Independent Age www.independentage.org/blog.aspx Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(18-may).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a good week for 90-year-old Betty Smith and 85-year-old Beryl Renwick who shot into the record books and radio history by becoming the oldest ever winners of a Sony Award. The pair valiantly fought off their (much younger) competition, including veteran funny man, Frank Skinner, to bag themselves the award of Best Entertainment Show of the Year for their Saturday night programme on BBC Radio Humberside. Betty and Beryl's victory means they now join the company of household names such as Chris Evans, Russell Brand and Chris Moyles. The pair, who mix easy music with saucy banter, won the judges over, who said "they give a voice to a sector of society unrepresented on radio and do it with a joy that puts many of their fellow broadcasters to shame." Beryl said "it's never been known to have older people like us getting their big break in broadcasting, it's quite a thing at our age." It's certainly a refreshing change to see the media embracing the wisdom of older people when their treatment of them - particularly older women - has been so maligned recently. And timing couldn't really be better as this week, we, together with Barchester Healthcare announced our 'Older People in the Media Awards 2012'. Known as the 'Roses' the awards have been named after an incredible woman called Rose Hacker who became a journalist for the Camden New Journal at the tender age of 100. The 'Roses,' which will be taking place in November, will celebrate older people in all aspects of the media, recognising the best examples of coverage concerning older people's issues, as well as the best portrayals of older people in film or TV drama and some of the best examples of photojournalism. To find out more, or to nominate, click here .      However, it was a bad week for the Western Nepalese language, Kusunda (don't worry, neither had we) as it transpired that 75-year-old Gyani Maiya Sen is now officially the only person alive who can speak it fluently, after her tribe died out. The lady, who crushes stones for a living, has found herself at the centre of a campaign to save the language, which according to the Daily Mail, has baffled linguists for years, due to its mysterious sentence structures and unknown origins. Kusunda is classed as a language isolate, which means it is not related to any other language. The Mail reported this week that linguists have gleaned information from former speakers but it has still left them confused. "I feel very sad for not being able to speak with people from my own community," said Gyani Maiya Sen."[The language] will die with me".   /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(18-may).aspx /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(18-may).aspx Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(11-may).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a very good week for older rappers, on both sides of the Atlantic. The killer dance moves of Josephine Lamberti - or J-Dimps - from New York, have made this 80-year-old grandmother an internet sensation. The feisty, sweatband-attired grandma has already notched up an impressive 80,500 Twitter followers, including the likes of Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Love Hewitt. J-Dimps, who breathes new life - and a dash of swagger - into doing her domestic chores, describes herself as a 'drug dealer' prescribing 'a dose of Dimps' for everyone. Dimps has achieved her feat despite suffering sciatica and relying on a walking stick. 'It's cured the boredom,' she explains. 'It breaks it up for me. If people can laugh over it, then I'm happy.'  Back home, pensioner coterie, the Zimmers, a group of rappers between the ages of 66 and 88 made waves this week, making it through to the live semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent. Dressed in a rainbow palette of sportswear and more bling than you could ram into a treasure chest of, well, bling, the group shook their booty through their version of LMFAO's  I'm Sexy and I Know It. They may not have made it through to this weekend's final but they nevertheless succeeded in putting a smile on the face of hard-won Simon Cowell, who commended them for lifting the mood of the nation. It was however, not such a good week for older rappers in the social care system, nor indeed for anyone in the social care system, which had a bad week . On Tuesday the Centre for Social Justice published a misguided report urging that social care reform should focus on only the poorest pensioners and any funding reform should only be phased in. While the CSJ is right that the poorest people are struggling with our current social care funding system, it is also true that those people with assets of over £23,250 who become responsible for the full cost of their care are also treated appallingly by the current system. Not only are they cut off from advice and support, they are also at risk of losing nearly everything they have built up in their lifetime. It would be wrong to delay the wider reforms proposed by the Dilnot Commission.   The great virtue of the Dilnot proposal is that it provides a comprehensive basis for reform of social care, to which other measures can be added. It should be the bedrock of reform, not an optional extra. Still, we hoped for a little reassurance in this week's anticipated Queen's speech, which, ultimately, only exacerbated our sense of disappointment. Yes, the speech outlined promises to put people in control of their care and to provide greater information and advice to help people navigate the system, but sadly, there was not even so much as whiff of the most critical issue: funding. All the parties agree on the urgent need for reform of social care funding and there is the basis of a ready-made a solution available in the Dilnot recommendations. The only glimmer of hope is that the draft bill could yet be used as a vehicle for funding reform, if all-party agreement can be reached and the modest costs of reform found. The cross-party talks currently underway on social care therefore take on even greater urgency. Failure to reach agreement and to include funding reform in the bill would be a failure not just of those in need of care but of our entire political process.       /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(11-may).aspx /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(11-may).aspx Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 Simon Bottery /blog/blog/2012/may/dilnot-o-meter-(4-may).aspx By Simon Bottery, Director of Policy and Communications   The Financial Times ran a disturbingly authoritative piece this week saying that there would be no promise of a bill on social care funding in the next session of Parliament. While the Queen's Speech would reaffirm commitment to reforming social care, this would mean no possibility of legislation for at least 18 months. That's an age in politics, as Harold Wilson might have said, and even longer for a coalition government that has just had a drubbing in the local elections. The tensions in the coalition were also evident in a second story due to the Lib Dems' insistence on reform of the House of Lords, which was blocking up the House of Commons agenda.While that story looks remarkably like the work of anti-reform Conservatives ('just look at all this lovely legislation you could get through if only you'd drop your daft insistence on bashing the Lords') it does suggest a growing sense that social care reform is still some way off. The lack of any report on the progress of cross-party talks compounds this and is consistent with the understanding that the next Comprehensive Spending Review will start later this year and conclude in autumn next year. This would be the logical vehicle with which to address the critical issue of how any reform of social care is actually funded, on which the coalition had only ever promised an 'update' in its coming White Paper. So the White Paper in June, probably, followed by a year of continued wranglings about cost, against a background of potentially £10bn worth of cuts in the welfare budget (which the Chancellor flagged in his budget). Not a welcoming prospect. But there are glimmers of light in the gloom. The most important is that despite all the talk of delay and funding, there has been little attempt to split the near-consensus of support for a Dilnot-style capped cost model of funding. There is no sign, as yet, that we are to return to the more fundamental debate of how social care should be reformed, rather than the - admittedly intertwined - one about how it should be funded.  Dilnot-o-meter verdict: Too close to call /blog/blog/2012/may/dilnot-o-meter-(4-may).aspx /blog/blog/2012/may/dilnot-o-meter-(4-may).aspx Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(4-may)-(1).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer Mobility scooters have done something of a U-turn this week. It was just last Friday that they (or, to be more precise, their drivers) bagged a slot in this very blog as our bad week news item. Well, to paraphrase Dinah Washington, what a difference seven days makes, for this was a good week for the vehicles. It seems they are rising considerably in popularity. In this Guardian article , Amelia Gentleman reports they are becoming increasingly popular and manufacturers have responded by promoting them as a "fashionable lifestyle accessory." There were plenty of gleaming examples on display at this week's annual mobility scooter show at Birmingham's NEC, including four-wheeled Vespas and the "Harley" of mobility scooters. "People take pride in these products," said a manufacturer. "They don't want to look as if they're driving around in a breadbin." We do have to wonder however, whether their miraculous makeover hasn't backfired a little. It seems the stigma around them has eroded so much that there is increasing evidence that able-bodied people are buying them too. Although it's technically illegal for someone to use a mobility scooter unless they "suffer from some physical defect or a physical disability," it seems, lured in by the fact that they require no tax, no licence or no insurance, people are willing to take their chances, seeing them as a cheap alternative to a car. "Go to a pub," said another spokesman at the show, "you'll see them parked outside". But while mobility scooters may have taken two revs forward, it was a definitely one step back for ageism, which had a bad week . We might be forgiven for thinking that we were actually getting somewhere, largely thanks to the efforts of Miriam O'Reilly and her landmark ageism case against the BBC. Even Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, had come out and admitted that the BBC got it wrong when it came to older broadcasters. But of all people, the leader of our country, David Cameron, with one sentence, put us back where we started. During a rather heated session at the House of Commons, Cameron was defending his Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt's relationship with Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation. Responding to 80-year-old Labour MP, Dennis Skinner's, suggestion that Cameron was, through his defence, simply shielding himself from bullets, the Prime Minister retorted: "Well, the honourable gentleman has the right at any time to take his pension and I advise him to do so." This is not the first time Cameron has made a jibe about Mr Skinner's age. In January, he called him a "dinosaur" when responding to a question about the appointment of the former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, as his Downing Street spokesperson. Was this just banter? Yes, probably. But if Skinner's point of difference were his sex, race or religion, Cameron just wouldn't have dared go there. Why is it that age is still an acceptable "-ism?" If we want to see a real cultural shift around this issue, then surely, the leaders of our country have a duty to lead by example.     /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(4-may)-(1).aspx /blog/blog/2012/may/good-weekbad-week-(4-may)-(1).aspx Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2012/may/nathan's-story.aspx By Nathan Cox I'm going to get straight to business. When I wrote an update before the marathon, I mused on whether the training I had done would be enough to see me through. Well, I'm very pleased to say that after four carb gels, numerous bottles of water and a few high-fives with people watching on the way round, it was! I completed the 26.2 miles in 3:55:16. All in all, it was a fantastic experience. The weather gods were kind and whilst it was a slightly warmer day than I would have liked (I even caught the sun on my shoulders with the obligatory vest tan lines!), it was a pleasure to be running through the streets of London. The good weather meant for a huge crowd watching and cheering us all on, and the support really made a difference in the last few miles. The best bit? Hard to call between running over Tower Bridge versus the river stretch just before Parliament Square. I have no issues deciding on the worst bit however. It has to be on Birdcage walk when I saw the sign that meant I only had 600m to go. By this point my legs were raging and as I tried to find a little extra for a strong-looking finish, I realised that I had nothing extra to give. That 600m felt like it went on for miles! Despite the pain at the end and the unbelievably stiff feeling legs for a few days after, it was definitely worth it! Raising money for Independent Age has been a pleasure and I'm very grateful to Harriet and Amy from the charity for the support they have given me. I have no doubt that the money I have raised will be put to good use helping older people who really need it. If you would like to sponsor Nathan, visit his Just Giving page.         /blog/blog/2012/may/nathan's-story.aspx /blog/blog/2012/may/nathan's-story.aspx Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(27-april).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer There have been so many stories about older drivers this week that I feel the media super highway may soon reach gridlock. We commented just last week on how 40% of news reports about road accidents involved older drivers, despite statistics to show that they are one of the safest groups of drivers. One has to wonder why they are singled out for vilification, so we're really pleased to start with a positive story which ran in the Daily Mail this week. This was a good week for 74-year-old Valerie Christie from Carlisle who finally passed her driving test, 58 years after her first lesson. It was the pensioner's third test, which she was inspired to take to help her disabled friend, Thomas, get to hospital appointments. Valerie said that despite feeling nervous, "I drove really well with only four minor faults." "It shows you're never too old to learn a new skill," she added. Valerie is obviously feeling confident about hitting the road, but for those who feel less so, there was more good news with the announcement that Newcastle University is developing a SatNav, which can steer drivers away from busy roads and right turns.  