Yoof of today

Had to laugh at this survey which "found that a surprising majority—almost 60 percent—of American teenagers thought things like water-boarding or sleep deprivation are sometimes acceptable".

Laughed because I take it we're supposed to be shocked but the only people likely to be so are those who never talk to any actual teenagers. Teenagers are, as James rightly reminds us, mostly idiots - and tend to be, in my experience, fairly bloodthirsty.

For example, discussions about the death penalty in your average class are usually quite illuminating. Opinions will usually break down as follows: some against, some in favour, and some in favour of slow lingering torture before the death penalty is administered. "What was that thing called that they did to William Wallace? Hung, drawn and quartered? Yes, that - we should bring that back."

But at least you get a debate - whereas with a bunch of graduates, opinions on matters like this tends to be much more homogeneous. Better in some respects, one could argue? But definitely less interesting.