THE OLD WAYS

This morning I was awoken to a discussion on BBC Radio London about how spoilt the children of today are. Apparently, even working class families (for shame!) are now lavishing £500 at a time on children's birthday parties to hire a professional entertainer and allow every attendee to leave with a "party bag" full of toys, sweets and, I don't know, gold bullion or something.

What really struck me though was the outspoken expert and mother highlighting this, amid her otherwise rational argument, mentioned playing Pacman - a video game which turned 30 years old this week. "That was simple entertainment," she assured the host, "nothing flashy about it. And my children loved playing it online for free, they don't need all these complicated expensive things."

If the experts are now holding up Pacman as an example of a return to the simpler days of yore then I'm afraid it's Game Over for the human race.