Robbie Williams: Pensioner puncher

Has being accused of being too old for Radio One's A List got Robbie Williams worried? Why else would he be featured punching a pensioner in the video for Candy were it not to try and prove how he's not an older person himself?

Or maybe the older woman he hits is meant to represent 'Robbie as an elder', and by punching out Williams is trying to destroy this new image?

(Or, of course, it could be the video was shot ages ago and he wouldn't even have known he'd have been sent out into the Status Quo wilderness by Radio One when he made the clip.)

Whatever, the idea of punching a woman has gone down pretty badly with the organisations struggling to stop people treating older people like shit:

However, the National Pensioners Convention has attacked the video, with general secretary Dot Gibson telling The Sun : ''Celebrities should think twice before making ageist comments which seem to imply that pensioners should be treated in a degrading way. Elder abuse is a serious issue and needs to be tackled rather than seen as a bit of a joke. We need to be uniting the generations, not suggesting that they are different. Pensioners are just young people who grew older.''

Williams' team had a response:

A spokesperson for Williams commented: ''Robbie Williams does not condone violence in any way; the plot for this particular video did involve some aggressive scenes but they in no way reflect his views on violence in real life. He was playing a particular role in the video."

So, er, that's alright then. He only hits older women when he's on the television; in real life he doesn't do it.

I'm not sure that's actually encouraging: to foist a stereotype of people born before you as in the way and expendable. According to the UK Studyof Abuse and Neglect of Older People Prevalence Survey Report, one out of twenty-five people aged over 66 experiences abuse in any given year. That's quite a punchline, Robbie.