What do you think of the generation dubbed the Baby Boomers? In this week’s issue of the New Statesman Michael Bywater gives his view and asks why the "luckiest" of generations ended up so self-indulgent, becoming like greedy children. The absurd image that sums up this era, he argues, is that of a middle-aged man playing air guitar.

And it's the absurd that Will Self explores in his review of Dr Clock's Handbook, defining it as a "crazy logic" that is internally discontinuous. You'll have to read the article.

NS editor John Kampfner, just returned from Israel, reports that the mood there has rarely been so gloomy.

Former minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, warns the government against protectionist tendencies in the wake of the decision to limit the right of Romanians and Bulgarians to work here.

Elsewhere we have Annalisa Barbieri arguing the case for knitwear, and Rachel Cooke reviewing Desert Island Discs with its new presenter, Kirsty Young. Apparently Kirsty doesn't listen which seems something of a disadvantage under the circumstances.

Oh, and look out for Shazia Mirza's column. The comic talks about the dangers of being a 30-year-old virgin, growing up in Birminghamabad and argues that real integration is a Muslim girl who wears a G-string under her hijab. I wonder what the response will be to that.

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