Older people naturally face issues with their health, such as slowing reactions or declining eyesight, so the development of something like this could help keep them on the road, when they might otherwise give up. We mustn't however allow this to let us fall into the trap of believing that older people are unsafe drivers. Unlike some younger drivers, who greatly overestimate their own abilities, evidence suggests that older drivers know their limitations and restrict their driving or change their habits. But a tool like this might just help rebuild confidence and allow older people to stay independent for longer. It was however a bad week for mobility scooter users, who have found themselves accused of "reckless" driving. Some areas of the UK claim to have received so many complaints that a number of "road safety" courses have sprung up across the country. One of these is the Safe Scoot course, in Dorset, which offers people the chance to take part in obstacle courses, and weave in and out of traffic cones. Users of the machines (which can reach either 4mph or 8mph), do not need a licence to drive them. As Mike Ruddick, organiser of Safe Scoot, explained "you are breaking the law if you are driving an 8mph scooter at that speed on the pavement and it can be dangerous. The majority of scooter drivers are reckless because they don't know there are laws in place." He did then however conclude that "there are hundreds of thousands of scooter owners who are absolutely perfect."   /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(27-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(27-april).aspx Fri, 27 April 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(26-april).aspx By Amy Scrivener We did it! It's taken me until today to stop aching and struggling with stairs, bit I feel loads better now and am still so pleased with our performance on Sunday. Not just Jo and I, but all the Independent Age runners, everyone did so well! We clocked just over five hours, with our super runner on the day, Nathan, clocking just under four hours, which for his first marathon is absolutely fantastic! On the way around I saw the oldest marathon runner, 101-year-old, Fanju Singh. We saw him at about 10 miles and he looked really strong and had a number of people running with him. I now know he did it in 7 hours and 49 minutes, which I think is truly amazing for someone at his stage in life, for anyone it's pretty impressive really! It does show that when you want to really do something and are prepared to work hard and even suffer for it, nothing can stop you. Taking part this year was an incredible experience, I actually really enjoyed my time out on the course and am already thinking about what challenge I want to have a go at next, I'll keep you posted. Thanks to everyone that has supported me and Independent Age on this crazy adventure, I could never have done it without your unflinching encouragement and generosity. Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon     /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(26-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(26-april).aspx Thu, 26 April 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(20-april).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer It seems there was something in the air this week for 84-year-old novelists. It was a good week for Cynthia Ozick who was installed as 2/1 favourite by bookmaker, William Hill, to win the 2012 Orange Prize for her seventh novel, Foreign Bodies. Rather than focusing on her literary achievement though, it was the writer's age, which created a maelstrom in the media. When asked if she minded her age being mentioned, Ozick replied: "Yes, is the direct answer, yes. Because I think that writers are judged on their work and not on their age, and that seems to me a very simple axiom."  For some, it seems remarkable that someone of Ozick's age might pull together a readable tome. There are those who are, how can we put it, "dismissive" of octogenarian novelists. As Guardian columnist, Michele Hanson pointed out this week, Martin Amis once said they are "on the whole…no bloody good. You can see them disintegrating before your eyes as they move past 70".  Simone de Beauvoir too, while focusing on brandishing the feminist baton, did little to fight the corner of older writers, who risk "simply repeating things". Hanson herself was quick to spring to Ozick's defence . "Perhaps I'm biased, being an old woman, but I get the impression that the world is often surprised to find that we can do much at all, other than dodder around being forgetful, or do the odd bit of gardening, knitting, heating up soup or crawling round the block with a small dog…forget the numbers, think about the quality… I hope she wins." And so do we.   But while Ozick was being heaped with praise for her work, which explores the theme of anti-Semitism, over on the European mainland, German author Günter Grass, also 84, was being accused of just that.  It was a bad week for Grass who has caused a stir of his own with his poem, What Must Be Said, in which he criticises Israel. The author has been shocked by the outcry that has ensued, and while he was ready for criticism, he told German daily, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, that he had not expected "that the offensive and blanket reproach of anti-Semitism would be levied against me…I had hoped for a clearer debate." The author was admitted to hospital this week, although his spokeswoman, Hilke Ohsoling, has insisted that this was not triggered by the debacle over his poem. Unlike Cynthia Ozick, who says she "does not relate" to her age, for Grass, it would seem that his age is slightly more of an issue. "He is 84 years old," said Ohsoling in Grass's defence. "Who doesn't have any health problems at that age?"              /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(20-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(20-april).aspx Fri, 20 April 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/april/nathan's-story.aspx By Nathan Cox This Sunday, tens of thousands of people will be taking to the streets of London for the London Marathon. This is a real challenge, even for the most hardened runners. Nathan Cox is one of the people who will be running in aid of Independent Age. Here he shares his journey so far. Do pop back to the blog next week to see how he got on. "Well, here we are; the week of the marathon. It seems like months ago that I found out that I had got a place and now all of a sudden here we are. Where did the time go?! It has been an interesting few months and I'd be lying if I said it has been easy. I'd done lots of running before, but the marathon is the sort of event that you need to treat with the respect it deserves, so I've gone on a journey of discovery; finding out more about what I can do and most importantly finding out which energy gels taste the best (my findings are available on request)! I've had my setbacks on the way. Shin splints over Christmas and breaking my nose in a football match in January were low points, but that's all history. There is nothing more I can do to prepare. I've done the training (whether it is enough will become apparent on the day!), walked like John Wayne after my longer runs and washed my kit more times than I can count. Getting to this stage brings me back to why I signed up to do this in the first place. Yes it is a great challenge that any keen runner should do, but I have also been able to support the work of a great charity. Independent Age support an often forgotten part of society; elderly people. What makes their work so valuable- and what really strikes a chord with me- is that they reach out to people who are often isolated and alone and have little or no help or advice from relatives or friends. Today is a good day for me to reflect on what Independent Age do as I have just reached my fundraising target (with thanks to my very generous friends, family and colleagues). I know Sunday won't be easy but I know I'm doing it for a great cause. I'll let you know how it goes!" If you would like to sponsor Nathan, visit his Just Giving page.         /blog/blog/2012/april/nathan's-story.aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/nathan's-story.aspx Thu, 19 April 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/april/the-final-countdown-good-luck-to-our-marathon-runners-this-weekend.aspx By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer It's now less than a week to go until the Big Day. This Sunday, tens of thousands of people will be taking to the streets of London for the Virgin London Marathon, the 26-mile race, which takes in some of the country's most iconic sights, including the London Eye, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. We're thrilled that a number of people will be showing their mettle by taking on the grueling challenge in aid of Independent Age, helping us to raise vital funds to support older people across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Among them will be Stuart Gillies, TV chef, Managing Director of Gordon Ramsay Holdings and formerly Chef Patron at the Savoy Grill. Stuart has already completed the London Marathon six times, as well as the NYC Marathon and the Medoc Marathon. This is the first time he is running for Independent Age. Stuart told us how his own mother was cared for by his brother in her later years but realises that not all older people are fortunate enough to have a support network around them. In fact over 1 million people over 65 in the UK say they are always or often lonely. This can be for many reasons - they may have lost their circle of friends or their spouse, they may have no family, or the family they do have may be far away. We're really grateful to Stuart - and to all of our Marathon runners - whose efforts will help us continue our work of providing advice, information and support to thousands of older people. We'll be there on the day to cheer you on and offer some moral support, from our rather more comfortable position on the sidelines! For some great last minute tips if you are running the marathon this weekend, visit the official Virgin London Marathon website http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/training-centre/training-advice/marathon-tips/ which is packed with useful hints to try, right up until race day. Our Fundraising Officer, Amy Scrivener, who will be braving the race herself, has also suggested dabbing your feet with surgical spirit between now and the race. It won't make them smell like roses, but it'll certainly help toughen them up ready for battle!  If you're feeling worried about Sunday's challenge, why not take a little inspiration from these facts about some of the Marathon's older runners: - This year's oldest runner will be 101-year-old Fauja Singh, who will be taking part in his 6 th London Marathon - 77-year-old Diana Green will be running her 10 th London Marathon this weekend. Diana started running at the age of 68 after successfully being treated for breast cancer - Chris and Charm Robson (73 and 72) will be running the London Marathon to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.       /blog/blog/2012/april/the-final-countdown-good-luck-to-our-marathon-runners-this-weekend.aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/the-final-countdown-good-luck-to-our-marathon-runners-this-weekend.aspx Wed, 18 April 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(16-april).aspx By Amy Scrivener So here we are. The countdown clock on the Virgin London Marathon site now says the race starts in 5 days, 20 hours and 48 minutes and for the first time, I feel as if I'm ready to do this thing. I went to see my friend Tony who's a physiotherapist on Friday night to get a good rub down and he even gave me a bit of acupuncture on my shoulder that's been a bit sore lately which really helped. Jo and I then had a good training run on Saturday, I know it's too close to race day to really be doing long runs but we both felt it very important to get some miles under our belts. So that was our final long run, I'm going to do a very gentle run on Wednesday just to keep the blood pumping around and then that's it. No more training, no more talking and thinking about it constantly, no more protein shakes and carbohydrate gels, I've just got to get out there and do it. Sincere thanks to everyone for all their determined support so far, I hope to see as many of you as possible at Mile 20. Wish me luck...   Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon     /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(16-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(16-april).aspx Mon, 16 April 2012 00:00:00 Anna Passingham /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(13-april).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Anna Passingham, Policy and Research Manager It's been a good week for examples of active ageing abroad, with a positive example from Mature Times to use to challenge the Chancellor to discard the deficit language he used in his Budget announcement when he described older people as a huge 'burden' on the younger generation. Instead, we can celebrate the spirit of adventure and philanthropy demonstrated by writer and explorer, Anthony Smith, and his crew who set sail from the Caribbean this week, bound for the Bahamas, on a raft made from waterpipes. The former BBC Tomorrow's World presenter and science correspondent is now 86 and his crew, who are all over 50, aim to raise £50,000 for the charity, WaterAid. They travelled 2,600 miles last year in 66 days, to headlines such as 'Pottering about in the garden, it is more fun to sail across the Atlantic', but were blown off course from their final destination, the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. One year on, they are attempting to complete their challenge . This was, however, a bad week for older pensioners at home with the Daily Mail announcing the potential for a 'granny tax' mark II looming. The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) (the word 'simplification' starts alarm bells ringing from the offset) is calling on the Chancellor to tax the basic state pension at source. Currently, the state pension is paid before tax is deducted, but the OTS recommends that the government take tax when the state pension is paid. While in the long term, there will be no increase in the overall amount of tax paid, if put into force it would reduce the amount you get in your pocket to £85.96 a week for those paying basic rate tax and to £64.47 for those on the 40% tax rate. John Whiting, tax director of the OTS has admitted that the changes, while helping to reduce bureaucracy, will cause 'cash-flow' problems for some older people. Despite all this doom and gloom, it seems to be a classic example of smoke and mirrors depending on which standpoint you are coming from. While the National Pensioners Convention has called for the state pension to be exempt from tax altogether, the Government is actually arguing that pensioners have never had it so good, with the state pension increasing this week by its largest amount so far - by £5.30 to £107.45 a week. However, they have conveniently forgotten to remind people of 'granny tax' mark I (see Good Week/Bad Week 23 March), the small matter of neglecting to uprate the savings credit element of Pension Credit in the last Autumn Statement and that fact that pensions would have gone up by 5.6% rather than 5.2% this year if the move from RPI to CPI in calculating pensions hadn't taken place. While we recognise that everyone should contribute where they can afford to, it does raise the question that in this age of austerity, is nothing safe? It certainly shows that if you don't take notice, read the small print and protect your own interests, no one else will. A mass lobby of parliament will take place on 19 April, where Labour is planning to force a Commons vote on the granny tax itself.            /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(13-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/good-weekbad-week-(13-april).aspx Fri, 13 April 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(12-april).aspx By Amy Scrivener Someone asked me when the marathon is yesterday and without thinking I said: 'Next Sunday.' 'You mean next Sunday? As in not this one, but next Sunday?' 'Yes, next Sunday.'  Right.... I ran around Hyde Park last night and after grumbling to myself about my trainers not being tied up correctly, I finally relaxed into my run just in time to notice I was running along the bank of the Serpentine at dusk. Sometimes running in London can be a bit of a pain - dodging cyclists and pedestrians who seem to panic as you approach them, never-ending roads to cross and traffic out to get you, but last night as I saw the deck chairs being packed away with the London Eye in the background I realised that actually, I'm lucky to be taking part in the London Marathon. Some people dream about doing it one day, some dread it as the day approaches, some don't make it even to the start line and I think it's only now that it's next Sunday (yes, next Sunday) that I'm feeling pretty lucky to be a part of it all. Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon     /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(12-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(12-april).aspx Thu, 12 April 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(3-april).aspx By Amy Scrivener I received an email from the Virgin London Marathon team yesterday morning and was delighted to learn that we now have less than 3 weeks until race day! In a way I'm glad that soon the training will be over but I'm also pretty worried that my overall fitness is nowhere near where it should be. I bought some new trainers yesterday which while very close to race day is absolutely necessary, I realised my previous pair and I have ran over 150 miles together so think they deserve to be put into retirement. With my mind now focused on the start line and with a bag full of protein shakes, energy bars and carbohydrate gels, the 18 day countdown is on! Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon     /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(3-april).aspx /blog/blog/2012/april/journey-to-the-start-line-(3-april).aspx Tue, 03 April 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(30-march).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a good week for dementia research as David Cameron said he wanted the UK to become a world leader in the field, and put his money where his mouth is by doubling funds to tackle the illness to £66m by 2015. Cameron said in London this week that "dementia is simply a terrible disease and it is a scandal that as a country, we haven't kept pace with it." He set out a series of measures to be rolled out in the coming years, which include a Department of Health public awareness campaign, financial incentives for hospitals to carry out checks and "dementia friendly communities" to support people with the illness. Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of Alzheimer's Society, said: "Today's announcement by the Prime Minister marks an unprecedented step towards making the UK a world leader in dementia. Doubling funding for research, tackling diagnosis and calling for a radical shift in the way we talk, think and act on dementia will help to transform lives". Dementia sufferers currently fill a quarter of our hospital beds, at a cost of around £23bn, which is more than treating sufferers of cancer, heart disease and stroke. This week's news is obviously good news but the government will also need to bring about a wider reform of social care as the issues around dementia will not be solved through medicine alone. Dementia is already impacting heavily on social care costs, which will only increase as our population ages. We'll need to support people in earlier stages of dementia and help sufferers live at home for longer. Making headway with dementia will also rely on a cultural shift, making sure that hospitals and care homes are places of comfort, care and empowerment and not, as we have seen from a CQC report this week, places where elderly dementia sufferers need to worry about being locked in their rooms or confined to their beds in an effort to make them "easier to manage". This was however a bad week for anyone who uses stamps. They're about to see the biggest price increase for 37 years. First-class stamps are set to increase by 30% to 60p while second-class stamps will go up a whopping 39% to 50p. It looks like the writing is on the wall for next-day delivery of our letters. Joking aside, this is a serious issue for older people, many of whom live on fixed and limited incomes. We've been faced with the loss of post offices and the issues this brings, but now it seems that sending post is becoming financially inaccessible too. This may be no great shakes to the e-generation but for many older people, the postal service is still their vital link to the outside world. While many older people are starting to embrace the internet, nearly three quarters of over-65s have still never been online and, so, don't benefit from email and the other social networks it offers. Those on pension credit will be able to buy stamps at the current rate, but only for a very short time ahead of Christmas (between 6 November and the last posting date before Christmas), and this will be limited to a maximum of three books per transaction. With only two days left to catch stamps at their current lower prices, petrol may not be the only consumable subject to panic buying this weekend.        /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(30-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(30-march).aspx Fri, 30 March 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(23-march).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a  bad week  for George Osborne who unwittingly found himself dragged over the coals and receiving a proverbial thrashing following the Budget on Wednesday. Delivering what, initially, appeared to be a somewhat predictable speech (given that the majority of its contents had been leaked to the media beforehand), he unexpectedly delivered a poison pill, neatly swaddled in the seemingly innocuous language of a "simplification".  In an effort to "simplfy" the tax system, Osborne told us, he would be freezing age-related allowances for pensioners and withdrawing them altogether for people retiring after April 2013. Read between the lines and his "simplification" was in fact a "stealth tax" on pensioners on low to moderate incomes (those with an income between £10,000 and £29,000), not to mention the single largest revenue-raising measure in the Budget (which is expected to raise more than £3bn over the next four years). We wondered whether we might now add to the famous Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times" another one: "may you have your tax relief simplified by the Chancellor".  Consternation only grew, when, in this "fiscally neutral" Budget, people had to wonder whether this tax on pensioners had been used fund George's generosity to Britain's 300,000 richest households by reducing the 50p top rate of tax. Within hours of his statement, the term "granny tax" had become the top trend on Twitter and Osborne was vilified by charities, pensioner organisations and the media alike. Whatever backlash the government may have been expecting from the Budget, this couldn't possibly have been it. Figures suggest that 4.4 million taxpaying pensioners would lose an average of £84 a year. This may not sound a lot, but for someone living on just over £10,000 a year (incidentally, the average amount that wealthier households are now set to claw back), it makes a difference. There are some who would argue, that so far, older people have escaped our austerity measures relatively unscathed. The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) jumped to the government's defence and branded the granny tax a "storm in a teacup". The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also produced a thoughtful defence of the move . Certainly, the coalition has done some positive things for older people, such as linking pensions to earnings, protecting free bus travel and scrapping the default retirement age. But they are the also the quiet victims of quantitative easing, have, for too long, seen little or no return on their savings, and have seen the value of their pensions reduced with the introduction of CPI rather than RPI.  We also think the Chancellor needs to be careful of gaining a reputation for fiscal sneakiness when it comes to older people. As well as this week's "simplification", it was this Chancellor who allowed the reduction in value of the Winter Fuel Payment by £100, without uttering so much as a word in the 2011 budget, and who in the last autumn statement sneaked back some of the cash he had given away with an increase in pension guarantee credit by failing to uprate the savings credit element.  Still, George Osborne's faux pas did make this a good week for subeditors, who had an absolute field day across the board. In a poor attempt to recreate a Top of The Pops style rundown, here are our top five from the week: At five it's the Daily Mail with their alliterative masterpiece: Osborne picks the pockets of pensioners At four, the red tops see red as the Daily Mirror yells: Mugged! Osborne and Cam rob OAPs At three, the Daily Telegraph shows that more is less with their sound bite: George Osborne, granny-robber At two, The Sun does a "cracking" job with their Wallace and Gromit inspired: Osborne's dodgy plans on fuel, tax and pensions have put your money in… the wrong trousers But at number one this week, the free paper, Metro , trumps with Gran Theft Auto: £1 billion Budget granny tax raid condemned   /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(23-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(23-march).aspx Fri, 23 March 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(20-march).aspx By Amy Scrivener Having celebrated my 30 th birthday last Friday I skipped my planned long run over the weekend so have had to make up the miles last night, which after a long Monday was pretty tough. I met with Chef Patron at The Savoy Grill, Stuart Gillies, this morning who is taking part for Independent Age this year and it was fantastic to speak about our work and also to a fellow runner. In fact Stuart is taking part in Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon in July which involves a cycle, run, kayak and swim, so I was pretty impressed to say the least. It's speaking to people like Stuart about the work of Independent Age and hearing his own stories of taking care of his elderly mother that remind me why my feet are covered in blisters and my calves constantly ache. We have to do something about the issues that older people face as we ourselves will one day be in their position. Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon     /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(20-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(20-march).aspx Tue, 20 March 2012 00:00:00 James Holloway /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(16-march).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By James Holloway, Policy and Research Officer   It's been a good week for at least one extravagantly dressed 90 year old, but a bad week for the plight of older workers in general. As The Guardian reports the supposedly retired New York fashion designer Iris Apfel was in 2005 at age 83 seen to be famous among those who are interested in fashion. What's remarkable is that now in 2012 at the age 90 she's an even bigger sensation!  Its been a good week for Iris, whose trademark huge round glasses, white hair and fantastic dress sense of course make her stand out at any event was opening a retrospective collection of her work in New York.  On her lengthy career and the comments she gets from others as to her extravagant dress sense Iris said she felt like the "world's oldest living teenager" yet that there's no point being ashamed of your age; "what makes a woman look old is trying desperately to look young. Why should one be ashamed to be 84? Why do you have to say that you're 52? Nobody's going to believe you anyway, so why be such a fool? It's nice that you got to be so old. It's a blessing."  An inspiration to us all, I think you'll agree. However, it seems like it's been a bad week for UK older workers who, like Iris want (or urgently need) to continue working into later life.  The Telegraph reports that workers over fifty have been hit disproportionately harder as a group with unemployment rates for older workers rising more sharply than for other groups.  Worryingly, 185,000 older workers have been out of work now for over a year, an 8% rise on the last quarter of 2011.  It's concerning that with life expectancies increasing, finding a new job over the age of 50 seems to be increasingly more difficult.  It's also worth speculating whether the abolition of the default retirement age in October last year could have something to do with increased unemployment among older workers. And it's not like older people are lacking commitment, a survey from SkilledPeople.com this week found that 65% of unemployed over 50s would be willing to work for free to increase their employability.  In response to the Telegraph report on rising unemployment among this age group, David Hiddlestone, Chairman of Skilled People commented, "It is indicative of the very deep frustration felt by over 50s in this country that, even with their skills and experience, most of our respondents would work for free. Graduate training schemes and youth internships abound, as the country wrings its hands in dismay at youth unemployment, but what of the forgotten over 50s?"  I'm sure our glitzy 90 year old Good Weeker above would undoubtedly agree, that if you want to carry on working - even to the age of 90 (or 'even way past traditional retirement age')- you have to be given the opportunity and respect to do so.       /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(16-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(16-march).aspx Fri, 16 March 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(12-march).aspx By Amy Scrivener   With the sun shining and thousands lining the course, the Bath Half Marathon got underway. Jo and I had spent the night in Bristol so were able to get to the course bright and early in conditions that at 8am were very foggy and quite cold, perfect for a spot of running, or so we thought. The English weather though, as ever, proved to be deceptive and within the hour the fog had lifted and the sunshine shone through on to the 15,000 assembled runners. The race is over a two-lap course and the first lap went well, although I was surprised at the hills that seemed to go on steadily forever! The second lap was a lot harder and we saw quite a few runners at the side of the course who were clearly suffering in the warm weather. I finished in a time of 2 hours 14 minutes which considering the conditions I'm quite pleased with, also I know I finished 7904 th so it's encouraging to see myself almost in the top half of finishers. I'm pretty sore today but feel as if we've got ourselves back in the mix of covering long distances and now we need to really focus on the next few weeks of training and also the marathon diet which includes loads of fish, carbohydrates and proteins. Delicious! Pictured - Amy (right) and her friend Jo after they had completed the Bath Half Marathon Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon     /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(12-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(12-march).aspx Mon, 12 March 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(9-march).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This week, the impact of a problem occurring out of sight, quite literally, behind closed doors, came to light as Age UK research showed that over 600,000 pensioners are prisoners in their own homes. It's a bad week for those older people, who generally, manage to pass their front doors less than once a week. According to the research, 735,000 people describe themselves as "often" or "always" lonely, while up to two million retired people struggle even to get to the local corner shop, supermarket or Post Office. Loneliness has become a pressing issue which poses a very real threat to health. It has been shown to be worse for your health than obesity and as bad a lifelong smoking and these findings highlight the urgent need to tackle the phenomenon. The findings have been published just a week before a loneliness summit is due to take place in London. Organised by the Campaign to End Loneliness and the Department of Health, the Summit will bring together businesses, charities and local authorities, offering a real opportunity to explore practical solutions to help overcome the issue.  This was, however, a better week in other parts of the world. In fact it was a very good week for our older international counterparts. First came the news that 70-year-old Hiroshi Hoketsu looks set to enter the record books after qualifying for London's 2012 Olympic Games. Mr Hoketsu qualified for Japan's Olympic equestrian team together with his trusty steed, 15-year-old, Whisper. If selected, this would be Mr Hoketsu's third Olympics appearance; his last was in Beijing in 2008, where he was the oldest Olympian. Mr Hoketsu said he was very pleased to have qualified, considering his horse is "a little bit old". The 70-year old, however, just misses out on being the oldest Olympian ever - a record which is held by Oscar Swahn of Switzerland, who was 72 when he won silver for shooting in the 100m running deer event at the Antwerp Olympic Games in 1920.     Then came Wednesday night's victory for the Buranovo Grannies who were selected to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest. The girl band, which has a combined age of over 400, beat 24 other acts for the coveted spot. We reported last week that 75-year-old Engelbert Humperdinck had been selected as Britain's entry, but these ladies seem to have raised the bar. Singing in their native Udmurtian - a language spoken by only 320,000 people - the ladies combine traditional music with heavier dance beats. They have been known to perform translations of songs such as Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water and Queen's We are the Champions, but will be performing a self-penned tune called Party for Everybody for the contest.    The grandmothers however claimed, they are not seeking glory or wealth from the contest, but that their only goal is to raise money to build a church in their village. If you can't wait for Eurovision, treat yourself to a sneak peak at the Babushkas' entry here .     /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(9-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(9-march).aspx Fri, 09 March 2012 00:00:00 James Holloway /blog/blog/2012/march/independent-age-attends-the-‘crisis-in-care-2012’-mass-lobby.aspx By James Holloway, Policy and Research Officer You could tell that parliament was expecting guests on Tuesday. The normally empty Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament was full of circles of chairs, (a circle for each region) to welcome and accommodate campaigners who had travelled the length of the country for what turned out to be a fantastically positive mass lobby of MPs by over 1,000 people demanding the government make a commitment to reforming our creaking social care system.  As a member of the Care and Support Alliance, Independent Age staff volunteered along with staff from nearly 60 other charities to support people whose lives are affected by the care system to speak with their MP in order to make them aware of the urgent need for reform and to share their experiences of poor care.  Many of those who came along for the day also met with the Care Minister Paul Burstow to put their questions directly to him. As followers of our 'Dilnot-o-meter' will be aware, we at Independent Age believe that drastic action is needed to ensure that England's social care system meets the needs of those who use it.  Older and disabled people and their carers cannot afford to wait for change and at yesterday's 'Care in Crisis' lobby many of them took the chance to tell their MP themselves that change is needed.  The lobby left us optimistic that change is visible on the horizon, so we're keeping the Dilnot-o-meter at 'Looking Good' for reform. Over two thirds of English MPs were directly told yesterday that enough is enough and change needs to come soon.  We're hopeful that Paul Burstow, Andrew Lansley and David Cameron will be listening much harder to people in need, and if and when another lobby comes, we encourage you to come along too.     /blog/blog/2012/march/independent-age-attends-the-‘crisis-in-care-2012’-mass-lobby.aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/independent-age-attends-the-‘crisis-in-care-2012’-mass-lobby.aspx Wed, 07 March 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(7-march).aspx By Amy Scrivener My efforts in training have definitely improved since my last blog (28 February) and with the Bath Half Marathon this weekend I'm feeling a bit more prepared. Jo and I had a successful nine-ish mile run last weekend and although I managed to get a pretty decent sized blister and ached like crazy on Sunday, it was fantastic to be back getting some miles in with my partner in crime! Training for a marathon while trying to work full-time and do an evening course is probably too much to do all at once, but I'm certainly enjoying feeling so busy. I think knowing that all my hard work is going to deliver services like advice giving and befriending to older people is a great way to keep my eye on the prize and motivates me to get on with it all when I feel tired, even if I do wish there was an extra day in the week. So, I'll post again after the Bath Half Marathon on Sunday, so hopefully I won't be hobbling too much and will be able to report of incredible success both on and off the track. Read Amy's previous blog Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon   /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(7-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/journey-to-the-start-line-(7-march).aspx Wed, 07 March 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(2-march).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was another bad week for older people receiving care. In the same week in which we found ourselves having to be told that compassion should form a part of caring for older people, research released by Age UK revealed that average care home fees have soared in the last year. A landmark report from the Dignity Commission this week highlighted that ageism is "rooted" in British society and called for a "major cultural shift," which could see doctors, nurses and carers facing disciplinary action if they use patronising language when addressing older people. The findings were given further weight by a poll conducted by the housing charity, Anchor, which found that one in three older people have been left feeling "vulnerable" after suffering ill treatment because of their age. To rub salt into the wound, older people are having to pay huge amounts for this care. Age UK found that care home prices have gone up by as much as 14% in the last year. In London, average annual charges are now £35,300 and in nursing homes, the cost is even greater, with average annual charges of £45,100. In the current system, anyone with assets of £23,500 or more have to cover these costs themselves. The increases have come about because councils, which fund poorer residents, are either freezing the amounts they are prepared to pay for them, or failing to increase their payments in line with inflation. As a result, care home operators are making up the difference by increasing prices for everyone else. Care home residents, who, on the whole are a captive audience, unable to shop around for better deals, are being hit hard by this, and, with negligible interest rates on any savings they may have, are in no place to keep up. Thankfully, it was a good week when it came to blowing stereotypes out of the water. Influential older people were cropping up all over the place this week showing they are a long way from the familar image of homebound slipper-bearers, curled up in front of the TV, hugging a cup of cocoa (although, in fairness, that doesn't sound like a terrible place to be). Actor, Christopher Plummer, became the oldest recipient of an Academy Award, winning his first Oscar, at the age of 82, for his role in Beginners .On receiving the award he joked that he had been rehearsing his acceptance speech when his mother gave birth and added "but it was so long ago, mercifully for you, I've forgotten it." Christopher was not the only older actor to receive an award this week, though. Uggie, the canine star of The Artist laid his paws on a Golden Collar Award for his performance. The 10-year-old (which is the equivalent of 70 in human years, lest we forget), was named the best dog in theatrical film before taking his final bow at the Academy Awards. And finally, it was announced this week that 75-year-old Engelbert Humperdinck is to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The singer, best known for his 1967 hit Release Me ,is the oldest ever Eurovision contestant and said he was "excited and raring to go". This, surely, has the makings of a great night in. Slippers? Check. Cocoa? Check.   /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(2-march).aspx /blog/blog/2012/march/good-weekbad-week-(2-march).aspx Fri, 02 March 2012 00:00:00 Amy Scrivener /blog/blog/2012/february/journey-to-the-start-line-(28-february).aspx By Amy Scrivener With less than two months to go until the Virgin London Marathon, sadly my training has all but ground to a halt. Getting the flu has taken me away from work for two weeks and my last run was on Sunday 12 February. To say I am now a bit nervous about returning to full fitness and getting back up to running 12-plus miles on the weekends is a bit of an under-statement. With my running partner, housemate and best friend Jo I am running the Bath Half marathon as part of our preparation and the thought of even covering that distance (13.1miles) is pretty daunting right now. I am now feeling much, much better and plan to try a gentle run on Thursday to get myself back in the right frame of mind. I almost feel as if I'm starting again from scratch and am disappointed that having been going to the gym and running four times a week I've not done a thing in what seems like ages. I think I've just got to get back to it, put all this negativity behind me and focus on getting this thing done! Wish me luck... Click here to sponsor Amy in the Virgin London Marathon   /blog/blog/2012/february/journey-to-the-start-line-(28-february).aspx /blog/blog/2012/february/journey-to-the-start-line-(28-february).aspx Tue, 28 February 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/february/what-a-difference-a-year-(and-a-film-to-promote)-makes-(28-february).aspx By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer Earlier this week, I found the cockles of my heart being duly warmed by the words of Deborah Moggach, author of the book, The Foolish Things, which has just been turned into the film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is currently riding high on a media wave. Older people should be "the fabric of our lives," she wrote in the Daily Telegraph. Using the example of her grandmother, Moggach extols the value of older people. "I give this as an example of what we lose when we banish older people from our families, as we do so often nowadays. When we put them into residential care, it's our loss as well as theirs. It seems perverse," Moggach convinces us, "that the more immobile someone becomes, the further they're removed from the action." It's a touching piece, full of warmth for older people who are, Moggach writes, not "a different species [but] just older versions of ourselves." But hang on a second! (If this were a radio program, this is the point at which we'd be playing an audio clip of an old, damaged vinyl record screeching to a sudden halt.) Isn't this the very same author who, less than a year ago, was suggesting in the same paper, that we outsource older people to India? "We can't afford to keep them," Moggach said just last April. "They are going to become a drain on the state. It's bad enough that there is a huge population because we are all being kept alive, but now more of us are living alone, too. It means there isn't someone to pick them up when they fall." The Telegraph reported that Moggach envisaged elderly people - on a voluntary basis - being repatriated to countries such as India where they can be looked after on a more economical basis than in the West. We would have been offended had we not found the claim so daffy. Far from not being able to afford our older generation, it was more the case that we couldn't afford to lose them. Aside from being a treasure trove of knowledge, older people offer a very real contribution to the economy, by either working themselves or supporting their working children with free childcare, not to mention putting in hours of voluntary work. So great, in fact is their input, it was calculated that, in 2010 alone, the over-65s made a net contribution to the UK economy of £40 billion, even allowing for the costs of pensions, welfare and health services. What a great loss indeed if we took heed at Moggach and seriously considered carting off an entire generation to the subcontinent. Thankfully though, the author seems to have had a change of heart in the ten months since she proffered her almost-laughable suggestion. We'd like to believe this is a sign of genuine reform and not just a short-lived show of empathy that will wane as quickly as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel leaves our cinema screens. Cynical? Us?   /blog/blog/2012/february/what-a-difference-a-year-(and-a-film-to-promote)-makes-(28-february).aspx /blog/blog/2012/february/what-a-difference-a-year-(and-a-film-to-promote)-makes-(28-february).aspx Tue, 28 February 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(24-february).