THATCHER'S children may have shown their appreciation for their filofaxes and bulging wallets by repeatedly voting for their idol. But today's younger generation feels disillusioned, alienated, and believes that mainstream politics has left them out in the cold.
Britain's young people increasingly believe that Westminster is totally out of touch with their concerns and that none of the political parties understands or even cares about a generation that has been gradually excluded from society.
Benefits have been slashed, "council homes are non existent and a career that gives them job satisfaction is merely a fantasy."
Since many chose to be disenfranchised rather than pay the poll tax, the political voice of Britain's youth is now eerily silent.
In an attempt to stir their political awakening, all the parties have readily embraced a new campaign, Rock the Vote, which aims to prove to the younger generation that their vote will not be wasted at the next general election.
Based upon the US campaign, which resulted, in 350,000 new voters registering for the 1992 presidential election, Rock the Vote will be launched officially next month. At the last general election, 40 per cent of 18 to 25 year olds chose not to vote.
"There is a sense in which young people are not as involved in the political process as they should be. Getting them to register to vote and use that vote is a basic democratic right. Anything that makes them do that is worth having a stab at", said Mr John Preston, the chairman of BMG records, and a member of the Rock the Vote board.
However, many young people have already had a political awakening, but on their own terms. For them power is non violent direct action against any injustice. Today road building is on top of the agenda, last year's battle was against the live export of animals.
Over the years these "ecowarriors" and "grungy, dreadlocked" activists have captured the country's imagination and regard those battles that they have lost as a learning process for the next one.
Four years ago when the first protesters arrived at Twyford Down, few people even paused to think about the impact of the government's road building programme on society, let alone the environment.
Within a year, the activists' tactics regularly made the front page of every national newspaper. Last week, the third battle of Newbury began.
With battles one and two helping to decide the outcome of the English civil war, this time the issue is defending England's green fields against a proposed by pass which will destroy nine miles of countryside, and tarmac three sites of scientific interest, a civil war battlefield, and 12 sites of archaeological importance.
Having spent nearly 18 months planning their strategy, the activists are "well sussed". Their weapons, which are increasingly sophisticated, include mobile telephones, pagers, CB radios, the Internet and an intricate chain of tree houses, where more than 100 of them live and are able to monitor the situation 24 hours a day.
"We have got to a point in 1996 when human beings want to survive. Everyone's aim in life, I think, is to survive, but we are cutting down the things that will keep us alive. Why should our children wake up one day and have bad air quality just because some bastard, in the Department of Transport wants some money in his pocket?", said Danny Broadley (25), "who has lived in one of the tree houses for two months."
More than 1,000 security guards, recruited by a local job agency which promised "good rates of pay for standing in a field", have so far failed to prevent the protesters breaking through the security fences and chaining themselves to the construction machinery.
THE cost of the bypass has risen from an estimated £65 million to £101 million and that is not including the spiralling costs of mounting the security operation, which are currently running at £1 million a week. The activists are determined to make the construction workers fight to build every inch of the road.
They are convinced that their campaign will cost the contractors so much money that they will be forced to give up, or may have to renegotiate their contract to offset some of the expense.
If all else fails, then the protesters are hoping for an early general election, as the shadow Transport Secretary, Ms Clare Short, has promised that a Labour government would review the situation.
"We don't trust politicians, so this would be our very last option," said Ed Deans, a student activist.
Newbury district council insists that the bypass is necessary to reduce congestion in the area, but has recently admitted that it will not solve the traffic problems.
"This road will only take 10 per cent of traffic from the streets of Newbury. It is not going to solve the traffic problems. It is a short term thing", Sarah North (26), a student at University College. London, explained.
With the support of a majority of local people and, surprisingly, local businesses, the protesters have so far outwitted the contractors, preventing any work taking place at all. However, the battle has yet to be won.