‘Entitlement’ is to baby boomers as freedom of speech is to Andrew Bolt. That is, everyone else seems to have it in spades. It is something to be used and abused but never reflected upon. Something to grumpily wish everyone else had less of, without wanting to lose any of your own. Generationalism is the cesspool in which analysis goes to die.

Aboriginal lawyer and activist Michael Mansell caused, as he is wont, quite a stir this week by refusing to accept his nomination for Senior Australian of the Year. Among other things, Mansell said that accepting such a nomination would be akin to a Palestinian accepting the title ‘Israeli of the Year’.