I have always hired people of different ages. Young people and older people. People in their 70s and in their 20s. People who are fully capable of talking back to me.

People going into the cities for the opportunities and the towns are getting older, no young people.

Most young people have tremendous respect for older people's views.

But for me, it is when a student has died. I find the death of a young person the most difficult and painful of times. To explain it to other young people, to see a bright future snuffed out, is just awful. I am haunted by those deaths.

But I know that the despair that these young people ? and older people, too ? face is so huge, and the extreme response is suicide. Their self-destructive, self-loathing is so strong that they just can't live with themselves, and that is just untenable.

Our young people are out on the streets looking for parties, a place to dance, looking for a scene. No institutions are providing them with alternatives, fun things to do that don't necessarily have alcohol at the center.