Tanya Sweeney: ‘Gen Alpha’s love of big-brand skincare isn’t that hard to understand – as a 12-year-old I was obsessed with The Body Shop’

'The leap from kiwi lip balm to Drunk Elephant isn’t all that vast'

Tanya Sweeney

‘My 10-year-old has asked for a mini-fridge for her bedroom,” a friend of mine tells me, wearily. It’s not the first time I’ve pegged youngsters as being an entirely different breed than their forebears, but this is a new one on me.

“What’s going into that?” I wonder aloud. “Does she just... really like having snacks close to hand?”