...this is the first working day on which bosses have not enjoyed total freedom to discriminate against their staff on the grounds of age...as of yesterday regulations are in force which provide the first ever legal protection, outlawing discrimination in respect of recruitment, training and promotion. The new rules are welcome and indeed long overdue, coming as they do four decades after the first race equality laws. But at their heart is a huge hole, for employers will retain the right forcibly to dismiss people for turning 65 - which is surely as stark a case of age discrimination as any imaginable...[refers to B&Q (part of Kingfisher)]