Observations on shopping rage

The election campaign was marked by blonde, forceful, fortysomething women, high on stress levels and low on promises. With the kind of vitriol opposition leaders can only dream of, they carved to the heart of the matter - whether it was health or schools - and made the PM wince. Middle-aged women - we're a pain, aren't we?

But where is this flair for public crossness coming from? A survey by the Morgan Stanley credit card company found that 28 per cent of Brits have lost their rag during a shopping trip - and apparently the worst offenders are middle-aged women. This flows with tradition. The Great British Battleaxe has been with us since Boudicca. But now appearances can be deceptive. The tell-tale signs of battleaxedom - hairy chins, 50in hips and twinsets - have gone. Your middle-aged mincemeat-maker is now more likely to be Botoxed, tanned and a size 10.

This makes things difficult for victims. Once, shop staff could dive for the stockroom when a battleaxe approached, but now they won't know whether the woman is 25 or 45 until she's close enough to complain. You can dress up middle-age all you like - with boho chic, dermabrasions and GI diets - but we're still old boots under the skin.

Sadly, it seems that out hormones are still partly to blame. "Feminine" hormones - oestrogen and progesterone - deplete as women age, while the small amounts of testosterone stay the same. "A woman in her late thirties will have less oestrogen than a woman of 25," explains Dr Nick Neave, a biological psychologist at Northumbria University. "It can result not so much in aggression as in a lack of frustration tolerance."

The Botox Battleaxe suffers many annoyances. Middle-aged women are the backbone of our society. We look after kids while monitoring the health of our ageing parents; we make sure there's enough milk in the fridge, and are the first at school if bullying and rubbish dinners are on the menu. Yet the world still prefers pretty young girls. No wonder the sisters are seething. And where does the displaced anger go? To the shops. The BB has advantages over younger women. She's got the job, the kids, the man and the lifestyle. She doesn't have so much to prove, so why should she keep her trap shut? Add the disposable income, and you've got a lethal cocktail. A 42-year-old friend says: "The thing I hate is slow service. Years ago, I wouldn't be as time-poor as I am now, so it wouldn't really bother me. But now, I feel like saying, 'Do you know how busy I am?'" For another, it's inefficiency that gets her goat. "It drives me mad when there's a queue waiting to pay, but only a few tills open," she says. "If I'm not organised, my kids don't get a decent meal or a work report isn't filed on time. So if I have to do it, why can't shop managers?"

But some have an inner battleaxe struggling to get out. "I was waiting to pay for a very expensive pair of tights," says a 38-year-old. "I stood at the till, money in hand. The assistant just looked at me and walked away to serve someone else. As I get older, I want manners and respect. But who gives a shit about a middle-aged woman who wants to buy tights?"

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