It received little news coverage, but a recent government report should ring alarm bells for British society. It reveals a “pronounced separation between age groups”, suggesting young and old could find themselves “in a political and economic battle for resources”. Furthermore, it warns intergenerational “prejudice and discrimination” could become “more directly hostile”.

This is a potential disaster. Generational segregation is now far more of a risk to the fabric of our nation than segregation by race, religion or class. The research, conducted for the Department for work and Pensions (DwP), finds the generation gap dangerously wide. Sixty nine per cent of respondents regarded people under 30 and over 70 as having little or nothing in common. Only 10% thought young and old belonged to one common group.

Segregation is the growing medium for distrust, prejudice and fear. We have seen how ghettoes incubate resentment until it explodes in violence and disorder. The racially motivated riots that scarred some of England’s northern towns in 2001 were blamed on ethnic communities living ‘parallel lives’. And yet it appears we have allowed our neighbourhoods and our nation to become ghettoised by age. Fewer than one third of people over 70 say they have any friends under 30, and fewer than one third of those under 30 have friends over 70.

Communities need to mix if they are to function successfully. But in Britain some of the political and media debate has encouraged adults to regard the young as potential muggers and the young to regard adults as potential abusers.

The government’s ‘No More Excuses’ White Paper in 1997 led to legislation that effectively reduced the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to ten years old in England, and heralded an era in which the fight against “yob culture”, “juvenile anti-social behaviour” and “lack of respect” became a mainstream political issue.