Kids like booze and sex. So what?

Young people will always shag themselves silly no matter what the risk or moral prescription: today 80 per cent of teen pregnancies are among 16 to 17-year-olds, which is when most of us - think back - were ourselves sexually active. Every generation frets that its young - sulking, idling, pissing away potential - will never amount to a bean. But the demonisation of today's teens is dangerous and self-defeating.

This week, as I walked to the supermarket, a gang of kids - aged between 11 and 15 - charged past me. My instant thought was they were they going to shoplift or "steam" the customers. But really they just had a few quid to share on crisps, then they ran back out laughing and glowing and young. Yet their very presence, unsupervised, felt threatening, unruly and wrong.

When did we get so frightened of our children? When they started stabbing us, some of you will retort.

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