always been apparent - there's just more mediums that allow it to blossom.

At the moment, there's a certain sense of entitlement that's permeated our society, but it's certainly not limited to young people. I work with adults who are returning to learning, and, for free, the learners have: access to a computer, one-to-one learning sessions with qualified teachers, free-to-undertake qualifications and access to career advisors/ trained counsellors. And they still complain. By God, do they complain.

There, it had to be said.

(N.B. For the under 20s, you may need to Google the term 'Conscription', as it may not have been on the National Curriculum for History on the afternoon you attended a GCSE History lesson, just before you got that Grade A)

They've grown up with this attitude that they should be able to do anything they want to, and never let anyone tell them they can't. Which is fine, but sometimes, they just can't. At least Simon Cowell tells it like it is. Many of them are simply deluded and the parents don't help.

And there's lessening teachers' powers.

When I was at school, the teacher was to be feared and according to my parents was always right.

Today, the parent will more than likely threaten the teacher with physical violence for doubting their poor lamb.

It's all wrong.

and lord do I worry. Still, try to bring 'em up right, give them all you can afford to and make sure they like The Beatles. the rest is all a big crapshoot anyhooo.

About ten years ago David Bailey in an interview said he didn't trust anyone under 50, which would presumably now be 60.
I go with that with one exception.....Stevie Wonder.
Oh, and if I'm feeling charitable, Kate Bush.

Follow that rule and it wipes out vast areas of popular culture and politics (Blair, footballers, punk groups, post-punk groups, sit-com writers, film directors) that will only let you down.

Someone aged 100 I would trust.

when he wrote "Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band..."

the parents

I'm 51 me..what?

Why do young men think it's ok to walk around with one hand down the front of their kecks? In my day you'd have been told by your elders & betters to stop playing with yourself, and rightly so. And if I never see another pair of dirty grey designer trunks hovering above jeans slung somewhere round the knee it won't be a day too soon.

A word association game on our local radio station elicited the response "lap" to the question "name a type of dance". This from a 14 year old girl! We're probably all getting towards Grumpy Old Men stage but I do despair when most girl's role model is Jordan and every X Factor wannabee simply wants to win so "everybody in the world knows who I am!"

playing, like, a record, er, by The Monkees on Bolton FM, like.

Without having a clue about them says, "My dad says The Monkess were like a better boyband than The Beatles".

Mike Nesmith is 107.

Hangings too good for them.
What they want is a good kick up the arse.

on the radio who rowed across the indian ocean on her own i think we can forgive her the odd emoticon.

- when their role models are Facebooking, XBox playing, binge drinking 40/50 something kidults with a high disposable income indulged by the leisure industry and the media to stay forever young (I do not wholly exonerate myself in this regard)