The party’s over for young people, debt laden and risk averse | Zoe Williams

With such grave financial prospects, it's no wonder today's under-25s prefer jogging to drinking. To have a sense of freedom now seems illogical

It's bad news for the drinks industry, but it's mainly bad news for people who think each generation is more feckless than the last: the number of drinkers among 16- to 24-year-olds has dropped sharply. All kinds of drinkers are dying out: the steady drinkers, the binge drinkers, the drinkers-in-training, the social drinkers the bus stop drinkers - the lot.

In a study by the Office for National Statistics, less than half of young people reported drinking anything in the previous week, compared with two-thirds of 45- to 64-year-olds - many of whom are in all likelihood under medical advice to please cut it out, or at least do the nation the favour of lying about it in surveys.

Today's students must look at the lad and ladette culture of the 90s and wonder who we thought we were