WELL done Audrey Gregory who refused quietly to accept the indignity of being judged too old at 70 to go on a foreign holiday alone.

And well done Ruth Kelly who has started a campaign to outlaw bias against older people.

Mrs Gregory contacted the MP when she learned that a holiday company set an upper age limit of 69.

What utter nonsense. While some people seem middle-aged at 20, others remain young at heart and physically fit in their 80s. It depends on the individual. Mrs Gregory, for instance, has travelled all over the world alone. Only four years ago she trekked across South America.

To make an arbitrary upper age limit is not only ridiculous it is degrading to many older people.

Mrs Gregory says this kind of blanket prejudice makes her really angry. Too right. We share that anger and wish Ms Kelly every success in her battle against ageism.

Currently there are laws which protect people against sex and race discrimination, but none to combat age discrimination.

It's about time there were such laws.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.