Age, thou hast not lost thy labour

No, sorry, Keats old chap. A thing of beauty is not a joy forever. Cellular degradation - a.k.a. age - is something the poet didn't really factor in, possibly because he died at 25. But, rarely, there comes someone who tells you, far more effectively than rising life expectancy figures, how far we've progressed to age better. Beauty, especially of the feminine kind, is considered to have a correlation with age. After a certain point, there is usually a de-beautification process. Exceptions are usually termed as 'graceful'. But Alejandra Marisa Rodriguez has bucked the trend in a context that holds beauty to strict, albeit malleable, standards: Miss Universe contest.

At the not-so-tender age of 60, the ex-journo and legal adviser from La Plata in Argentina was crowned Miss Universe for the Buenos Aires province. This is no 'woke' gesture of giving a senior citizen an ego boost and spreading the (dodgy) message that 'age is just a number'. Alejandra is a stunner - beauty, indeed, being skin-deep, you can't fudge it. Two things have got her the title: the Miss Universe contest allowing people beyond the earlier 18-28 age band to participate from 2023; and, in Alejandra's words, 'living a healthy life, eating well, and physical activity'. The point she proved - very strikingly - is living longer isn't the point. Living longer better is.