Peter Rhodes on Foxy decorating, a new use for Ecstasy - and is broadband more important than neighbours?

AN investment expert was explaining on the radio that companies prefer to have younger shareholders because "younger people have the longest time horizons." Which is one way of reminding oldies of their mortality.

THE latest Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is deeply politically correct. Male characters are played by female actors, a straight character becomes a gay man and the casting is colour-blind and multiracial . What could be fairer and more enlightened than that? But one inequality remains in all theatres. It is ageism. Old characters are always played by older actors and young characters by younger actors. In the name of fairness, we should demand to see Shakespeare's Verona governed by pre-school toddlers and terrorised by ancient crones on mobility scooters. Romeo would be played by an old lady, and Juliet by an old bloke. I bet some bright young thing (or even a bright old thing) is already working on it.

IN Coventry, a would-be house seller is being Twittered mercilessly after displaying his terraced house on Rightmove. It's not that the place is small and allegedly dingy. He has become a figure of fun because the walls are plastered with more than 30 images of scantily-clad women. I was reminded of an incident on a newspaper (long ago and far away, you understand) when the advertising staff were in fits of laughter over the images from a house for sale. Outside, it was a typical 1930s semi. But inside it was a riot of mock-Tudor beams set in the walls and ceilings. The finishing touch to this latter-day Anne Hathaway's Cottage was a collection of photos of Samantha Fox (ask your grandfather), lovingly pasted to the walls. There is, as any estate agent can confirm, no accounting for taste.

INDEED, it gets grimmer. I recall an estate agent on telly some time ago trying to explain to a client the difficulty of selling his house without a few changes, such as removing the WC from the centre of the bedroom. The seller seemed puzzled that anyone might object.

TALKING of house sales, a price-comparison website reports that potential buyers are now more likely to enquire about the strength of the broadband than the friendliness, or otherwise, of the neighbours. Big mistake. When your broadband drops out, that's when you really need good neighbours.

AND is it too much to hope that when the valuation Stasi arrive to re-band our houses for council tax, those of us on the urban fringe can invite them to use our creaking, snail-pace wi-fi and knock a few quid off?

WE should be delighted, but not surprised at the news that scientists have found Ecstasy can cure post-traumatic stress. We automatically think of Ecstasy as a lifestyle drug enabling young idiots to dance till dawn. It was actually invented as a medicine more than 100 years ago and, back in the 1960s, was known to be effective against depression and psychiatric disorders. Having ruined many lives Ecstasy may be about to improve many more.