Laura Barton began her exploration of what a psychologists would probably call the concept of “pre-adolescent gender trans­gression” (5 December) with some elegiac reminiscence of the “flicker of bicycle wheels”, running through long grass and games of football with the boys. There was an immediate sense of being in the company of someone who knew what she was talking about, and Barton’s own tomboy credentials were instantly established: close friends still call her “Barton” or “Barts”, and there was some rueful sorrowing over an early photograph of her wearing an Aertex shirt.The Aertex shirt seemed to be de rigueur for the band of nostalgic female talking heads that “Barts” had gathered around her. The fashion histori