Letter: Sixties icons are not ours

Sir: Sorry to disappoint Polly Toynbee ("It's time to swing back to the Sixties", 23 December), but young people of my generation, born in the Seventies, have absolutely no interest in what Jagger et al have to say.

After making a few vague "anti-Establishment" gestures in their youth, most of the Baby Boom rockers have become part of that very Establishment.

The late-teens and twentysomethings of 1996/97 have their own ideas, their own beliefs, and their own heroes and heroines, and look forward optimistically to the year 2000, not 1964. The "legacy" of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties has indeed created a society very different from that of 30 years ago, and anyone who wants to get on with life doesn't waste time wondering whether this is for better or worse.

Young people do admire those like Nelson Mandela, who fought (and fight) for values still vital today. Most of us have a strong sense of morality and of doing right by others, and are sick of being told what terrible times we're living through.

The 21st century could be a great one. My message to the Polly Toynbees out there is this: help us build it, or leave us alone.

JON MILLS

Minehead, Somerset