Some people say there is no such thing as a Generation - people are born continuously and so, at any time, there are old people, young people and all those in between.

Others say that it is possible to define a Generation by great world events and the people who were active in them at the time. One very good indicator is through the popular music people identify with - those identifying with particular bands or genres could be called a generation.

Generally speaking, the past few generations can be grouped this way:

The War Generation - born 1920 to 1931, now 76 to 87 years old
The Silent Generation - born 1931 to 1946, now 61 to 76 years old
The Baby Boomers - born 1946 to 1961, now 46 to 61 years old
Generation X - born 1961 to 1976, now 31 to 46 years old
Generation Y - born 1976 to 1991, now 16 to 31 years old
Generation Z - born 1991 to 2003, now 4 to 16 years old

War Generation Born to parents who fought in the 1st World War, they themselves grew up in the Great Depression and fought in the 2nd World War. These people were generally into the old values and being careful with money, paying cash.

Silent Generation Children during the last war, there's not much to define them except that they were into family, jobs and education. Elvis Presley was one of their icons.

Baby Boomers Their parents interpreted the advice of the fashionable Dr. Benjamin Spock as 'never say no to your child - you'll psychologically damage him'. The children grew up uncontrollable and rebellious and yet there was nothing to rebel against -they're often called Rebels without a Cause.

Then the Vietnam War came along and suddenly there was a cause. Huge protest marches, music festivals, wearing of jeans and t-shirts, drugs, free sex and music completely different to their parents.

Then they got older, looked around and saw full employment, plenty of jobs and money and thought 'Why not?' These are now the presidents, government ministers, company managers, rectors and aging pop stars.

Names include George Bush and the Rolling Stones. This generation refuses to stop, refuses to retire. They're still wearing jeans and partying today and will do so until they die.

Generation X Always in the shadow of the Boomers, they are far fewer in numbers and were responsible for the electronic dance scene, techno, glam rock such as Abba and Gary Glitter, fashionable drugs, piercing, feminism, the dot.com boom and an 'I don't care' attitude. Nothing means anything to them - they are the dark, the lost generation and they generally detest the Boomers.

Generation Y are the children of the Boomers. There is now an interesting phenomenon of the Boomers still controlling half the world culture and music scene through their numbers and focused on the same bands and same values but Generation Y are far more fragmented. One Gen Y's culture is another's poison.

And yet time has simply meant that Gen Y culture is now taking over - religious values have been replaced by money, churches by shopping cathedrals, organized dances by electronic clubbing; there's vastly increased drug use, indiscriminate sex outside of marriage and a far greater computer and Internet awareness than with previous generations. There is also a far greater tolerance of deviant phenomena such as pornography, homosexuality and interracial relationships than with previous generations.

There's a sort of passivity, a non-political, directionless introspection with them - the next "Me' generation since the Boomers. The Boomers' main concern was revolution, Gen X's main concern was the alternative lifestyle but in a recent worldwide survey, money was rated the number one concern for Gen Y, especially for girls.

Many are now starting to realize that their expected financial legacy is just not coming and so, even in their happy, tolerant world, there is an uneasy feeling that the future is not quite as rosy as they thought.

Generation Z are the children of today.

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