Will Hutton skrifar langa grein sem birtist í The Observer um helgina. Þar fjallar hann um kynslóð sína, barnasprengjukynslóðina, afkvæmi þeirra sem háðu heimstyrjöldina og vildu byggja upp öruggan heim fyrir börnin sín eftir hildarleikinn. Börnunum leiddist hins vegar öryggið og börðust fyrir persónulegu frelsi og einstaklingshyggju. Kynslóðin frelsaði kynlífið úr viðjum gamalla hefða – en líka fjármagnsmarkaðina.

Nú er barnasprengjukynslóðin að komast á eftirlaun. Hún lifði velmegunartíma og er vel stæð – á gjarnan sitt eigið húsnæði og eftirlaunin eru góð. Hún naut ódýrrar menntunar og góðrar heilbrigðisþjónustu. Hutton segir að þeir sem séu sextugir í dag séu þegar á heildina er litið í býsna góðri stöðu – hann er sjálfur fæddur 1950.

Afkomendurnir  taka hins vegar við óöryggi, fáránlega háu húsnæðisverði, miklum skuldum og eftirlaunum sem eiga eftir að skreppa saman.

Heimurinn hefur sannarlega breyst á þessum tíma. Það er einn áhugaverður punktur sem Hutton nefnir: Á þeim tíma fengu forstjórar fyrirtækja álíka há laun og ráðuneytisstjórar.

„Companies had been around for decades and would be as much part of our future fabric as they had been of the past. Persil washed whitest. The pound was worth two dollars and 80 cents and 35 dollars bought an ounce of gold. The US ran the world with Britain as its chief lieutenant. Everybody would marry and have 2.2 children. It was a time of mottos: better be safe than sorry; carry an umbrella to work in case it rains. What I had to do was work hard and I would find myself on the conveyor belt that would convey me upwards. Chief executives of companies earned the same salaries as the permanent secretaries running Whitehall.

That world has gone. The anchors have dissolved or are dissolving. There is neither a monetary nor religious anchor. The pound floats; Catholicism is mired in the horrifying sexual antics of its priests; CEOs pay themselves salaries without limits. The great visions of how one might associate with others – in an Empire, a Commonwealth, a socialist economy, a commune, a religious community, a trade union or even a company – have become implausible. We are individualists in a not very sovereign nation state being buffeted around by economic forces beyond our control. We madly find meaning in cults and celebrity, overinvesting in family as the last redoubt of meaning, while reconciling ourselves to fewer public services and cynical companies even while the country is very much richer.„