FANTASTIC news - older women are IN! Men in their twenties would rather go on a date with newsreader Anna Ford, 58, than with Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm, 27.

And another long-in-the-tooth lady, Francesca Annis, also 58, was voted as one of the most desirable evening companions in a recent poll of British men. Joanna Lumley, 55, was also seen as a desirable date.

And on top of all this, 49-year-old Cherie Lunghi has just posed, looking ever-so ravishing, in sexy lingerie for gent's magazine FHM.

I realise that, unfortunately, we don't all look like this selection of celebrity beauties with both the cash and the time to look good - but it's something for the rest of us to build on. According to the poll, for a skin care specialist, the results are part of a trend of younger men dating mature women.

Could it be that younger blokes are cottoning on to the fact that older women are a good bet - that even if they are not blessed with great looks, there are lots of other advantages to dating them?

If you're a 20-something man and you aren't aware of the benefits already, here they are:

We don't spend so much time in the bathroom. We've accepted that you can't stop wrinkles and we've left all that meticulous preening behind - a dash of lippy and a flick of mascara is all we need before a night out. This will free up more time in front of the mirror for your super-vain selves

We won't drag you around the shops, we'd rather go ourselves and get it done in half the time

We've usually got kids already, so you won't be scared off by all that broody, staring-longingly-into-prams, stuff

Nothing shocks us - not grubby boxer shorts on the stairs, nasal hairs in the wash basin or other really disgusting male habits. We've seen it all

We've usually established our careers and have usually got more cash and our own home - so there's no need to conduct your courtship in the back of a car parked out of sight down a mucky cart-track, or wait until your girlfriend's parents have gone to bed

We're not jealous, having worked all that out of our system while dating unsuitable men in our twenties. We don't mind if you go out with the lads - to be honest we'd welcome it - at our age we like time to ourselves

We could teach you a few things in

certain departments (you know what they say about age and experience) but we would want the lights off

If you're that bit younger, we can help you with your homework.

Really, we're a lot less complicated than the younger model. Of course you'd have to put up with terrible mood-swings, intermittent bouts of craziness and a fair amount of cellulite.

You might have to go on holiday to a quiet Tuscan villa rather than an apartment above a nightclub in Ibiza Town, and you may have to eat out in restaurants rather than noisy caf bars. But it's a small price to pay.

I'm tempted to leave my telephone number at the end of this column, but, while younger men are looking for older women, we older women are more interested in older men.

It's a known fact that men grow more handsome with age, and to be honest it would be too much like hard work explaining every reference to things like pounds and ounces, David Cassidy and The Golden Shot.