An increasing percentage of the older population are boomers. When they started off their lives back in the period just after the war, the average life expectancy was depressingly low. As they grew up, they watched their ageing relatives dropping around them. Never a year went by without a grandparent, great uncle or more recent family disappearing from view. Walking around the neighborhood and talking at school also produced a familiar story. Older men retired, seemed to shrivel up and were dead a few months later. Facts were facts. Men just died young. The last sixty years has seen a quiet revolution. It’s partly improved nutrition, better health care and a better, cleaner and safer environment. But it’s also a change in attitude. Back in the 1940’s and 50’s, men were the breadwinners. When they stopped earning the bread, they had done their job and could go with a clear conscience. Now the attitude is to enjoy life to the full for as long as there are days to live. People have been planning for their retirements. They have their 401(k) plans. Sure, these plans have taken a beating during this latest recession. But folks still plan on plenty of "rest and recuperation" after they stop work. R&R was old army slang for sex. Nothing changes. Older men still want their sex.

The reality that men would die young has been displaced. US men can now expect to live to an average age of 76. But most of the scientific evidence suggests that erectile dysfunction grows more common with age. Obviously men of three score and ten years and more will experience the most difficulty - assuming they can find willing partners, of course. All of which brings us to Richard Roden who, at the ripe old age of 71, has just become the oldest man in the UK to father twins. Obviously we should offer congratulations. This gives him a total of twelve children with different mothers. His current wife is only 25 and the happy couple are confidently talking about adding to the family. Ignoring the questions of finance - it’s expensive to bring up children - and the morality of bringing children into the world when you know you have only a few years to live as their parent, let’s all adjust to the new reality. Terry Jones, one of the Monty Python crew, leads an ever increasing pack of men in their late sixties and seventies who are repeating the fatherhood experience.

The men who talk openly about their sex lives usually deny the help of viagra. They put down their continued potency to their healthy lifestyles. They eat modestly, never drink to excess, do not smoke, exercise regularly, and so on. It does not matter whether this is true. They have become the new poster boys for the boomers. They are the living proof there is life after retirement. They are the hope for the future. And if it does turn out that the lifestyle is not as healthy and there are problems, there’s always viagra to make sure the news story comes out right in the end. If this is you, buy viagra and keep your sex life going. More importantly, stop thinking about age. Just be yourself and have fun.