Age before beauty

The age at which lawyers should be retired was the unlikely subject of debate in the House of Lords last week when Lord Janner asked whether the official retirement age of the legal secretary (who is more lawyer than secretary) to the Law Officers could be raised from 60 to 65.

A series of lords rose to speak - declaring an interest as they were around the same age - in favour of the wisdom of advanced years, before Lord Inglewood, a sprightly 48-year-old barrister, put them in their place.

'Would not the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General agree that it is important that there is not a blockage in the system by those of an older age getting in the way of appropriate and proper promotion for those of my generation?' he asked.

The Attorney-General, Lord Williams of Mostyn, while agreeing that the limit should not be raised, lamented: 'I wish that the noble Lord had not fixed me with quite such a beady eye when he described me as a "blockage".

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