Did we baby boomers bring about a revolution in the 60s or just usher in neoliberalism? | Polly Toynbee

A new exhibition looks back at the time of psychedelia and protest. But for those of us who were there it’s an unsettling time warp

I was right there in 1966. Was it bliss, very heaven to be young? To be honest, I’m not sure. Yes and no. The young are too full of self-conscious anxiety to be good at bliss. (You get better at it later).

The Victoria and Albert Museum’s exhibition You Say You Want a Revolution?, celebrating 1966-1970, opens on Saturday, a glorious spectacular of gigantic themes and minute detail from an extraordinary time. Or was it? Is this just cultural imperialism by us baby boomers imposing our “best ever” youth by sheer weight of numbers and purchasing power? My generation has earwormed our music into the heads of our children and grandchildren, and we didn’t die before we got old.

Related: You Say You Want a Revolution review: a dizzying trip to the heart of the 1960s

Related: The revolutionary artists of the 60s’ colourful counterculture

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