Good for Esther Rantzen

Good on her!!

Did you see Cherie Blair though? There is a difference between allowing yourself to look your age and letting yourself go, especially when you are in the public eye.

*Pittcity" Just wondering what you consider letting yourself go actually means for women who are old. And anyway, so what if one does let oneself go, or to be more precise perhaps, to just age naturally.

Where di you see Cherie Blair? Pittcity I dislike the woman so much I'd like to see her looking awful.

Though, actually, I agree with Ffin and I'd like to know whether I qualify as looking my age or letting myself go?

She never wears red you know, just in case someone tries to post a letter.....

Worryingly three times this weekend people have spoken to me in a 'speaking to an old person' way. This has never happened to me before and it's shocked me a bit. What's even more worrying is that I can only remember two example of the three . Although it doesn't worry me when I ask for my pensioners discount and it goes unchallenged .

Tegan you've just voiced my mother's pet hate; that of being spoken to as if she was an 'old lady', it riles her more than anything else. Except perhaps the time when a kindly man urged her to go to the front of the queue when she was in the post office; the poor man got such a dressing down! After all, my mother isn't old - she's only eighty five!

Mishap! Esther Rantzen is only five months older than I am - so I suppose I am old as well.

How old is she?

She's 74.

It says on Wiki that she was born in June 1940.

Phoenix

Cherie Blair - a very clever woman not overdrawn at the Bank of Beauty and married to a now very unpopular man who was Prime Minister for a time. I saw a picture of her the other day and immediately thought of the expression 'gone to seed'. Then I looked in the mirror myself. They don't lie, do they?

Seeds, * papaoscar* can be very interesting and beautiful, particularly when cover in a hoarfrost early morning.

I too hate being talked down to, although I must admit it does not happen that often, except at our local library where we have a very nice assistant, who insists on talking to me in a baby voice, about where to scan my card, and how to put the money in the machine. I can read! (that's why I go to the library) and I can understand and act on simple instructions - I can even manage the complicated ones!

Yes indeed, ffnochio, and seeds burst out in the springtime, so there is always hope! Many a good tune, they say...

I meant that Esther still dresses well and looks slim and well kempt when appearing on TV. Cherie was on the news for making a public appearance somewhere, she has put on weight and was wearing a tight dress which did her no favours and obviously had no time to visit a hairdresser.

Just what is letting one's self go? Who sets this standard below which no woman must fall?

Letting oneself go us worthy of it's own thread. I suppose it's on a continuum where the extreme is never washing yourself, changing your clothes or caring about your health.

I've heard people say 'well does it matter what she looks like, she's 90 now?' when talking about an elderly relative. But the point was she cared . It was nobody else's business but her own.

I prefer to see people who looked natural, ie, no surgery or botox, however in a youth obsessed world, it can be especially hard on female presenters, actresses and celebs of all kinds to constantly look good.I find myself surprised to see how actors etc often look when interviewed , probably because the last time I saw them in a film was maybe 10/15 years ago, and we forget that they age! I think sometimes that we conveniently forget that we age too.

I haven't been near a hair salon for over 20 years , not interested in make up or painted nails , hate shopping for clothes etc so I am the opposite of Ranzen, seems I have let myself go if she is the standard women should set forthemselves

My point was that if I was making a speech that I knew would be on TV and had oodles of money I would have paid somebody to take a good look at me and give me a going over so I did not look too bad. No need for botox, surgery or even that awful fake tan, just common sense like a hairdo, lipstick and clothes that fit and flatter.

I expect most of us ordinary mortals wash, brush our hair and throw on something comfy most days...

I think people should look how they ant to look in whatever situation - why should she tart herself up if she is happy looking as she is?

How judgemental this thread is.

Cherie can't do right for doing wrong - whatever that may mean! She used to be pilloried for taking a hairdresser with her when she went off on a visit with Tony, and now she's being criticised for her lack of grooming. Does it matter?