BBC’s treatment of Nick Ross is an ageist crime

The BBC have put themselves well and truly in the firing line by removing Nick Ross from his 23-year tenure as frontman for Crimewatch. Although it has not been officially stated, there is apparently little doubt that the Beeb consider Ross to be past his sell-by date at the age of 59. The fact that Ross has become something of a national institution has not been taken into account; neither have Ross’s charisma, charm and amazing ability to cheat the years, all of which are surely major factors in attracting and retaining viewers. It is the powers at the BBC who should be appearing on Crimewatch, charged with carrying out a monstrous exercise in ageism.

Ageism makes London’s Olympic logo a no-go

Former Olympic champion Seb Coe, or Lord Coe as he is now known, put his athlete’s foot in it when he said that the controversial logo for the London Olympics in 2012 was designed for its street cred and was aimed at younger people. I am surprised that chairman of the Olympics organising committee strayed into the murky waters of ageism because that is exactly what his sentiments represent.

 Ironically, a recent poll of younger people showed that 68 per cent think the logo is awful. I wonder what those in the more mature age groups think? If Coe wanted to alienate the older members of our society he has certainly made giant strides in that direction. The man who was arguably our greatest middle distance runner spoke about the logo’s ability to unite the nation but he is on the wrong track this time.

More sex please, I’m sixty!

I came across this extraordinary column in The London Paper, one of the capital’s freesheets, the other day. The column is entitled ‘Gay girl about town’ and the heading for that particular day was ‘ Strip off, strap on’. I’m no prude but I have to say I was suprised by the explicit content, especially as TLP would presumably describe itself as a mianstream family newspaper. The writer chronicled her lesbian exploits, using a certain type of sex aid, in fairly graphic detail. To be honest, I am amazed such a column has been given house room; it’s not even good journalism.

Reading this tawdry little attempt at grabbing readers by shocking them set me thinking about what the response would be to a column featuring sex among the over sixties. I’m willing to bet the reaction would be far stronger than anything the lesbian meanderings could drum up. The truth is that sex at a certain age is still considered something to brush under the carpet. It’s also true that when you reach that time of life your sex drive doesn’t just go AWOL; in fact, given that you have more free time on your hands and less life pressures, the dormant libido often returns more potently than ever. I know that’s true in my case; in fact I think I’ll ring the editor of The London Paper and suggest he ditches the lesbian and lets me have a shot.  I could give Bryan Adams anthem ’Summer of 69′ a whole new meaning…