Trendy and thirtysomething? Welcome to the middle youth club.

1 You've heard of old age. You've heard of middle age. But have you heard of middle youth? It refers to the state of mind of a growing number of 30- to 40-year-olds who are, quite simply, refusing to grow old. Or even up.

2 Conventional wisdom says that if you were wearing platform shoes the first time round you should now be enjoying a blameless thirtysomething lifestyle. That means babies, mortgages and Radio 2. What you definitely shouldn't be doing is going to nightclubs, keeping up with street style, listening to 1FM, playing Tomb Raider and queuing to buy the new Oasis album. But that's what a sizeable number of thirtysomethings are doing, it seems, and the trend has led the marketing world to dub them middle youth.

3 So how do you spot a middle youther? Well, for a start they have expensive, trendy haircuts (but lie about what they cost), they go to clubs (but like to get a seat) and if they're up and about the next day they'll probably end up in Habitat looking at futons.

4 Ex–Deacon Blue drummer and now television presenter Dougie Vipond, 31, is a middle youther. He's married and he has a career, but he won't let go of the clothes and the music and slide gracefully into cardigan and slippers. Having observed the way he and his friends act, he points to demographics as one reason for the rise of the phenomenon. "There are a lot more career-orientated people nowadays who have their families in their mid- and late-30s and therefore there are a lot of people who are still living the lives of young people."

Barry Didcock, The Scotsman

Meet Bristol's yubbies

1 A decade ago Britain was overrun with yuppies, young urban professionals who were dedicated to making money and spending it on themselves.

2 Today, priorities are different. Mrs Thatcher and her right-winged, self-centred policies are out. Instead, we have caring, sharing New Labour and an alternative set of values. It's no longer fashionable to show off about the size of one's pay packet, big flashy cars are considered tasteless, and climbing all over your colleagues to reach the top of the corporate ladder just isn't done. Recycling is the in thing these days, and people tend to be judged on their benevolence rather than their bank balances.

3 In fact, yuppies are a dying breed, and they've been replaced by the yubbies – young, urban bourgeois Bohemians. These people are the backbone of society. They are successful and they are professional, but they're more likely to talk about what's going on in Somalia or Bosnia than to talk about themselves.

4 Yubbies may live and work in the city, but they're probably doing up a Victorian terrace rather than investing in a new place on the dockside. They believe in fair trade and the environment. They are strong supporters of public education, equal opportunities and green issues. They probably aren't married, but they believe in monogamy and share the parenting of any children, choosing to work from home, where possible, in a creative field. They are, most often, self-employed.

5 Yubbies are, in short, hippies made good. They are gentle, sociable people who surround themselves with natural things and believe in the Good Life, but with a conscience and a soul.

From the Bristol Evening Post