Who would swap our problems today for those of 15 years ago?

IN the late 1980s, when I was in my teens and early 20s, the population of the village where I was born and reared used to quadruple for the week around Christmas.

In fact, the population of the village in my own age group used to increase about tenfold as young people from the parish returned home for Christmas.

Most were returning from abroad. On Christmas Eve or St Stephen’s night, the local pub was packed to the rafters, presenting an opportunity to catch up with many of those I had grown up with who were then working in London or Boston, or Sydney.