Hello and welcome to the Spectator podcast, which you're listening to via Spectator Radio.

I'm Laura Prendergast, and before we begin with the podcast, just a quick reminder that we've got a special subscription offer.

You can get 12 issues of The Spectator for £12, as well as an Amazon voucher worth £20 if you go to

spectator.com.com.org. Forward slash voucher. So first up on the podcast, can you train your

brain to stay young beyond its natural age? Recent research suggests so, and we take a look at the

science and what this means for society at large. Plus, we also discover the impact of grouse shooting on our

countryside, and finally, there's a somewhat frank discussion about what it's like to be an alcoholic.

So, first up, can playing brain training apps slow or even reverse the brain's aging?

In her cover piece this week, Camilla Cavendish suggests that we are being far too fatalistic

about aging, and in fact, new research shows that it may be possible for our brains to keep developing

well into our old age. To discuss, we've got Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist and contributor

to the Daily Telegraph and Damien Green MP, the former work and pension secretary, and chairman

of the newly established all-party

parliamentary group on longevity. Linda, Camilla Cavendish's argument in this week's issue is that

much like how we were wrong to once think that boys were naturally better at science than girls,

we're also perhaps wrong to think that older people can't learn as well as younger people.

Did you agree with her position when you read it in this week's issue?

I did indeed and she's got a lot of research to back her up from my point of view. Absolutely

right.

And why do you think there is, I mean why do you think people just assume that older people

can't learn as well as younger people?

Well I think traditionally because we didn't live so long, and we got ill a lot

...