So tempting, isn’t it? To be free of responsibility. Cut loose. Forget about anything you’re meant to do – and just do anything you want.

That’s not just a yearning held by whippersnappers. Whether young or older, the urge to be free of boundaries and accountability is something we don’t grow out of.

Affirming this is Last Vegas, a new comedy at cinemas this month. Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline star as sixty-somethings who head to Sin City for a bachelor party. Yes, it’s The Hangover – with grandpas. ‘I want all of you to get into trouble,’ encourages Douglas’s spray-tanned groom.

What these codgers get up to, on their wild weekend, is likely to amuse many of us. A far cry from real life, where any senior citizen who is irresponsible, tends to be viewed as selfish, foolish or pathetic.

But where’s the shame in pursuing the freedom to behave however we like? So often we desire to be free of responsibility, yet also condemn it when we see it in others. Surely modern, enlightened individuals should not be so hypocritical about how anyone chooses to live their own life.

Individual freedom and moral/ethical codes seem to be incompatible. As if a person’s ‘right’ to do what they want to do is infringed by guidelines. But news bulletins routinely provide repugnant examples of what irresponsible behaviour can lead to. Being free of responsibilities is tempting, but what if none of us were accountable? For anything?