Nothing is more striking for those of us who are grandparents than the way the referendum debate has opened up a division with our children. We greybeards tend to live in the country, and are retired or close to retirement. So we appreciate visits from our families in the cities. But when discussion turns to this supposedly democratic vote, our offspring think they can dictate to us what to do.

David Cameron this week told us oldies to “think about the hopes and dreams of your children and grandchildren”. He needn’t have bothered. Our middle-class young are doing their own browbeating. Recently I was at a post-wedding lunch and observed a retired Oxford don being harangued by a total of nine young family members for presuming to favour breaking out. “Dad, I sympathise with what you’re saying but things are different from when you were our age,” the young say, before issuing the order to vote Remain.