Guest editor Joan Bakewell reveals her fearless gang of amazing women

This is a magazine celebrating and saluting older women. It is driven by the great Joan Bakewell, who has taken over as editor for this edition. She has collected together a number of indomitable women over 60 years old, who are not ready to be silenced or become invisible or be patronised simply because they are getting on.

“This showcases women who have had long lives coming to tell their stories, and show by their vigour and enthusiasm that they are very much alive,” says Joan.

There is writing here that’ll make you stand up and applaud, including:

Novelist and Vogue veteran Polly Devlin refusing to give in to the tyranny of aging.

Diana Melly, writer and widow of jazz titan George, on how to cope with loss.

Rock royalty Chrissie Hynde delivering a simple, moving Letter To My Younger Self.

Floella Benjamin on her incredible shift from the ghetto to the House Of Lords.

Baroness Ruth Deech on changing the law to look out for older women and their families.

Amongst the rest inside…

John Bird looks at art and its value, daytime TV and how we’ll count the cost of it all in the future.

Simon Singh, mathematics heavyweight and debunker of alternative medicine theories, details the five books every nerd must read. It’s a fantastic list.

And our featured vendor telling their story in My Pitch is Andy King, who works in Birmingham. He’s used the Issue to get himself out of hostels and wants to start a social enterprise helping homeless people re-skill and move on.