SARAH VINE: No woman looks that good at 55 without a little help

Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock – both fiftysomethings who look stunning for their age – were spotted leaving a high-end cosmetic surgery clinic last week. 

Dressed in standard-issue 'incognito celebrity' garb – dark glasses, wide-brim hat, low-key black – neither actress appeared to have had any treatment done there.

But their presence at the clinic, which specialises in upper and lower facelifts and offers a range of other, less invasive treatments, including Botox, fillers, radio frequency and ultrasound, would suggest that, at the very least, they are curious. 

Aniston has always laughed off questions about how she maintains her girlish looks.

In 2015, she declared she wasn't a big fan of injectables. 'All that cosmetic stuff looks ridiculous on me,' she said, adding that it was easy to lose perspective, and that there was a danger of it becoming 'the new normal'. 

Fast forward a few years, and she's right. Cosmetic surgery – invasive or non – has become the 'new normal'. 

And it's not just the rich and famous who are at it. Ordinary women – and some men, too – are embracing cosmetic surgery, regarding it as no more remarkable than getting a new haircut or investing in a personal trainer.

Among younger women, the emphasis is less on surgical work – facelifts, brow-lifts, basically anything involving anaesthetic and a scalpel – but more on so-called non-invasive treatments. 

These usually take the form of injectables – fillers, Botox and other substances designed to improve skin appearance – that can subtly (or not so subtly, depending on the practitioner's expertise) alter the contours of the face. 

The Kardashian clan were pioneers, transforming themselves from average-looking to stunning, and using the results to build an empire. 

Unsurprisingly, where they've led, many have sought to follow. Indeed, demand for such treatments has risen sharply in recent years (the market in the UK is now worth around £25 billion a year), so much so that the Government has introduced a licensing scheme to clamp down on unscrupulous clinics.

Even so, they are more accessible than ever, meaning that the pressures on women – exacerbated, as ever, by social media – to modify their natural appearance in line with prevailing beauty standards have never been more acute. 

More and more, you see young women who clearly look nothing like nature intended. 

The other day, for example, I picked up my daughter from the hairdresser. Her stylist has had various cosmetic enhancements, including lip and cheek filler and Botox. 

Don't get me wrong: she looked perfectly nice; yet she didn't quite look human, if you know what I mean. I also couldn't tell you her age – anywhere between 25 and 40. Impossible to tell.

In older women, it's a similar story. Looking your age is increasingly considered some sort of social faux-pas, rude almost. 

Most women of my generation would be loath to admit it, but we feel that pressure to shave a few years off via the needle, especially as there seems to be no escaping the dreaded smartphone camera, each iteration more fiendishly high-res than the last. 

I have no problem with any of this stuff – within reason, of course, and so long as people are honest.

In fact, if anything I'm rather grateful that my generation of fiftysomething women has options that our mothers and grandmothers never had. 

I have dabbled in the odd 'tweakment' here and there, done well by someone properly qualified. The results are very satisfying. 

I wouldn't say I feel ecstatic when I look in the morning mirror; but I'm sure I feel a damn sight better than I would otherwise.

But what none of us should ever do is pretend any of this is normal. When people ask me if I've had anything done, I'll cheerfully give them chapter and verse (plus supply any relevant contact details), just as I do when I'm asked about my hair loss or weight issues. There's no point in pretending, that would make me a hypocrite.

Or worse still, a liar. If my experience can help others, why not share it? That's what annoys me about these celebrities who obfuscate, and claim it's all down to yoga, or forest bathing, or drinking three pints of amethyst-infused moon water every day, or whatever the latest nonsense is. 

No love, you look like that at 55 because of science. Why not just own it. And above all, own up. Because, dark glasses or no dark glasses, I can assure you: no one looks that good in their 40s or 50s without a little artifice.

Is there any point in women's sport anymore? I only ask because a girls' football tournament in Australia has been won by a team fielding five biological males identifying as female, with one trans player scoring six goals in a 10-0 thrashing. When the odds are stacked against you like that, why even bother?

So, pretty girls can play fast by the rules

My daughter always moans about 'pretty privilege' (the notion that good-looking people get away with more than us average-looking folk). 

I'd never witnessed it until I read about air stewardess Jessica Littleboy, who escaped a six-month speeding ban after breaking down in tears, saying she'd lose her job. 

The chair of the magistrates (a man, of course) let her off with a 14-day ban and a fine, saying he 'wished her well' in her job. Heartwarming. 

Cadbury is caught up in a furore over the re-branding of Easter eggs as ‘gesture’ eggs. I can think of an appropriate gesture in response – and it doesn’t involve eggs. 

Snubbed by Scoop

At the last minute, my invitation to the premiere of the film Scoop, about Prince Andrew's fateful Newsnight interview, was rescinded. 

'Anyone but Sarah Vine' was the message relayed by Netflix's publicity department. I can only think it was because the Newsnight producer, Sam McAlister, was photographed several times with my ex-husband shortly after we announced our divorce. 

I always thought that was just some silly rumour, but now I'm not so sure… 

Beards in the Army? My grandfather (Lieutenant Colonel, R.E.M.E) would take a dim view. But times change. And, with recruitment at an all-time low and morale even lower, it’s not as if they can afford to split hairs. 

A newsflash that passed me by

Apparently, there’s an epidemic of women being cyberflashed. One victim has told of receiving ‘pictures of men’s penises [I wasn’t aware there was any other type of penis] every month for the last 12 years’. Cripes. 

 must confess I’ve never had the misfortune. Then again, I am a middle-aged women and therefore technically invisible to men. Every cloud… 

Four in ten home loans now last well into retirement, causing the former pensions minister Steve Webb to profess himself ‘genuinely shocked’. I don’t find it shocking.

House price inflation has been out of control for decades, with many forced to wait well into their 30s to get on to the housing ladder.

The dream of affordable home ownership is dying out with the Baby Boomers – unless, of course, like Angela Rayner you are lucky enough to be able to take advantage of Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy council house scheme.  

In fact, the way things are going I wouldn’t be surprised if mortgages don’t just stretch well past retirement age but are handed on to the next generation.