How incredibly patronising. The number of over-65s landing in court on criminal charges ranging from arson and murder to drug dealing and shoplifting has rocketed and the response from the authorities is one of hysteria and a complete misreading of the situation.

A professor of forensic psychiatry tells the tv programme which broke the news that the poor dears are demented and should be treated gently.
Lawyers advocate special prisons for the over-65s complete with walking frames and support handles in the toilets. As if Dutch care homes weren’t already providing secure conditions for their inmates. Just lock the front doors and hey presto, a prison.
Then there are the politicians scratching their heads as to why this should be happening. A look at demographics and the real world would give them the answer.
The baby boomers are into their sixties and that includes hardened criminals. None of them are about to retire gracefully. Many are fed-up with the loss of the freedoms they fought for in the 1960s. And in this risk-averse society they miss a sense of excitement in their lives.
So there are growing numbers of fit and agile pensioners on the loose and liable to get into trouble with the law. And the last thing they want is to be patronised as being past it.