‘I decided I don’t mind being old. It’s relaxing.’ A brilliant quote from my most excellent friend VH. I still can’t work out why the spelling of this word is different on the east versus the west of the Atlantic Ocean....anyway.... There are so many advantages to becoming older, and our societies should be keen to exploit the benefits as our populations skew to reach the bigger birthdays. Maybe the Queen will have to raise the age at which a birthday message is received, as many more people reach their 100 th year. Of course our work is principally to do with how the body changes as we age, but is it correct to define everything we see as different as potentially detrimental? When I compare an old brain mitochondrial proteome to that from a young brain is it fair to say that the proteins that are changed throughout life are necessarily associated with declining health? This week Damien Hirst spoke in theGuardian’s culture podcast about Mr. Barnes a man who liv