John Ibbitson is a writer-at-large for The Globe and Mail. His latest book is Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline, co-authored with Darrell Bricker.
| The oldest of the baby boomers will turn 75 next year. The generation that defined us all, that fought for peace and cheap drugs and no-fault divorce, that gave us the personal computer and the internet and the culture wars and the war on terror, that is responsible for the best and the worst of the human condition as we live it today, is getting old. And as always – always – they’re making it all about them.
| The boomers are living inconveniently long lives. Over the course of the next three decades, the number of people aged 85 and older will more than triple.
|  | | | More stories below advertisement | | | Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com
| Containing the coronavirus | | | | More columns from across The Globe | | | | | |
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/XUYC332IMFGNDDMN2XLZOULG2M.jpg "Older, longer: The super-aging of Canadians has taken everyone by surprise")
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/AOVBEAKFXRG63MBWQSDB657MMU.JPG "Trump’s team is cornered, and desperate for an off-ramp")
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/SXSPXJFMBBHXDN2ZCBIQQHKIUA.JPG "What should we fear more: Coronavirus or fear itself?")
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/QIIHXTYIS5EDTDSDOR4WFTC6GM.jpg "Why does the Indigenous rate of incarceration only grow?")
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/CGZOFWANLZHNRICVRJMMRMDHSQ.jpg "Ontario’s relationships with its cities are ill-fitting and illogical. That must change")
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/GRSHGZV4OBHX7MB6NFLXIZ7GME.jpg "Editorial Cartoons for January, 2020")
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/MLJA45KDARAXDGKQE4IDBLGAJE.jpg "Jan. 29: ‘CBC used to be part of my television interests.’ How readers would fix Canada’s public broadcaster, plus other letters to the editor")
Canada’s economy is flatlining/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WLVKWXM4AJES5OGQH6N622JKDE.JPG "Europe’s Putin gamble: Keep him inside the tent, aiming outward")
