Young people are becoming ever more responsible. They are less likely to take drugs or drink than past generations. Very few have serious problems with alcohol or drugs. It is people in their forties who are most likely to be admitted to hospital for drinking-related problems. The latest figures on drug addiction show that 39% of heroin addicts are now over the age of forty, up from 19% in 2006. Fewer than ever are under the age of twenty-four. The number of young adults in prison is falling, but our overcrowded prisons are increasingly home to the older generation: between 2002 and 2013, the number of middle-aged men locked up increased by 130%. The same is true of suicide rates: on both sides of the Atlantic fewer young people but more middle-aged men are killing themselves.