Mike's Minute: Even more so now, age is but a number

I stumbled upon an article yesterday about Lyn Slater.  The headline was ' I’m 70 years old — why shouldn’t my clothes convey my sexuality, and sense of style?’  Lyn Slater is a former model, influencer, writer, and professor, she is indeed a very stylish woman, and the question she asks about clothes is a fair one.  Age, for reasons I can’t fathom, still seems to be an issue in this Western society, and we found that out this week with Peter Boshier, the Chief Ombudsman who is two years older than Lyn, and because of that has to quit his job.  It's also the talking point in American politics at the moment, because the two contenders for the most powerful job on earth are old.  Which I assume leads you to ask: how come you can be President of America but not Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand?  How come Lyn can ask questions about her sexuality and style but poor old Peter is too old to turn up to the office?  We went through a period a decade or so back as well, remember when Hollywood actresses complained of having no work because they’re too old? That’s all reversed, or at least partially has been reversed.  But, remarkably, we don’t seem to know whether age is an issue or not.  And the problem is we have made it a problem because of a number, not because of competence, which should be the real measure.  Surely your ability to do whatever it is you want to do is the criteria, not the chronology?  We spend our time espousing the fact 60 is the new 40, and yet it doesn’t play out in terms of old-fashioned laws.  The ombudsman law is from 1975. I was 10. There was no internet, no cell phones, and 65 to me seemed old. Because when I was 10 my mum was a bit over 30 and my grandparents were in their late 50s, and that seemed old.  Now I am in my late 50s and because society has changed I am nowhere near being a grandparent, and I don’t feel old. And if there was an age limit in my time in this job as opposed to the measure they do use, audience and revenue, I’d be pretty pissed off.  I supposed Peter Boshier went into it with his eyes open. He knew the rules.  But that doesn’t make the rule right, and it doesn’t make the attitude that drove the rule right.  Talent, skill, brains, determination, acumen, experience, these are the measures of value, that’s why they say age is but a number.   Look up Lyn Slater and tell her she's too old. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.