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This has been a good week for celebrity clangers (albeit, perhaps, a bad week for the celebrities behind them). Vivienne Westwood was the first to step up to the soap box, stating in an interview at the launch of her Red Label collection this week, that people had "never looked so ugly" as they do today, criticising the rise of throw-away fashion and the fact that it makes us all look like clones. The designer, did however, in her sweeping statement, hand a reprieve to older ladies. It is those in their 70s, Westwood believes, who are the trendiest in Britain, claiming they have a better sense of individual style. "I don't notice anybody, unless they look great, and every now and then they do, and they are usually 70." High praise indeed from an industry, by which, older women so often feel ignored and overlooked. And if you want to see proof of Westwood's claim, treat yourself to an e-stroll through the wonderful blog, Advanced Style , whose subjects could teach us all a sartorial lesson or two. Clearly, Rowan Atkinson did not have his ear to the ground at London fashion Week. It seems the actor suffered a real-life, bumbling, Bean moment, and would be perfectly happy, if he had his way, to bundle our older media stars out of the limelight and into a darkened broom cupboard labelled, umm, "has Beans" (sorry). In a letter (so this was a considered view, not an impromptu remark) to Radio 4's The Media Show, Atkinson suggested that the BBC should have been free to drop Miriam O'Reilly from Countryfile without fear of accusations of age discrimination. He said that O'Reilly's age discrimination case was an "attack on creative free expression" and even went on to suggest that the creative industries are not the place for anti-discrimination legislation and that "the legal tools she used should never have been available to her." The BBC, should, of course - along with all other stations - be allowed the creative freedom it needs to continue producing cutting-edge dramas and comedy shows. But whatever Rowan may feel, we're afraid there's just no escaping the figures. BBC Director General, Mark Thompson, has already admitted the BBC got it wrong when it comes to older women and that they are under-represented on our screen, particularly in news reading and presenting. Atkinson also seems to overlook that there is a difference between creative programmes, (such as his own, Black Adder) and more serious factual programming such as The Today Programme, or even Countryfile. As Miriam O'Reilly said in The Guardian this week: "I think very few people will agree with Mr Atkinson. At one time, we didn't think black people should sit next to white people on a bus but fortunately we live in a fair and civilised society." Perhaps it would have been better for Atkinson to have followed even more closely in the footsteps of Mr Bean and to have just kept quiet on this one.   /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(24-february).aspx /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(24-february).aspx Fri, 24 February 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(17-february).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a bad week for Mervyn King, who, as he would have us believe, has his hands tied. The Governor of the Bank of England insisted that he is unable to help savers, warning that any efforts to reward their prudence would push the country back into recession. Returns on savings, as well as annuities, have been driven to record lows as a result of the Bank's emergency measures of pumping £325 billion of new money into the economy. "I have deep sympathy for those who are totally unconnected with the origins of the financial crisis, who suddenly find that returns on their savings have reached negligible levels," Mervyn assured us. "All groups in society are suffering from the financial crisis...Difficult though it is, we have to make a difficult judgement about the right course of action for the economy as a whole." But there are different types of savers and Mervyn doesn't distinguish between them. Long-term savers can sit tight and reasonably expect the return on their savings to increase over time. But for those, like pensioners, who need to spend the interest on their savings no such long view is available. And the consequences can be tragic. The NHS Information Centre published figures this week showing that the number of hypothermia deaths has doubled in the last five years - and three quarters of those affected are over 60. Older people, quite often, are forced to choose between heating or eating because they simply cannot keep up with the rising prices of food and fuel. A survey published by Age UK last month showed that half of pensioners had turned the heating down to save money. Charities and campaigners have gathered together to urge the government to scrap VAT on household energy bills. Bringing household fuel in line with zero-rated water and food could help to bring immediate relief to thousands of older people, who have quietly suffered the impact of low interest rates, plummeting pension payouts and rocketing inflation rates, for the sake of the economy, for too long.    For all the bad news, we need something to put a smile back on our face. That means it's time for another good week canine rescue story. Just three weeks ago we reported on the story of 73-year-old Maurice Holder who was rescued by his 11-year-old Labradoodle, Monty, after plunging 40ft down a ravine. This week, it was the turn of Zulu, a black terrier, to step into the limelight, whose loving heroics make even the chivalrous swagger of Ryan Gosling pale into insignificance (hamming it up? Us?). Zulu had been travelling with his 62-year-old owner, Donald McGregor, in a 4x4 Ford Ranger when the vehicle overturned and hurtled down a steep slope. Zulu was thrown from the vehicle, but Mr McGregor was left trapped inside. Zulu swiftly sprung into action, sprinting half a mile to the home of Mr McGregor's daughter, alerting her to the emergency. Miss McGregor was quoted in the Daily Mail this week saying "I knew it was strange the dog just turning up like that, so straight away I thought something must have happened. I went out on the quad bike and heard my dad shouting." With a rapidly-dropping tide, emergency services were able to rescue Mr McGregor, whose accident had occurred on a Scots island, off the mainland, in the nick of time. "If I'd have been 20 minutes later, my dad wouldn't have been able to get off the island," said Miss McGregor. Good dog, Zulu! To read Zulu's full story, click here . /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(17-february).aspx /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(17-february).aspx Fri, 17 February 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(10-february).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was another bad week for those on the lowest incomes. The concept of fuel poverty (that's defined as when a person spends 10% or more of their income on fuel) is a well trodden path here at Good Week/Bad Week. But figures released this week from the 2011 ONS Family Spending Survey shows that 1 in 5 households is now living in food poverty (that's when someone spends 15% or more of their weekly expenditure on food). Whereas the average UK household spends 11% of its weekly expenditure on food, the analysis revealed that pensioners are one of the worst affected groups - a single pensioner living on a state pension spends 18% of their total expenditure on food. It's a sorry situation when, in the throes of winter, our older population is neither able to heat their homes nor feed themselves properly. Dickens may have celebrated his 200 th birthday this week, but we didn't anticipate celebrating by finding ourselves living out the backdrop of one of his novels. And we have a sneaking suspicion that, if he were here to see it for himself, he would be bitterly disappointed to see just how little things have really moved on.     This was, however, a good week for Queen Elizabeth, who celebrated 60 years at the throne and, at 85, is our oldest ever monarch. Reigning for 60 years, you would probably have to be into your seventies to really remember the country under different rule. She has seen 11 American presidents, 12 British Prime Ministers, and we're not quite sure how many corgis, come and go. She has ruled over a country that has completely revoluntionised from the one she took over in 1952. From a world of ration books and black and white televisions (if you were lucky), she has seen our country progress to one awash with the internet, mobile phones, 3D TVs and Lady Gaga. Far from retiring, however, the Queen has pledged her renewed commitment to the throne by dedicating herself "anew to your service". Well, as her namesake (Queen, that is,) so succinctly put it: The show must go on (....guitar solo....fade out). /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(10-february).aspx /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(10-february).aspx Fri, 10 February 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(3-february).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a bad week for weather as the "Beast from the East" descended upon us from Siberia, bringing with it a swathe of freezing temperatures. We've been poised for a double-dip recession for some time, but this week, temperatures looked to be on course with the economy and were headed in one direction: down (again). UK residents (and our European neighbours) were subjected to biting temperatures, which plummeted well below zero, even during the day. The Department of Health took the step of issuing a cold weather warning across the country. Older people are particularly vulnerable in the cold weather - they need to keep their room temperatures higher than younger people just to stay healthy (an issue for many older people given prohibitive fuel prices). Excess winter death statistics are shocking (22,000 for the winter of 2010/11) and the risk of widespread ice and snow puts older people in danger of falls, or isolating themselves in their own homes through fear of going out. For some suggestions to help with the cold snap, don't forget about our Winter Wise Guide; a pack full of hints tips and advice to help people through the winter months. You can download a copy here: /news/cold-weather-call.aspx   This was a good week however for elder insight. The week seemed to be awash with centenarians who were not backward at coming forward with their pearls of wisdom. 100-year-old Wilbur Faiss and his wife, Theresa, were awarded this year's Worldwide Marriage Encounter for the longest married couple. Espoused for 78 years, Wilbur imparted the secret of the couple's marital success: love. The couple met, according to the Daily Mail, at a roller rink outside St Louis."I was a hot shot on skates," says Wilbur, "and she was by far the most beautiful girl in the audience." Another centenarian, Kathleen Connell from East Renfrewshire, who celebrated her 100 th birthday this week, shared her secret for a long life: spending two hours a day playing on her Nintendo DS Lite. Kathleen, who has had both legs amputated and lives alone, said in feature in the Daily Mail that she is so addicted to the device that she wore out her first console (a 96 th birthday present from her daughter) and had to replace it. According to the popular Brain Trainer game, Kathleen is clocking up the mental age of a mere 64-year old.        /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(3-february).aspx /blog/blog/2012/february/good-weekbad-week-(3-february).aspx Fri, 03 February 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(27-january).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was another bad week for pensioners' finances as a study from Age UK published on Tuesday revealed that 4.5 million people over 60 can only just afford the basics. The study, which was based on a survey of 1,000 over 60's, painted a bleak picture of what life is like for older people today, in an environment of steeply rising prices. Over half of people questioned (55%) say they are finding it harder to manage their regular outgoings compared to this time last year. It's little wonder given that energy prices rocketed by 18% last year, while any potential income from savings was obliterated by low interest rates. What's really worrying is that all the people interviewed spoke about cutting back and making do. Nearly half said they had turned down the heating when they were still feeling the cold, to save money, and one in seven admitted to going to bed when they weren't tired, just to keep warm. As well as the obvious financial issues, the cost cutting moves described are potentially putting pensioners' health at risk, as well as causing them to risk isolating themselves in their own homes. It also suggests that the government's obligation to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016 is currently looking as likely as a week of Thursdays. And the future doesn't look much brighter either after another report out this week, this time from pension experts, Barnett Waddingham, showed that younger generations will be far worse off than their parents in retirement because of the collapse of private pension schemes. It is predicted that a pensioner's income could fall from £21,000 a year today, to only £6,440 in 40 years' time. This is based on earning the same salary and paying into a pension for 40 years. Given all the grim news cascading around us this week, we're pleased to say there was one story that had a happy ending. This was a good week (or at least a far better week than it could have been) for 73-year-old Maurice Holder who was rescued by his 11-year-old Labradoodle, Monty, after dropping 40ft down a ravine. The pensioner described in the Daily Mail how the ground gave way beneath him as he was walking along a river bank. After losing consciousness, he awoke to find Monty by his side watching over him, who then led him back to safety. "It was very steep," says Maurice. "Because all the ground had fallen, it was loose, but Monty found a way back up on to firm ground... Monty got me to level ground and then I just lay down to get my breath back and as I did, Monty ran away." Monty however had not deserted his owner but had run to the local pub to summon help. "He came back around 15 minutes later with a nice gentleman who helped me back to the car," explains Maurice. Maurice was taken to hospital, where he was treated for head injuries, broken ribs, cuts and bruises.   /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(27-january).aspx /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(27-january).aspx Fri, 27 January 2012 00:00:00 Anna Passingham /blog/blog/2012/january/health-select-committee-report.aspx   Our conclusions on today's Health Select Committee Report on public expenditure: Time to acknowledge the elephant in the room (he's been here a while).   