First, let’s celebrate the good news. Medical advances and healthier lifestyles mean that many of us will live to a ripe old age, easily outstripping the life expectancy of previous generations many of whom expected to retire at 60 and have ten or 15 good years in the sun before a sudden heart attack or stroke brought down the curtains.

However, as always with healthcare, there is always a cloud to darken any silver lining, and this one comes in the form of what is euphemistically termed ‘healthy life expectancy’. In simple terms this means that while it is definitely good news that many of us are living longer, the downside is that we are also more likely to develop any number of long-term conditions – heart disease, cancers, dementias, depression and respiratory conditions – which mean that our ‘golden years’ may not be as trouble free as we had hoped