The way Ming Campbell has been treated by his peers in the House and by the media is quite amazing in the light of the Age Discrimination regulations brought in during October 2006.  The whole purpose of this legislation was to ensure that people were not discriminated against in any way on the basis of age.  And yet BBC Radio 4 and other stations regularly refer to the issue of Ming being too old and during an interview this evening there was agreement that a person could, similarly, be ‘too young’. 

If this conversation were to take place in the workplace it would be subject to litigation in that noone should comment or joke about age in a negative way: people should be judged on their skills and competencies and nothing less.  How come politicians and the media seem to consider themselves to be outside this law I wonder?  Surely these are precisely the people who should be broadcasting the need to regard people as human beings rather than as a number.  If these people were to make similar comments about gender or race they would be pillaried or worse: why do we let them get away with blatant ageism?

For further information on how to manage and introduce the Age Discrimination legislation into your organisation view information about our book AGE MATTERS http://www.positiveworks.com/education/agematters.htm