Heiress and film-maker Abigail Disney has told her fellow baby boomers to sit down, shut up and move on. She’s not the only one

Boomers for millennials: why people in their 50s and 60s are telling their peers to pipe down

Name: Boomers for millennials.

Age: 55-73.

Appearance: Down with the kids.

Which kids? Oh, millennials, generation Z … Anyone younger than 38, basically.

That’s an arbitrary number. Yes, it is. Anyway, you may have noticed there is a war between baby boomers and the younger generations.

I have. Luckily, both sides seem to prefer mouthing off on the internet to real fighting. That’s true, so far.

If it does come down to armed combat, my money is on the under-38s. Indeed, though they have a powerful new weapon – the dismissive remark “OK boomer”, which has been very effective at annoying older people.

Can’t baby boomers respond by shaking their fists and shouting “young whippersnapper!” Many have. Thankfully, some peacemakers have emerging to stop things escalating.

Really? Are these the “boomers for millennials” then? That’s right. The 59-year-old Disney heiress, activist and documentary film-maker Abigail Disney got the ball rolling.

By singing Circle of Life or something? Sadly, no. By issuing a series of passionate tweets on the subject.

Why can’t we all just get along? That kind of thing? Not quite. Addressing her fellow baby boomers, she said, among other things: “You are old. You are not irrelevant yet. But you are less relevant every day.”

That’s, um, empathic. “How about you guys sit down and let the kids drive,” she continued. “It’s not like you’ve done such a great job with the time you have had. Get over the idea that all things pass. You are old and you need to let history do what history does: move on.”

OK. So, less of an attempt at reconciliation. More like a demand for unconditional surrender. Pretty much.

Are many other baby boomers on her side? Well, the 63-year-old former Tory MP David – now Lord – Willetts wrote a book on the subject a decade ago, in which he argued that his generation had taken more than its share.

Anyone more famous? Fifty-nine-year-old US presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar? She stuck up for millennials, who were supposedly “killing divorce”.

OK. And another US presidential candidate, 70-year-old Elizabeth Warren, wants to forgive up to $50,000 of student debt for the less well off. That would redress the balance a little.

Doesn’t Bernie have an even more generous plan to help the kids? Bernie Sanders is 78, I’m afraid. To him, baby boomers are the kids.

Do say: “Where does generation X stand on this matter?”

Don’t say: “As far away as possible.”