It's only a number...

I've always maintained that age is only important to you until you leave school - once I'd left and gone to college and started work, I found myself on equal footing with people of a variety of ages.

A few of my managers have been younger than me, but as long as they knew their job, their age seemed irrelevant.

I remember being a little shocked when Matt Smith was named as the new Doctor Who, not being sure how I felt about being older than a timelord, but I then discovered that I'm older than his predecessor too so it wasn't really anything new to worry about.

Apparently I'm older than the current James Bond too, although with the new film now being put on hold, there is talk that the role will be re-cast - but I doubt it will be to someone older.

This afternoon I discovered that I'm older than two of the individuals campaigning to become Prime Minister later on this week and it was the political theme that got me thinking about my age.

With three days to go before the election, our local Labour candidate has finally decided to distribute some literature to introduce himself and between the predictable waffle about being local, deeply caring and empathetic to the concerns of our village, he mentions that he is currently reading politics at university. That would also explain why the picture looks like his school photo.

Even if I thought Labour stood the slightest chance locally (or possibly elsewhere), there is no way I could entrust any responsibility to someone with such limited experience of life and "grown up" issues like trying to buy a house, or working for a living.

Still, I'm sure his Mum is very proud of him and given his age, there's a very good chance that I went to school with her...