Who's too old?

I don't have paid employment , but I am pleased and appreciate my active lifestyle, which brings huge contentment.

In spite of 'retiring' ten years ago, DH is still working, but part time these days.
As long as we feel able to be active then age doesn't matter.In fact it's probabky better health wise to keep active and involved in things.

Having said that, I do enjoy a day when nothing much is happening.

I don't. Those are the days when I have no excuse about cleaning & washing

I am always encouraged to hear of oldies doing well, but we live in a youth-dominated culture.

Do you think Lady Hale is likely to be criticised for being "past it" ?

Are you going to be less likely to vote LibDem because they have such an old leader? I have heard a lot said about Vince's age in the last few days and one of the previous party leaders, Ming Campbell (who was captain of the British Athletics team in the 1964 Olympics) was pilloried by the cartoonists as a doddery old codger when he was only in his mid-sixties.

Do you think that as we all live longer there will be less ageism? I'm not so sure.

Well, May is hardly young, nor Corbyn come to that, so it doesn't matter that Cable is leading the Lib Dems.

Depend on the type of person you are and if you have learnt from life experiences, I always valued the advice from certain order people, some people interested in the mundane, others on the ball. A lot of young politicians open their mouths before they engage their brains.

and a few very young ones make a lot more sense than most of their elders in Westminster ,with age doesn't always come wisdom .Sometimes it brings closed minds and a narrowed outlook.Dont make the mistake of thinking the young are feckless and stupid and the old venerable and wise...I'm afraid you might be in for a shock.Its the young peoples future we're playing with THEY need to have their say too

I agree paddy!

How many of us realised that growing older was actually very liberating? I did.

I felt more 'myself' with ageing. The wisdom and experience that living had given me made me feel more comfortable in my old skin.

The world might be about the young but I tend to despair slightly that so many have air for brains. Youth is wasted on the young as they say. Living long is such a good teacher.

So I have no worries at all about older people being promoted to top jobs. I am sure they are well qualified to do them, even if their bodies are not air-brushed beautiful. It's quite reassuring that they're not!

You are as old as you feel I think. If you think you are past it, you probably are.

I'm in my early seventies, if you hadn't already guessed. That does inevitably mean that my actions need to be considered not only to affect my lifetime but also those who are much younger. I have a lifetime of observing news and politics, making judgments some wrong, an increasing risk losing clarity through possible dementia. Clarity of thought stays with some of us longer than others. Dementia struck both Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher later in life, some would say sooner than we realized. I'm just younger than Vince Cable but he does speak more common sense than most younger parliamentarians. We are all individuals and age is just one of many factors. Donald Trump showed worrying signs several years ago. As for Mrs. May , Liam Fox, Jeremy Corbyn and many others in positions of influence draw your own conclusions. Kim Jon Ung is young but totally insane!!

I will be 77 at the end of this year. Nine months ago I came to live in France, taking an elderly teenager's gap year. But I have now decided to sell my house in the uk. in order to buy here. It's the best thing I have ever done and I'm having a wonderful time.
Never ever let a number stop you from doing anything!

I really think that the young people of today are leading sheltered lives, they know little of life and do need some guidance. I am not saying that us oldies know everything but I think university doth not give you what you need for life or for that matter brains so am happy that the oldies hold the power.

Redevil3. I am in awe of what you have done. So brave

One of the advantage of older leaders (and MPs) generally is that they are not treating the job as a stepping stone to their post Parliament career so it is not about making the right connections which often means pandering to corporations, newspapers etc. We need a spread of ages, backgrounds, experiences, educational experiences, sex and ethnicity. I hate ageism whether it is referring to young people generally as feral or being patronising to them or some of the language used against us. On the Guardian BTL someone called Cable a senile old codger. It is generally a heavily moderated forum - but ageism never gets moderated out. I commented that it should have been and only got a couple of upvotes. It seems to be the only acceptable ism nowadays. I think we should all pounce on it when we see it (although it will often bring more sneering sarcasm in response).

I'm thoroughly enjoying sharing ideas with younger people - they don't seem to care about my age and I appreciate their thoughts and arguments. We can always learn new things if we set our mind to it - and it's great to keep our minds active if we are able. I'm supposedly retired but still get involved in the workplace from time to time as well as doing voluntary work. As has been said - age is just a number. I just wish my body was as lively as my brain

I think it is essential to keep active and engaged so as to age well and enjoy life the most. My problem is having enough time to fit it all in! I'm trying my hand at writing on what we can do now to live longer and make the most of the rest of our lives.

That's a very good point Jaycee5 about them not using the job as a stepping stone.

But also agree with Paddyann that age does not necessarily bring wisdom and some of the younger MPs speak more sense than the older ones.

I have taken a big step this month and decided not to continue to renew my yearly nursing validation . I retired at 64 from full time and have worked for the past three years very part time . Despite my experience and skills ,I think I'm not so on the ball and my memory is not what it was. It will be very strange but at least I'm stopping before I make an error or worse ! TBH I prefer to be seen by a youngish doctor who keep themselves up to date then an "experienced" elderly doctor who falls asleep in training meetings until the food appears !

I have just retired at 63. I couldn't wait and honestly, I don't understand people who carry on working, especially rich people. There is so much to life than working and the work should be left available for the next generation.
As far as Vince Cable is concerned. He must be either power happy or greedy , or even both. Or he is having such an easy life with all the expenses he can claim, car etc.

paddyann i always thought a closed mind and narrowed outlook was a sign of youth. When we are young and our experience is so limited, it is easy to be didactic about problems and see simple solutions to complex problems.

Were you a member of the 60's generation? I was and we thought all world problems could all be solved so simply with love and kindness. How we critical and unforgiving we were of our elders who had passed on to us such a damaged and difficult world and so many problems.

Well, we are the generation now facing very similar criticisms from the young people of this generation whose views are as delightfully idealistic, judgemental and critical as were ours all those years ago.

Age has brought at least some wisdom. The realisation that simple solutions to complex problems are invariably wrong, that you need to listen to both sides, neither of whom will have a monopoly on the truth (whatever that may be).

Yes, some older people are close minded and with a limited outlook, or it may just be that they disagree with our views.

A society is best governed when it represents people of all ages so it is good to see older people taking positions of responsibility after a decade when youth has been in the forefront and all the hands on the levers of power have been in their 30s and 40s.

According to an interview I heard on R4 the other morning. There is a discrepancy in the workforce, in that there are not, and will not be enough older workers. The problem is lack of continuity and experience with younger workers. This interview was in response to shifting the state pension age to 68!

How the world turns! In the 1990s, I and many tens of thousands like me were made redundant into early retirement in our 50s. Companies just did not want older people on their pay roll. Now they complain of the problem of the lack of an experienced workforce.

DH was made redundant just before his 60th birthday. He took a break and then went back to work as a self employed consultant engineer. He hasn't stopped working since.

He is currently working on a project on installing wind turbines offshore. He and his colleagues, have an average age of 70 plus. The average age of the management team of the company they work with is about 45. I asked him if the company knew their ages and why they employed them. His answer was yes they know their ages and employ them because they have the depth of experience and knowledge to handle a tricky project that they cannot find in bigger and more prestigious consultant groups, because their engineers are so young.

I'll be 75 next week and I'm just about to start a new job. It's part time, which just suits me because it means I can do other things as well. The interviewers said I was outstandingly the best candidate, and that they loved my enthusiasm. (I'm not trying to boast, but I really am enthusiastic about my new job and it obviously showed.) After all, 75 is only a number.