[user104658]

Originally Posted by JTM45

This idea that the oldies should be molly-coddled doesn't wash with me

Me either, in fact, I find it downright offensive. I really don't get it at all. So children are to be coddled and protected because they lack the world experience to take someone on and so it's not fair for an adult to have a straight up argument with them... then you become an adult and you can look out for yourself / stand your own ground... and then what? You hit 70 and suddenly you're a baby again to be coo'd over and taken care of? **** that. If that happens to me when I hit old age, I'll be packing myself off to Dignitas.

If in his 82 years he hasn't figured out how to hold his nerve and win an argument, then he's just been straight-up lazy. Old people may be physically frail compared to adults "in their prime" but, so long as they're still in possession of all of their mental faculties (as Lionel is), there's no reason in the world that he should need "protecting" from anyone who isn't being physically aggressive. It's patronising.