Even for a generation used to bad news, the revelation this week that the government could increase the repayment rate on existing student loan debt in the next few years is a vicious kick in the teeth. Couple this with the fact that ministers are planning to restrict the extended right to buy policy to older tenants, and – even if you’re opposed in principle to the policy itself – it begins to look as though the government is engaging in ideological warfare against the young.

This may sound strong, but when you look at the obstacles that people my age and younger are facing, it’s difficult not to sound bitter about generational injustice. Younger people (I prefer this term to the media-confected “millennials” or “generation Y”) are frequently portrayed as existing in a Neverland of kidulthood, a world of selfish entitlement and cereal, of onesies and bum selfies. This analysis conveniently ignores the fact that the traditional rites of passage to adulthood – leaving the parental home, eventually buying property, stable employment, starting a family – are off limits to many, and as these latest announcements show, the blockades keep on going up.

Pensioners escaped effects of austerity while young suffered most, says report Read more

Far from relishing a prolonged adolescence, many people in their mid to late 20s and 30s would like nothing more than some semblance of stability. From the couples who desperately want to have a baby but can’t imagine doing so in a shared house, to those who long to leave the parental home but will be prevented from doing so by the removal of housing benefit for 18 to 21 year-olds (if they are lucky enough to have a parental home in the first place), young people are actually crying out for adulthood. The idea of proper, grownup stability has taken on the feeling of a fairytale, a children’s story murmured comfortingly to send you off to sleep.

Fully awake, we face unstable, de-unionised employment and zero-hours contracts, unpaid internships, low pay compounded by a pensions shortfall, tuition fees (and later, increasing repayments), and ridiculously high rent and property prices.

We have been disproportionately affected by recession and austerity. According to research published by the Resolution Foundation earlier this year, 22 to 29 year-olds saw a 12.5% fall in wages between 2009 and 2014. Working-age households suffered a 4% cut to their incomes, while pensioner households saw theirs jump by almost 10% between 2007 and 2014.

Yet to mention the extent to which the younger generation has been shafted is often met with accusations of whining (another alleged attribute of younger people), as though we’re all teenagers screaming “I hate you!” through slammed bedroom doors. Whenever you write about generational injustice, a baby boomer conveniently pops up to accuse you of divisiveness and to point out that “we didn’t all have it so good”.

Young people are fully aware of this – most of you are our parents, after all. We’ve seen the reports about the myth of the “lucky generation”, about how boomers’ incomes, life chances and experiences differ (of course they do – no generation is a monolith). In August, the Ready for Ageing Alliance even claimed that “baby boomer” was becoming a term of abuse in order to “inflame divisions” between the generations (if this is the worst thing your child has called you, then frankly you’ve got off lightly). Yet recognising that it is of limited use to focus purely on generational trends does not preclude a young person from lamenting that ours is the first generation that will be worse off than their parents.

Ours is the first generation that will be worse off than their parents

This is why it is of crucial importance that we perceive generational injustice also in terms of class. This applies not only to the boomers, some of whom suffered, some of whom benefited at our expense, but also to their children. Every policy attacking the young will hit poorer young people harder; those able to rely on the bank of mum and dad, with parents who can help them out with rent, guarantee a mortgage, or fund them through an unpaid internship, are largely immune. Already an inequality gulf is opening – it is fairly easy to divide the people I know into haves and have nots. The richer ones have houses and babies. The poorer ones often wish desperately that they did. And as we age, the gap will only become larger. It’s in everyone’s interest to stop that happening.

Which is why I’d like to offer a plea to boomers. Next time you catch us “whining”, or accuse us of never wanting to grow up, try mentally listing all the policy blockades that are stopping us from doing just that. Sadly, you may find that a few more have sprung up in the interim. Adulthood has become, essentially, the moon on a stick.