Letter: Talking 'bout his generation

Sir: In his appeal to nostalgia, dressed up as criticism of the comedians Newman and Baddiel and youth culture in general, Bryan Appleyard has taken a pseudo- intellectual approach to the simplest of statements, namely: things were better in my day.

At some subconscious level, everyone forms a kind of loyalty to their influences in their emerging years, and these influences, be they musicians, actors, comedians or footballers, attain a certain superiority at this subconscious level to anything that precedes or follows them. Perhaps Mr Appleyard is referring to this phenomenon when describing his fellow 40-plus critics who 'fondly remember the golden years of a separate, young, alternative culture'. Surely the real joke is Mr Appleyard's own 'elderly incomprehension' of today's youth culture.

Yours faithfully,

KEVIN OWEN

Chester

16 December

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