I enjoyed John Lanchester’s article on the generation gap (Did baby boomers eat all the pies? John Lanchester on the truth about the generation gap, 8 March). As a university lecturer, I spend a lot of time in class unpicking statistics and received wisdom, including narratives such as intergenerational rivalry, which is more complex than it first seems. I often feel that we are too shortsighted in our intergenerational discussions.
As a gen Xer, I’ve often discussed my experiences as a young adult, which, as Lanchester points out, share many parallels with today’s gen Z. In heritage management classes, I ask students about their parents and grandparents. We compare experiences with those of the first and second world war generations, then that of our great-grandparents. Mine were born in 1879, were lacemakers in Essex, had a pea field, made turnip dollies and sent their sons to Haberdashers’ School in London to better themselves.
Students’ stories lend perspective to ideas of privilege, chimeras like golden ages and threats of difficult times. Students often mention the bank of granny and granny daycare, which support the economy, recognising how generational interconnections are interwoven.
We tend to discover more commonalities than differences between the generations, but hit a wall of inequality, as Lanchester points out, when we consider climate change. We used to watch Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth when assessing the environmental impacts in class each year and, while we knew the direction in which we were travelling, we didn’t realise how quickly we would arrive.
Dr Jane Lovell
Ashford, Kent
I’d like to say thank you to John Lanchester for the best analysis of current UK political, economic and demographic issues that I’ve read. It was also incredibly personally resonant. My father was one of 10 and my mother grew up in abject poverty. They benefited from (now sold off) council housing after the war. I taught in further education, have been a Citizens Advice volunteer and many of my friends have children, so I have a broad experience of the lives of both affluent and low-income younger people today.
Another element in the future is that many boomers are separated or divorced and have fewer or, like me, no children. This will inevitably reduce the free elder care subsidies the state used to be able to rely on. There will probably be more older men needing support than ever before in the future.
Phyllis Hyde
Coventry
I was sorry to read that almost a third of gen Z men believe that wives should obey their husbands (Gen Z males twice as likely as baby boomers to believe wives should obey husbands, 5 March). I married in September 1966 in an Anglican church. My future husband and I saw the vicar before the service and I said I could not promise to obey, which my fiance was agreeable with. The vicar was surprised, but said there was a more modern version of the ceremony that we could use, and we did.
I did not agree with the idea of promising to obey as it was not equality and husbands did not promise to obey wives. Also, I think it is wrong for anybody to promise to obey another person or organisation unconditionally as they may order you to do something wrong or illegal.
Dr Angela Hilton
Bowdon, Greater Manchester
In one article we learn that gen Z are no longer “sensible” (Binge drinking rises sharply among gen Z in their early 20s, 5 March) and on another that 33% of gen Z men think a wife should obey her husband. Readers should be told if the surveys were completed by sober participants.
Sam White (baby boomer)
Lewes, East Sussex
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