Paper Monitor
10:54 UK time, Friday, 21 September 2007
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
It's amazing, isn't it friends, that just 18 months ago, one could still go into a pub anywhere in the United Kingdom, buy a packet of cigarettes and openly smoke them. One could even exhale, quite legally. How odd that would feel now - and how quickly one comes to terms with shifting standards.
But reading today's papers feels a bit like wandering into a pub and finding people still cracking open another box of Superkings.
Here's what raises an eyebrow... is it acceptable in these discrimination-aware days to be rude to older people on account of their seniority?
Apparently, judging by how Sir Menzies Campbell is treated today. In their defence, the papers in question would no doubt say that Sir Ming himself mentioned his age in his speech and even promised to make age an issue in the next general election (a la Ronald Reagan).
One might have thought jokes based purely on one's age feel rather like something that have had their day. See what you think...
Peter Brookes, the Times's usually brilliant cartoonist, shows Ming needing a stairlift to reach the podium.
Ann Treneman in the Times, says she felt she should "ring NHS Direct" when a promotional movie showed him playing football with his grandchildren, adding: "Ming had had a revelation. He is no longer going to pretend to be young. Instead he is loving his wrinkles. Indeed, I hear that he asked make-up to make him look older. 'I don't want to look a day younger than 104!' he cried."
Cartoonist Schrank in the Independent shows Ming in a care home-style armchair with a blanket on his knees.
Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail writes: "He's old! He's angry! Sir Menzies Campbell , who usually embodies restraint, gave a speech to test anyone's denture glue."
Cartoonist Steve Bell in the Guardian has Ming so old he can't hear what his aides are saying to him.
Maybe Paper Monitor is out of step, but your views on this subject are genuinely welcome, via the comments button below. Perhaps we'll even learn something together...
The 
Comments
It just shows a distinct lack of imagination and, quite frankly, rather poor taste among the editors.
I'm not entirely sold on the Lib Dem manifesto, but I have no quarrel with Sir Ming. He was my MP when I lived in Scotland and he consistently did a very fine job. He's a world class political mind, and we could certainly do with a few more of those.
Growing up we were always taught to address those older than us as Mr, Reverend, or whatever title was appropriate. At uni, it was Prof or Dr and not their first names. When starting work, it took a bit of getting used to calling my seniors by their first names. However, the respect was always there, regardless of the personality, views, politics. It seems to me a matter of basic respect.
All this age legislation has come in because the Western world so so obsessed with being young. A bit of maturity and experience is perhaps something this country could do with, rather than the ankle-biters that are always so reactionary and eager to please, or seen to be trying at least.
Poor old Ming; let him run the place from under is tartan rug across his lap, if he likes, as long as there's a keen mind behind all the wrinkles.
I don't remember the media being particularly sympathetic about Charles Kennedy's alcoholism either, or Cherie Blair's legs. Rightly or wrongly, the attributes of politicians (and their nearest & dearest) are seen as just as newsworthy as their policies in the culture of criticism prevalent in the press.
Yep, spot on. But worse than being vulgar, tasteless and old fashioned, digs about someone's age aren't even funny.
Gosh, Paper Monitor.
As well as making for humourous reading, you've made a pretty valid point...
Well he did go out of his way to ask for it. As your own "Mock the Week" pointed out, he is the same age as Sir Paul McCartney, so one has to assume that he chooses to look the way he does - an assumption reinforced when he disingenuously tries to pretend in his speech that age equals relevant experience. If that proposition were true, there'd be a million people in the country better qualified to be PM than he is.