Sir, Daniel Finkelstein is right that politics is as much about the clash of generations as about the clash of other interests such as class (“After Jacko’s death we know that War is Over”, Opinion, July 1). It has often been said that wars against other societies are created by the older generation in order to distract young men from their natural instinct of rebellion against the rules, norms and elders of their own society. Indeed, the breakdown of traditional mechanisms for keeping young men in line is often cited as a cause of the recent civil war in Sierra Leone.

The UK’s political culture thrives on (perhaps, needs) some kind of polarisation between clearly differentiated interests. Without this, politics turns in on itself, thus the only political issue of interest of late has been the political class itself. So now that the middle class has grown so large, and politics has come to be dominated so strongly by the centre ground, presumably some new kind of political division will come along to take the place of class.

British people still aspire to own their own homes, but the home-owning class — now defined by its age, rather than by socioeconomic status as before — will continue to vote for governments whose policies push house prices ever upwards. Meanwhile, young people are the first to be excluded from work by the effects of the credit crunch.

We have here the beginnings of a new political divide, in which the all too similar Labour and Tory mainstreams converge — whether as a single party or in coalition — on one side of the fence, facing the new “Youth Party” on the other.

Phil Vernon

Tunbridge Wells, Kent

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