EDITOR’S LETTER

Ilove Robyn MacLarty’s story on book clubs (page 42) because I love my own book club so deeply. The eight of us (we used to be nine) have been together for 21 years, through four divorces, one wedding, many children, too many deaths, many triumphs, and crises of confidence, belief and circumstance. Through it all, we’ve been a yardstick and a refuge for one another: they’re a collection of funny, clever and irreverent women who provide a framework for my life, and I look forward to growing even older with them. Occasionally we moot the idea of bringing our daughters in, just to spread the love – and sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a different generation sitting around the table.

I know we’re all heartily sick of the ongoing soapie saga involving the privileged Sussexes and the privileged Mountbatten-Windsors, but the interesting thing about it is how the debate divides along generational lines.

There have been many articles in the past few decades commenting on the shrinking of the generation gap. When Palace-wearing 50-year-old CEOs skateboard into their pinball-infested offices blasting The Weeknd through their AirPods while ordering a nootropic-spiked smoothie for breakfast, what’s there to say?

But when it comes to Meghan and Harry vs the Royal Family, the gap shows up with a vengeance: in general, forty+ boomers see the couple as at best contrived, at worst conniving; whereas millenials and below see them as activists/victims with the courage to ‘speak their truth’ – a divisive phrase if ever I heard one. Test it out; it’s fascinating.

I’m not going to argue the toss here, but

I am going to welcome back the clear lines of the generation gap. I think the questioning of established ways of thinking, speaking, behaviour, belief and action is a good thing for society as a whole – it’s how we move ahead as a species. If the next generation just accepted everything we thought and did, there would be no impetus for change, which would be fatal (and boring). Vive la différence, I say!

Have a fabulous month, and – speaking of generations – happy Mother’s Day to all of you, however you choose to spend it.

Love, Suzy