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I stumbled upon an article yesterday about Lyn Slater.\xa0

The headline was ' I\u2019m 70 years old \u2014 why shouldn\u2019t my clothes convey my sexuality, and sense of style?\u2019\xa0

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.\xa0

Age, for reasons I can\u2019t 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.\xa0

It's also the talking point in American politics\xa0at the moment, because the two contenders for the most powerful job on earth are old.\xa0

Which I assume leads you to ask: how come you can be President of America but not Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand?\xa0

How come Lyn can ask questions about her sexuality and style but poor old Peter is too old to turn up to the office?\xa0

We went through a period a decade or so back as well, remember when Hollywood actresses complained of having no work because they\u2019re too old? That\u2019s all reversed, or at least partially has been reversed.\xa0

But, remarkably, we don\u2019t seem to know whether age is an issue or not.\xa0

And the problem is we have made it a problem because of a number, not because of competence, which should be the real measure.\xa0

Surely your ability to do whatever it is you want to do is the criteria, not the chronology?\xa0

We spend our time espousing the fact 60 is the new 40, and yet it doesn\u2019t play out in terms of old-fashioned laws.\xa0

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.\xa0

Now I am in my late 50s and because society has changed I am nowhere near being a grandparent, and I don\u2019t 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\u2019d be pretty pissed off.\xa0

I supposed Peter Boshier went into it with his eyes open. He knew the rules.\xa0

But that doesn\u2019t make the rule right, and it doesn\u2019t make the attitude that drove the rule right.\xa0

Talent, skill, brains, determination, acumen, experience, these are the measures of value, that\u2019s why they say age is but a number. \xa0

Look up Lyn Slater and tell her she's too old.\xa0

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