Somebody emailed in with this story from the US, about the segregation of a local library:

‘I went down to our new voting place, a freshly built school on Munjoy Hill in Portland. The school also houses the local branch of the Portland Public Library, and indeed the school’s library and the branch library are intermixed. Well THAT lasted a few weeks! Now the branch library is closed to adults during the day so that patrons and school children can’t come into contact. How sad.’

This is a small case, perhaps, but it is a symbol of the growing encroachment on spaces where the generations can intermingle. UK organisations from model aircraft clubs to barbershop choirs have been similarly affected. Just as men and women once entered swimming pools by different doors, now it seems that there will be separate entrances for adults and children.