WHAT'S up with our secondary school kids?

Do they develop some sort of hormone-induced solar warming that means they don’t need to wear a few extra layers like we ordinary folk do in these harsh weather conditions?

As I stood with my greatcoat and boots, woolly hat pulled down over my ears and paced foot to foot in Rawtenstall’s food queue (Manning’s) I had the charming company of a few Alder Grange pupils who were amused when I asked them where was their warm winter clothing.

“It’s not that cold”, said a young man with his blazer sleeves rolled up. His arms were blue.

“It’s not as bad as last week,” said his girlfriend with deepest purple legs. “So were you wrapped up a bit better last week,” I asked.

“No. Just the same. I like being cold.”

And off they went, shoulders hunched. It made me shiver!

But why? Why is it so uncool to wrap up? It’s not as if they’d be made to wear hand-knitted jumpers or scarves or even balaclavas as we were made to wear at their age. They’ll all have trendy designer coats and hats and scarves that don’t itch.

And they might wear them at the weekend, provided you go somewhere a long way from home and they’ve scanned for school-mates before leaving the car Perhaps if schools banned coats and detentions were handed out for any sign of warm clothing and parents started walking around like summer surfer dudes (whatever they are) that might help.

It’s worth a try, I’ll just go dig out my Speedos.