Mind your language in bid to eradicate ageism

Your letter last week from Anne Riley of Penna partly defeats its object (‘Default retirement age is well past its sell-by date’, Personnel Today, 7 October).

While I agree with her sentiments, I resent being called a ‘veteran’.

Surely such words, which have a ‘nearly done and finished’ connotation, just fuel employer thinking that we are past our best?

It’s no good preaching if our attitudes include institutional ageism.

John Telford, details supplied