When you do wrong it’s tempting to hide behind something: your years, your sex, your upbringing, or even your hangover.
But it’s never, ever acceptable to plead old age as an excuse for racist comments, as some have done for Lady Susan Hussey.
At 83 she should know better. It’s all the more shaming that she fails to show the understanding and maturity of her years.
I’m not much younger – 79 next week – and I wouldn’t dream of launching such a crass, insensitive inquisition.
I was always taught that politeness costs nothing and to treat people as you find them.
I knew Lady Hussey’s husband, Marmaduke, boss of Times Newspapers in the 1970s.
He was a war hero who lost a leg at Anzio. Milady Susan was born into the “refined” aristocracy and clearly still looks down on the rest of us.
She was a friend of the late Queen. Can you imagine Her Majesty speaking to anyone like that, even in her 90s?
