After the disaster of the Biden/Trump debate, is it time to consider upper age limits for politics?

It’s been a bad few days for the elderly.

In the US, last week’s televised presidential debate between septuagenarian Donald Trump and octogenarian Joe Biden would have served better as an advert for a nursing home than for either of those two men to re-enter the White House.

Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, undercover reporters from Channel 4 News filmed a campaigner called Andrew Parker, whose campaigning for Reform UK used racist language rarely heard among political canvassers. Nigel Farage claims the whole thing was a set-up; Channel 4 disagrees. But one thing’s clear – Parker genuinely is an old ’un. Indeed, in an interview with Sky News, that fact seemed to form part of his defence. “I’m an old man,” he said. “And I still use old words.” Well, that’s one way to put it.