With the 60th anniversary of VE-Day approaching, perhaps it is time for someone who was getting drunk in the Army in Germany on the original VE-Day to comment on the intervening years.

It was certainly austere in 1945, although it seemed normal to us.

There were no supermarkets. Food, including sweets, was rationed. So were clothes and petrol.

There were far fewer cars but they were all British.

Central heating, washing machines, fridge-freezers, TV, videos, DVDs, CDs, mobile phones, computers and foreign holidays have all come in to make life more comfortable and pleasant.

The NHS, for all its current problems, has meant everyone being reated without fear of heavy bills.

People are more tolerant, less hidebound, and women are beginning to take their rightful place.

But there has been an enormous downside. Drug-taking, with its associated crime, was virtually unknown and criminals seldom carried guns.

We took politics seriously because we knew it could change our lives and there was none of the present destructive cynicism.

The Press had not descended completely into the gutter. There was still a feeling of community - foul-mouthed ill-discipline had not taken over, together with a selfish materialism with its infantile demand for instant gratification.

The poet Philip Larkin said, ironically, sexual intercourse began in 1963, but actually it was quite common (how else would we have baby boomers?). We just didn't go yakking on about it.

This, of course, is a subjective view and it might be interesting to hear from other wrinklies how they feel about the last 60 years.

-Andrew Walker, Brighton