Well clearly this is acknowledgement that things really have changed, whilst the period was decent for the modern era, it wasn't as good as 1978-87 and I'm sure veterans wouldn't see it as good as (generally) the forties through to the end of the sixties.
So essentially you're plucking from history a 9-year period of predominantly good winters, and comparing subsequent winters to his, in order to try to 'prove' your hypothesis.
This ignores that immediately predating that 9-year spell was a run of mostly poor winters. And looking back over even just a century previous, there have been similar periods of mostly milder winters.
Because that's consistent with the UK climate, which brings spells of predominantly mild winters interspersed with the odd good winter, and spells of predominantly colder winters interspersed with milder ones.
In other words, your 'modern winter' claims and the inference that we're all doomed to suffer crap winters from here on in, are just bobbins. It's just a notion you hit upon that you can use to wind people up with.
Martin
Home: St Helens (26m asl) Work: Manchester (75m asl)
A TWO addict since 14/12/01
"How can wealth persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power? Here lies the whole art of Conservative politics."
Aneurin Bevan