Generation Y suffers from adult indifference : LETTERS

From Mr Andrew Reid Sir: Your article "So, are the kids all right?" in your "generation Y" series (23 January) is misleading in the extent to which it suggests that party politics is irrelevant to today's younger generation. Of course, during the middle of any Parliamentary cycle there is a temporary dip in political interest. This is experienced by every section of society, not just young people. Journalists, academics and even politicians themselves can suffer from a certain political apathy between elections.

The onset of the next general election, however, will be accompanied by an explosion of political activity that will focus the minds of first-time voters more than ever before. When the consequences of the Labour Party proposals on a minimum wage and a student graduate tax are truly examined, young people will start to take a more active interest in politics. Politics will come straight into students' lives if summer jobs and university opportunities are jeopardised by the Labour Party's ill-thought outpolicies.

The assertion that party politics is a long-term turn-off for the country's youth is, I believe, inaccurate. Disinterest in politics is not a permanent feature of our political landscape but a product of the normal vicissitudes of political life.

Yours sincerely, ANDREW REID National Chairman Conservative Students London, SW1