Midlife moderation

Forget buying a sports car, growing your hair long or flirting with thought of an extramarital dalliance; the new signs of a male midlife crisis are infinitely healthier – although possibly equally worrying. These days, we learn, turning 40 or 50 still precipitates something of a crisis, but one that is more likely to see men turning vegan than hitting the bottle, or signing up for competitive fitness events such as “Tough Mudder” rather than taking up rally car driving, according to a new survey of 3,000 people.

Like sports car-enthusiasm and dodgy leather jacket-wearing, it is to be hoped that such passions, too, will pass. What’s wrong with merely cutting down on one’s alcohol intake, or going for a gentle jog? As Aristotle almost once said, everything in moderation is surely the key to a long and happy life.