Am I part of the luckiest generation in history?

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Am I part of the luckiest generation in history? 32 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleEvan DavisPresenter on Radio 4's PMGetty ImagesI was born in 1962, at the tail end of the baby boom era. Does that make me especially lucky?

Should I languish in guilt? The claim has been made that the baby boomers in general, and the late baby boomers in particular, have done rather better than the generations that followed. This argument has been bubbling for some years, but my interest was piqued by comments from the former foreign secretary William Hague, now chancellor of the University of Oxford - born in 1961 - who argued a few months ago that the early 1960s is one of the best periods in history in which to have been born.

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And recent arguments over the English student loan system have put generational fairness even more firmly onto the agenda. When I was young, I don't remember fairness between generations ever being given much thought, and the labelling of different cohorts (Generation X, millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha) wasn't quite the thing it is now. The baby boom was talked about, but more as a simple demographic phenomenon.

Now, generational analysis seems to be everywhere; from TV comedies like Hacks and Only Murders in the Building, to office-place chitchat. But with generational identity politics alive and well today, let us examine the evidence. I find Hague's claim fascinating and plausible.

Have my schoolmates and I done well - too well? I can't cover everything, so I'll focus on England, and three key areas: higher education, pensions and housing. The ambiguous student loan issueThere's clearly a sense of injustice about the English student loan system.

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Martin Lewis, Britain's most prominent financial commentator, has criticised the terms attached to some of the loans as immoral. Indeed, the extra 9% "tax" on earnings paid by younger graduates is an obvious difference to the treatment I received. In my case, the government actually gave me an annual maintenance grant and covered the cost of tuition.

Younger graduates feel this sharply. Natalie Whittaker, 27, told the recently that debt from her bachelor's degree now stands at £75,500 (up from £52,000 when she graduated). "We were told… it's just the price of a coffee, you won't even notice it leaving your pay cheque," she says.

But now she's making repayments and thinking, "hang on a minute, this isn't the price of a coffee". There are also suggestions that the state might actually be making a profit from graduates; recent work by the consultancy London Economics finds that the 2022 cohort of graduates will pay more into the exchequer through the loan system, over their lifetimes, than their degrees actually cost. Getty ImagesThe blessed generation?

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.