By Anna Passingham, Policy and Research Manager   Lansley and Burstow's current stance of sticking their heads in the sand when faced with the reality of the social care crisis just won't wash any more. Despite the Health Secretary dismissing the report as 'Westminster nonsense', the Health Select Committee's findings are backed up by robust evidence from the National Audit Office, ADASS and the Care Quality Commission. Stephen Dorrell MP, as chair of the Select Committee, and one of Lansley's predecessors, poses the challenge for local authorities and the Government: what can be done to provide a meaningful service until the new system can be put in place? Good practice shows that where more integration between councils and NHS is already happening, such as reablement services, with more pooled resources and aligned budgets across housing, health and care, it can encourage better quality of care and experience for people using services, while also making savings. However, it is often patchy and not joined up with wider service provision. Where it does work, such best practice must be highlighted for swift implementation by other local commissioners. The situation is urgent, however little this is recognised at the top level. What we need is firm leadership to provide clear direction on what works and what could generate savings for local authorities while also improving the situation for older people and their carers on the ground. Doing nothing is not an option. The alternative - even more cuts in services, further tightening of eligibility criteria and hikes in care charges - must not be allowed to happen. But without the men at the top - not currently even acknowledging we have a problem - it is clear that we have some way to go.   /blog/blog/2012/january/health-select-committee-report.aspx /blog/blog/2012/january/health-select-committee-report.aspx Tue, 24 January 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(20-january).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a good week for social care as cross-party talks began, with the aim of reaching a consensus on care funding. The talks have been a long time a-coming and there is no guarantee they will lead anywhere. But the fact that they are taking place at all represents a major breakthrough and must increase the likelihood of genuine reform of our social care funding system. We have uprated our Dilnot-o-meter to reflect this. The talks were preceded by reports in the Daily Telegraph earlier in the week that older people could be made to pay up to £60,000 for their care in old age. Interestingly, online forums were alive with anger at the news. But while the figure may, seen starkly, seem shocking, what readers perhaps failed to realise is that there is currently no limit on the costs that individuals can incur paying for care in later life. And around 20,000 people are forced each year to sell their homes in order to cover the costs. However, the £60,000 figure is close to double the £35,000 cap proposed by Andrew Dilnot last year and well outside the range (extending to £50,000) that Dilnot said would be reasonable. While it would still help remove the fear people currently feel about meeting care costs as well as enabling insurance firms and pension providers to develop financial products to help people protect themselves against care costs, it may be a step too far away from acceptability. It was swiftly refuted by Paul Burstow who said the matter was still under consideration before the government's white paper in April. Bizarrely, Burstow did then go on (cue horrified, sharp, intake of breath) to deny any funding gap in the social care system. The money the government was putting in, combined with local authority efficiency gains meant the funding gap had been closed, he said. If councils failed to pass the money on, that was their choice. We don't think this argument holds water from a minister responsible for social care. So a bad week for Burstow. It may turn out to be not such a good week either for lone older homeowners, as housing minister, Grant Schapps, announced plans for the state to help older people downsize, to allow councils to rent their homes to local families and help ease the nation's housing crisis. Local authorities would, under the plans, cover the costs for moving, renovation and financial advice. They would also take over the responsibility for maintaining and renting the vacated properties, passing back any profit to the homeowner to use to pay for their new accommodation. The concept is a good one as long as it's about helping an older person to make the best decision about their housing options and retain their independence. But starting the project with the primary aim of freeing up housing is wrong. It runs a serious risk of coercing older people into house moves they do not want, with all the consequences that involves, such as the physical upheaval and stress of moving, not to mention moving people away from their social networks. Older people get a raw enough deal in society without being made to feel they no longer deserve to live in the home they have worked hard to pay for.   /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(20-january).aspx /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(20-january).aspx Fri, 20 January 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(13-january).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a good week , or rather a better week for fuel bills as EDF announced plans to cut gas bills by 5% from February. The cut was, EDF said, in response to declining wholesale prices, which are down by 9% since November. EDF's reduction is still far less than the percentage by which the company increased gas prices last year (15.4%), but it's a step in the right direction and a move which was widely predicted to put pressure on the other big energy providers to follow suit, and be Heroes, just for one day , by bringing their prices down too. EDF's plans were announced on the very same day Which? showed that the "Big Six" energy companies received 4 million complaints last year, with tens of thousands of problems still unresolved after eight weeks, showing that despite this positive move, energy companies still have a long way to go to regain trust and to stop being considered by many as Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) . EDF's electricity prices will not, however be coming down and this is because, according to a spokesman quoted in the Daily Telegraph this week,"customers had already been protected against the full rise in wholesale electricity prices. Electricity had gone up by 14% between March and September 2011, but the EDF increase in November had only been 4.5%."  Cue British Gas and Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE), who were quick to enter the picture. SSE swiftly promised it would reduce gas bills by 4.5% from March. British Gas too, announced a cut, but in their case, it was being applied to its standard tariff electricity bills, which would be coming down by 5% with immediate effect, making their standard electricity tariff the cheapest in Britain. Perhaps, here, we can turn to Ed Miliband, who this week showed himself to be a bit of a Diamond Dog , when he pledged he would force firms to put older people onto their cheapest gas and electricity tariffs. At present, the cheapest tariffs are often found online, preventing many older people from getting the best deal, because they lack the computer skills to do so. The move would, the Labour Leader told us, benefit up to 4 million over-75s. So Ed could help many older people enjoy their Golden Years . We just have to hope he's not all Black Tie, White Noise .   This is good news, because this was a bad week for pensions, which, due to record low annuity rates have hit a five-year low. A survey by Prudential showed that expected annual retirement income has dropped by £3,100 since 2008, to £15,500. The struggle pensioners are faced with financially was really brought to the fore this week when the Save Our Savers campaign group highlighted that Britain's savers are losing out on £44.5 billion because of the widening gap between inflation and the Bank Rate, which has stayed at 0.5%. Low savings rates, rising bills and declining pensions, mean it is Little Wonder pensioners are struggling to make ends meet. And this could explain the rise in "Wearies" (Working, Entrepreneurial and Active Retirees) - a new acronym that appeared this week on the back of a study by the think tank Future Foundation, to describe the growing number of pensioners who are forced back into part-time work or consultancy work because they cannot afford to retire. According to figures, over half of people who have already retired said they would be prepared to do part-time work to boost their pensions, and that figure rises to three-quarters amongst those who are yet to retire. Finally though, we would like to wish a very happy birthday to the Thin White Duke, Mr David Bowie, who entered the 65 club this week. The artist's oeuvre, a very tiny fraction of which can be found peppering this week's Good week/ bad week , has inspired millions. Answers on a postcard, if you can spot all the titles we've sneaked in.   /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(13-january).aspx /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(13-january).aspx Fri, 13 January 2012 00:00:00 Simon Bottery /blog/blog/2012/january/dilnot-o-meter-(11-january).aspx By Simon Bottery, Director of Policy and Communications   "It will take a major scandal to get social care reform into the media and bring about any real political change," a senior care industry figure suggested to me this month. An odd statement, in a way, because 2011 was full of social care scandals in the media. There was Winterbourne View, the Southern Cross debacle, and abuse in homecare highlighted by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. All of them scandals and all of them about social care. Yet still no guarantee of political change. He was right, though, in the sense that none of these scandals were reported as crises of our social care funding system. They were seen as failures of companies, 'the market' and the CQC. Or they were reported as 'abuse' by individuals. Rarely were they put in the context of a funding system that is falling apart at the seams. It is still early, of course, but there are some signs that this is changing. Already this month, there has been as much media discussion about the proposals of the Dilnot Commission as there was in July, when the report was launched. Quick analysis of coverage of 'Dilnot'  search results in Google news - shown in the table below - shows that while coverage did drop off after the report's launch, the recent Care and Support Alliance letter to the Prime Minister (published in The Daily Telegraph) has brought the issue back. The problem is the quantum. 47 media mentions is better than none, but try searching Google news for 'Leveson' - the head of the current tabloid newspaper inquiry - and you will get thousands of hits. Leveson and Dilnot are both serious inquiries into serious issues affecting millions of people, but only one has had Hugh Grant give evidence to it. And only one of them is going to lead our news day after day after day. We need to accept that social care funding is never going to reach Leveson levels of media coverage. But that may not matter. Of course the policy agenda is influenced the media, but it's not determined by it. A continued drip-drip of media coverage may just be enough to keep reform on course.   Figure 1: mentions of 'Dilnot' in Google news search   Dilnot-o-meter verdict: Too close to call. /blog/blog/2012/january/dilnot-o-meter-(11-january).aspx /blog/blog/2012/january/dilnot-o-meter-(11-january).aspx Wed, 11 January 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(6-january)-(1).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This has been, and still is, a good week for Professor Stephen Hawking who celebrates his 70 th birthday this Sunday. In an interview with New Scientist (and reported in The Guardian this week), the physicist who has taken on the nature of space-time and has worked on the inflation of the early universe and a quantum theory of gravity, admitted there is still one thing that boggles his mind: women. He said he spends most of the day thinking about them. "They are," he said, "a complete mystery". An international conference, held in his honour, kicked off this Thursday in Cambridge and the meeting will, as The Guardian reports,"culminate in a public symposium on Sunday when some of the world's most prominent physicists give a series of talks on the state of the universe." But it's a bad week for many of us who are slightly younger. New figures from the Department of Work and Pensions reveal that just 11.6 million out of 30.4 million working age people (that's 38%) are saving for their retirement. The figure is at its lowest level for over a decade and suggests we could be in for a nasty shock on retirement. Experts have blamed the economic downturn, which has left families struggling with rising bills as well as rising unemployment levels. Compounded with this, annuity rates for private pensioners have also hit an all-time low; up to 14 million private sector workers will retire with far smaller pensions than their parents. Pensions minister, Steve Webb, quoted in the Daily Mail this week, said: "with fewer people saving into a pension, lower annuity rates and an average of 23 years in retirement, many people could face a poorer future in their later lives". Read the Daily Mail piece here . From October this year, employers in larger firms will start automatically enrolling workers in workplace pension schemes. This will go some way to ensuring that people start making provisions for their retirement. While people will be able to opt out of the scheme, it may also give some the impetus to look around and make sure they are getting the best deal.     /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(6-january)-(1).aspx /blog/blog/2012/january/good-weekbad-week-(6-january)-(1).aspx Fri, 06 January 2012 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/december/good-yearbad-year-(30-december).aspx Annus mirabilis/annus horribilis* (*or Good year/bad year) Media and PR Officer Rebecca Law describes the rise of the 'supergran' and other lighter moments of 2011 featuring older people. When photographer, Sacha Goldberger, took to dressing up his 91-year-old grandmother, Frederika, as a superhero for a series of wonderfully entertaining shots at the end of 2010, we should have known something was afoot. Using a combination of real-life studio techniques and computer trickery, Frederika - or, "Super Mamika" was pictured scaling buildings, flying and riding on the wing of a plane. Sacha claims he came up with idea when his grandmother became lonely and started to show signs of depression, but it's likely the photographer could feel in his water that 2011 was going to spell the rise of the Super Gran. For Super Mamika proved not to be a stand-alone hero. She blazed a burning trail for a host of do-good Grandmas who followed in her wake. In February this year, 71-year-old Ann Timpson became a national heroine after foiling a sledgehammer raid on a jeweller's shop in Northampton by bashing the six armed robbers with her handbag. In the YouTube video, which went global and sparked mass media interest, Ann can be seen sprinting from the other side the road to take on the gang as they attempt to smash their way into the jeweller's. Ann says she initially thought one lad was being beaten up and ran to his aid, "only then," she said, "did I realise they were smashing glass and that it was a raid. There was a scooter in my path revving up, but by now, I was in full flight and started whacking the lads over the head with my shopping bag." Ann's antics were followed, just weeks later, by those of 67-year-old Susan Jenner (aka Supergran 2, thanks to the Daily Mail ) who took on a pair of thugs who started smashing glass displays at the antiques shop where she worked in Battle, East Sussex. Mrs Jenner said, after the attack, "I honestly don't think they thought these two women would fight back." And who could forget grandmother, Pauline Pearce, who became an internet sensation after bravely taking on the rioting youths in Hackney with an impassioned speech, urging them to stop the violence, which was spreading its way through the UK. "We're not all gathering together and fighting for a cause," she yelled, "we're running down Foot Locker and thieving shoes." "There were people chucking missiles," Pauline told The Sun after the event,"but when I started speaking, they all stood and listened…but I didn't realise it would turn to this. Someone told me I was on Twitter - I said 'who?'" Pauline found herself backed by hundreds of thousands of people, including former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, before later being swept off to this year's Conservative Party conference to try her hand at tackling fringe meetings and ministers. There may not have been a spot of spandex or a cape to be seen on any one of this triumvirate, but don't let that fool you. Just like Clark Kent before stepping into his phone box, Mr Benn before stepping through the magic door of his changing room, or Eric Twinge, before necking a banana to reveal his superhuman alter-ego, Bananaman, the hero was lying within, just waiting for the right moment to be unleashed for the good of society. Now in the festive spirit that we are, we don't want to be seen to be condoning violence, nor indeed, pensioners putting themselves in the line of danger, but it is high time that we reassessed our assumptions and stereotypes of older people as frail tea-drinkers who are a drain on society. These ladies all showed the courage to step up and step in when others didn't dare. We'd say this year turned out to be more a case of "gran"nus mirabilis, than annus mirabilis. 2011 however proved to be not quite such a good year for the boys who managed to get themselves into all sorts of bother (clearly it's not just the young ones who are made of frogs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails). In any scenario, you name it - love, finances, fitness - you can be guaranteed, somewhere there was a chap wreaking havoc with it. Take 90-year-old Wilf Cooper from Lockleaze in Bristol, for example. Wilf found himself in a spot of trouble after his wife finally got wind of his double life. Contrary to what you may be thinking, Wilf was not guilty of indulging in illicit trysts, gambling or drinking but of sneaking out and secretly running half marathons. Wilf had already successfully completed six events behind his wife's back - who believed Wilf to be watching the races from the sidelines - before being caught out by a neighbour who spotted him on TV. "He was in the doghouse that day," said Mrs Cooper in an interview in the Daily Mail. 77-year-old Richard Philips from Essex, found himself in a bit of a fix this year too, when he spent 11 hours pinned to his bed after his ceiling collapsed under the weight of 7,000 yachting magazines. Mr Philips was discovered by a worried neighbour after his carer said he hadn't heard from him. Firefighters spent 45 minutes removing boxes and rubble from his home and Mr Philips escaped, luckily, unharmed. Then this festive season, never mind the jingling bells, residents of and tourists to Blackpool's Golden Mile found themselves listening to the sound of £35,000 in notes whistling down the wind. A 75-year-old who had been carrying his life savings in a Quality Street tin was set upon by thieves who made off with the box. When they stopped outside to see what was in the tin, a large gust of wind scattered the cash, throwing it along the seafront. Passers-by chased the "windfall" while the thieves put what they could into their pockets. According to the Daily Mail ,around £8,000 was picked up off the ground and a further £15,000 was handed back to the man after the robbers were searched, but sadly, another £12,000 is still missing. And finally, our heartstrings were tugged by 81-year-old William Houghton, who found himself unlucky in love this year. Following a brief encounter with a mystery woman on the no.8 bus from Canterbury to Margate, Mr Houghton placed a lonely hearts ad in his local paper, the Thanet Times in an effort to reconnect with her. Attempting to woo "his lovely lady" Mr Houghton bought two tickets for a musical at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury and a bouquet, but she failed to show. William told This is Kent :"I waited at the ticket office, and even left her ticket there in case she arrived late." Sadly, though, Mr Houghton's love went unrequited. Mr Houghton remains hopeful though - he has the full support of his local paper which is helping him in his quest for love - and he is hoping he can still track down his heart's desire before he heads off to Tenerife in the New Year.   /blog/blog/2011/december/good-yearbad-year-(30-december).aspx /blog/blog/2011/december/good-yearbad-year-(30-december).aspx Fri, 30 December 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(23-december).aspx Good week/bad week is taking a holiday, but do check back next week for our annual round-up, good year/bad year. /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(23-december).aspx /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(23-december).aspx Fri, 23 December 2011 00:00:00 James Holloway /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(16-december).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By James Holloway, Research and Policy Officer It's been an exciting week for adventurous pensioners (and by that we mean in a good and a bad way) with history (medieval and ancient) being the predominant theme.  It was a good week for one inquisitive older gardener. No inappropriate age-related Jurassic Park jokes here please, but a rather large fossil submitted to a museum by a gardening pensioner from Sunderland, turned out to be a 115 million year-old-dinosaur tail bone! The man who wishes to remain anonymous took the bone to his local museum after unearthing the find in his garden and believing it could be of interest. Scientists are baffled how the fossilised bone could have ended up in Sunderland, ironically because the rocks upon which the region rests are older than the fossil itself! The museum said they were very grateful to the anonymous donor, who they said had kindly agreed to loan the unusual find to the museum so that the people of the region can enjoy it. This story appeared in The Daily Mail this week, which you can read in full here . It was a bad week however for 68-year-old Stuart Hill, the eccentric Shetland independence campaigner.  Mr Hill, who earned the nickname 'Captain Calamity' after his ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the British Isles in 2001 in a converted rowing boat, was sentenced to 100 hours community service for driving on fake number plates without insurance.  While this may be seen as rather a mundane crime, Mr Hill had argued that his white van was in fact a 'consular vehicle for the sovereign state of Forvik', a breakaway nation that he himself had established on a remote island in the Shetlands. Mr Hill established the Republic of Forvik in 2008 after a history of campaigning against British rule having deemed that the Shetland Isles are in fact owned by Norway and were illegally sold to Scotland in 1469. Mr Hill was originally fined £1,400, but this was amended to 100 hours community service on a plea that he could not afford to pay the fine on his £500 a month pension.  After the verdict Mr Hill said 'I'm disappointed with the verdict but, as I said in the court yesterday, I'm faced with an occupying power that simply will not produce any proof of its authority but continues to exercise it.' Read the full story, which appeared in The Guardian here . /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(16-december).aspx /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(16-december).aspx Fri, 16 December 2011 00:00:00 Simon Bottery /blog/blog/2011/december/dilnot-o-meter-(12-december).aspx By Simon Bottery, Director of Policy and Communications There is nice running joke in the first (and only watchable) Pirates of the Caribbean film about the 'Pirates Code' - a set of rules that governs behaviour between pirates. After scene upon scene in which the 'Pirates Code' is evoked and adhered to, it is then cast aside when the plot demands it, with the explanation from Captain Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) to our heroine (Keira Knightley) that 'the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner.' I was reminded of this at a meeting last week with Social Care Minister Paul Burstow about the Dilnot Commission's proposals on social care reform. 'What Andrew (Dilnot) has given us is more what you'd call a design manual than a blueprint', said Burstow (for full effect, you might try saying this with a full 'speak like a pirate' accent). On the one hand, this is quite encouraging for those of us desperate for social care reform because it continues to suggest that reform is still a live issue. There are many in the voluntary sector and elsewhere who think it has already been tossed overboard. On the other hand, it also suggests that key variables in the proposal - the amount at which a cap is set, the threshold used in a means test (£35,000 and £100,000 in the Dilnot proposals) - are very much up for debate. These are critical - reform with a threshold set at, say, £50,000 will be a very different prospect from one with it set at £100,000. Likewise with the cap - there are hints from the Department of Health that they are seriously considering raising this to £50,000. This is not necessarily a terrible thing - it is just conceivable that a potential liability for £50,000 might be enough to incentivise people to take out personal insurance, whereas £35,000 might not - but we would need so see some evidence and convincing modelling. Burstow was also cagey about the prospect of all party talks on social care reform, which have been marooned for some time. Again, these are vital because any reform has to be supported by future governments if people are to have the confidence in it that will allow them to plan for their futures. Burstow said that the talks had been stuck around 'process' but he was hopeful of progress. This suggests an interesting few months ahead for Labour's energetic new social care shadow Liz Kendall who, as I write this, is getting hands on experience of social care by shadowing a home care assistant for the day. Her tweet to describe weather condition at 6.00a.m. - "It's cold and dark out here" - might just serve as a metaphor for the difficult business of getting proper change to social care. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Kendall. Dilnot-o-meter verdict: Too close to call. /blog/blog/2011/december/dilnot-o-meter-(12-december).aspx /blog/blog/2011/december/dilnot-o-meter-(12-december).aspx Mon, 12 December 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(9-december).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer This was a very bad week for HSBC. The bank was fined a record £10.3m after the HSBC-owned care fees advisor, the Nursing Homes Fees Agency (NHFA), was found to have sold inappropriate investment bonds to thousands of pensioners. The bank has also been ordered to pay £29.3 million compensation to those who have been affected by the mis-selling. The NHFA provided financial advice to people who were typically entering long-term care and who were unlikely to live to see their bonds, which had a lifetime of five years, mature. At the start of the week, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that of a sample of NHFA customer files, unsuitable sales has been made to 87%. In attempt to abate the justifiable outcry this has caused, the bank's final bill looks set, in fact, to be much higher as it has agreed to take responsibility for all NHFA customers - including those predating 2005, when it bought the company. By coincidence this week we came across an IPPR report from 2005 which reported an FSA mystery shopping exercise into financial advice on equity release for older people. It found that 70% of advisers failed to gather enough information about the customer to advise on the suitability of equity release. 4 in 5 advisers did not ask about health/life expectancy or about eligibility for benefits, while two thirds failed to ask about other savings and investments or about future life plans. Yet 64% of advisers nonetheless said the customer would be suitable for equity release.   This suggests it may have been not just a bad week but a bad decade for older people seeking financial advice - further evidence, if it were necessary, of the need for a clear information and advice strategy to support reform of social care funding. On a lighter note, we were thrilled to read about 84-year-old Moira Starkey from Storridge, near Herefordshire, who has had a good week after being chosen to carry the Olympic torch in the countdown to the 2012 London Games. The pensioner was selected following her impressive fundraising efforts, which included completing her first marathon by walking around her local village hall 1,876 times with the aid of two walking sticks. Moira, who has had a number of operations on her legs, including a knee replacement, took nearly four months to complete the marathon by walking a quarter of a mile a week. She says, in an article in today's Daily Express ,"It took me two minutes to do each lap and I stopped after three or four for a rest, and sometimes a cup of tea and carried on."    /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(9-december).aspx /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(9-december).aspx Fri, 09 December 2011 00:00:00 Simon Bottery, James Holloway /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(2-december).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Simon Bottery, Director of Policy and Communications     James Holloway, Research and Policy Officer This was a good week for intergenerational love and a bad week for cynics. A Special Immigration Appeal Commission decided that 26-year-old Katia Zatuliveter was not a Russian spy but was in fact genuinely in love with 60-year-old Liberal Democrat MP (and Commons Defence Select Committee member) Mike Hancock, with whom she had a four year relationship. A previously unseen personal diary convinced the commission that Ms Zatuliveter was genuinely fond of the MP, calling him 'my darling teddy bear' and 'King Louis'. Shame on anyone who thinks differently. You can read the full story here . Further cynic-confounding good news for older people this week was released by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation whose most recent report into poverty and social exclusion showed that for older people at risk of poverty, life has changed for the better when looking at both the past ten years and the most recent five years. In particular improvements have been sustained in reducing deaths in deprived areas and fear of crime.  