Well, all I can say is thanks, global lender of last resort. Thanks a BUNCH. The International Monetary Fund has just declared that, as far as working lives go, 70 is the new 50 and we should all start preparing to be in gainful employment as septuagenarians.

Apparently, new data drawn from 41 different countries shows remarkable progress in the number of years of good health we can expect to enjoy these days. And so the next logical step is, clearly, that we should not get to enjoy them.

I have many questions. Mainly: which are these 41 countries and why are they all full of liars? The data supposedly shows that someone aged 70 in 2022 had the same level of cognitive ability as a 53-year-old did in 2000.

From the example of a) me, b) everyone I have ever known, and c) a highly formal WhatsApp poll of all those I know now: no. No way. Not even a little bit do we recognise an existence in which our 70-year-old bodies and brains will be in any fit state to do any job at all. 

“Think of yourself at 20 and 40; 30 and 50,” writes one correspondent. “You’re a pathetic, creaking shadow of a thing.........

© iNews