One area remains where there has been little improvement, and it's an Independent Age hobby horse - uptake of benefits by older people, which remains an area with much work still to do.  As a matter our very own Wise Guide aims to tackle, many older people miss out on benefits they are entitled too and live a poorer life as a result. As we've already said, it's been a bad week for cynics, but the Chancellor's Autumn Statement has left us with mixed emotions.  While an increase in the basic State Pension will benefit most older people, we were unimpressed that Osborne chose to fund the increase by raiding savings credit through increasing the threshold at which older people are entitled to this benefit, so most definitely a bad week for those people who may lose their savings credit. We responded , calling the strategy 'petty' in taking from 'quite poor' to fund the 'very poor' akin to Robin Hood stealing from Friar Tuck!  Surely to be fair and equitable to all older people, if Osborne wants to be as venerated as England's most famous folk legend he better start adopting his economic strategy!     /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(2-december).aspx /blog/blog/2011/december/good-weekbad-week-(2-december).aspx Fri, 02 December 2011 00:00:00 Simon Bottery /blog/blog/2011/november/our-response-to-the-ehrc-report-on-home-care-(28-november).aspx By Simon Bottery, Director of Policy and Communications Sadly, in the outrage over the Equalities and Human Rights Commission's report into home care, published on Wednesday, three critical distinctions have been missed. 1. Between individual responsibility and systemic problems. Abuse is always the responsibility of the individual - no one can be excused the sorts of callous or even violent and illegal behaviour that the EHRC report has uncovered. And everyone has a personal responsibility to treat people with dignity and respect, without prejudice and as individuals rather than 'old' people. This will be tough to tackle, requiring training, and quality management and support. Yet the EHRC report also shows that ageism is systematic. An older adult would typically receive less services than a disabled, working age adult with the same level of needs. The need for social activity - to get out of the house and meet people - was more likely to be acknowledged and responded to in care plans of younger people than older ones.  Tackling this systemic discrimination will be every bit as hard, possibly harder, than, the individual prejudice that contributes to it. 2. Between outright abuse and rushed, poor-quality care. The EHRC report uncovers both but the social care minister, Paul Burstow, and most media coverage focused purely on abuse. Of course Burstow is right to say that this needs tackling with spot checks, tougher enforcement and better training but it's the broader issue of a system that consistently fails to deliver good-quality care that is, in many ways, the harder part to tackle. The EHRC rightly highlighted the role of council commissioning in the failures of home care. It found that some councils now based their commissioning decisions overwhelmingly on cost rather than quality, and the practice of 'reverse e-auctions', in which potential suppliers compete in real time to provide the lowest possible price, is gaining ground. How can this possibly deliver quality care? 3. Between central government funding and actual cash spent. Can there be anything more depressing than the sight of politicians arguing over statistics? The Social Care Minister Paul Burstow and his Labour shadow, Liz Kendall, spent much of Wednesday morning trading figures. Burstow argued that the coalition is spending £7.2bn more on social care; Kendall argued that there has been a £1.2bn cut. They are probably both right. Yes, the coalition has made available more cash to councils for spending on social care. But this came against a wider background of deep cuts in overall council budget and, crucially the coalition failed to ringfence the money for social care, allowing councils to spend it on whatever they want. So in reality they are spending less, not more, on social care and we don't just need to take Liz Kendall's word for it: The Audit Commission last week said that in 2011/2012 local authority spending on adult social services will fall by an average of 2.5 per cent. This is a smaller cut than on other services but it comes, of course, as our older population is growing. So the reality is less money being spent as demand increases. Small wonder the system is in crisis. If we recognise these distinctions and act on them, we will have the basis of a fundamental reform of our social care system that should mean that any future EHRC report records fewer problems and much greater satisfaction. Such a care system will rightly prioritise dignity and respect, and will step up enforcement of standards. But it will also tackle systemic discrimination, reform commissioning of social care, and introduce a new approach to social care funding, based on the recommendations of the recent Dilnot Commission. Or we can just sit back and wait for the next report on the failure of our social care system.   /blog/blog/2011/november/our-response-to-the-ehrc-report-on-home-care-(28-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/our-response-to-the-ehrc-report-on-home-care-(28-november).aspx Mon, 28 November 2011 00:00:00 James Holloway /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(25-november).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By James Holloway, Research and Policy Officer This week heralded the launch of yet another comprehensive report into the standards of care provided to older people.  After recent reports on shocking care in hospitals, this week's report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) focused on care at home. While the report did say that half of the older people it surveyed are happy with the standard of care they get at home, the same cannot be said for the other half (who could be nearly half a million older people) who are left recieving substandard care.  Among the depressing examples of the effect of individual negligence and outright abuse such as carers leaving one older person stranded on the toilet, the root cause of much of report's findings was left untouched in much of the media. In the commentary piece we wrote for the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, we highlighted that poorly managed council commissioning and monitoring of home care contracts often has the end result of neglect and abuse. Surely it's obvious that inadequate funding, making contracts with the lowest bidding care agency and poorly paid and trained carers will lead to continued neglect and poor care for many older people? All in all, it's been a bad week yet again when it comes to care for older people.  Let's hope that the EHRC's report can help raise awareness that leads to real action on poor care. It's not often that you find yourself wondering whether you'd have a more fulfilling and happier old age with a good sex life, or alternatively, playing the ukulele, but that's exactly what's been perplexing us. The Daily Telegraph highlighted research by an American university that found older people who maintain a healthy sex life in retirement are most likely to enjoy a happy old age with correspondingly higher levels of contentment and marriage rates. Common sense maybe, but reminding ourselves of the importance of good relationships could not be more important given that the Daily Mail wrote this week that the divorce rate among the over sixties is rocketing because many newly-retired couples find that they don't have as much in common as they thought. While seemingly gloomy, the message from the research the Telegraph highlights still stands: better for your health to be in a loving relationship than a loveless one so don't be meek in taking the chance to find love anew!  Alternatively, if finding another partner's not right for you, the University of London has a more musical solution - playing the ukulele. As reported in Mature Times , a year-long study has found that playing a musical instrument can be the best way to stay positive and feel in control in later life, as one woman said "it is difficult to be sad while playing the ukulele".  While we can definitely claim that it's been a scientifically verified good week for older people maintaining a good sex life with a loving partner or for those who love to play their ukulele, we still remain perplexed over which is better on balance. Best we leave the last word on the matter to ukulele legend George Formby. Although on second thoughts, he may well be somewhat confused himself - make up your own mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd4cW4hZqVo /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(25-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(25-november).aspx Fri, 25 November 2011 00:00:00 James Holloway /blog/blog/2011/november/sign-our-e-petition.aspx Independent Age and our partners within the Care and Support Alliance have set up a petition on Direct.gov.uk to urge the government to accept the findings of the Dilnot Commission and translate its recommendations into real improvements to the social care system that can stand the test of time.  Dilnot proposes a cap on care bills - a national system of eligibility - a new advice and information service for families accessing care. We urge the Government to accept these recommendations in its White Paper on Social Care, which it has promised by Easter 2012. If you support these changes, which we believe are fair, equitable and sustainable ways to improve a failing system that supports millions of older people then follow the link below and let the government know that change is needed. Sign the e-petition now /blog/blog/2011/november/sign-our-e-petition.aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/sign-our-e-petition.aspx Wed, 23 November 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(18-november).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer Over recent months, we've become used to the CQC being the bearer of bad news. Just last month the organisation released findings that over half of our hospitals are failing to care properly for older people, and in May, we were horrified by the results of their NHS spot check programme, which gave evidence of older people being overlooked, left thirsty and not given the assistance they need to eat. But this was a very bad week for the CQC as the tables turned and health and care regulator found itself under the microscope. In a story which was carried in The Guardian , The Times and the Daily Mail this week, it was reported that the watchdog, which has a mandate to oversee 20,000 hospitals, care homes and treatment clinics, is being urgently investigated by the Department of Health over a series of alleged failures. According to The Guardian the regulator has been accused of "neglecting its core duty of scrutinising patient care in favour of bureaucratic 'registration' of care providers. The Guardian specified a number of failings including the CQC misleading parliament in its annual report overstating the number of inspections and reviews it carried out in the year ending March 2011. The CQC has now admitted that rather than the 15,220 inspections and reviews it claimed to have conducted, the correct figure is actually less than half of that at 7,368. The National Care Association has warned of a "complete loss of confidence in the regulator throughout the sector," while the president of the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADASS) said "There is a tendency with the CQC to issue reports - but not expect action very quickly." No-one can argue that the CQC's responsibility is huge, and the organisation has itself argued that it is underfunded and has a workforce which is smaller than its predecessor's by almost a third. But the regulator also issued its own response to the media coverage this week stating that the Department of Health is not, in fact, conducting an urgent review but simply its annual capacity review. It has also accused the Guardian's story of containing a "number of errors, and 'imaginative' interpretations of facts." That may be, but we think it unlikely that the Guardian, Mail and Times have all, separately, got it so wrong.    You can see The Guardian's full article here and the CQC's response to it, here For all that, it was possible to find some good news out there. This was another good week for older people and technology as figures released by the Office of National Statistics showed that the online age divide is gradually closing. In the three months to September this year, 300,000 people in Britain went online for the first time and over half of those were over 75. It is perhaps not surprising that the over 75s make up the largest proportion of these people - our youngest generation has grown up with the internet and it is almost universally used by them. And while we're well aware that the over-65s have really begun to embrace the e-world, the truth is there is a sharp drop in the number of users when it comes to the 75+ age group. In fact, even with this week's positive news, 72.4% of this age group has still never been online. It seems that this older age group is still not aware of the benefits of technology and the internet - such as being able to keep in touch with family and friends, doing shopping online, seeking out discounts and getting access to better services. So there is still plenty of work to be done but these figures at least show that we're moving in the right direction. /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(18-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(18-november).aspx Fri, 18 November 2011 16:18:00 Simon Bottery /blog/blog/2011/november/dilnot-o-meter-(15-november).aspx Today, we've moved the Dilnot-o-meter back to 'too close to call' from the heady heights of 'looking good' at the start of November. Partly we've been influenced by you. In our poll, you voted: Forget it - 9.5% Odds against - 31% Too close to call - 26.2% Looking good - 33.3% So while a third of you agreed with our initial assessment, over 40% were pessimistic and over a quarter were undecided. Tellingly, not a single person thought social care funding reform was a done deal. Why the pessimism? Well, maybe you were concerned by the continuing stand-off between the main political parties about cross-party talks on social care funding. Newly appointed shadow Andy Burnham is still smarting from the 'death tax' reception to his Green Paper in 2009 and won't commit to talks without secrecy preconditions. So far, the coalition seems unwilling to sign up to this code of omerta . But more likely you're concerned (as we are) by the continuing 'no money' noises coming out the coalition and the lack of firm commitment to legislation. You may have noticed that the coalition is prepared to consider scrapping the proposed increase in fuel duty (loss to the Exchequer: £1.5bn), but it will not give this encouragement to social care funding (nominal cost £1.7bn). Even weekly bin collections appear a higher political priority. Dilnot-o-meter verdict: Too close to call. /blog/blog/2011/november/dilnot-o-meter-(15-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/dilnot-o-meter-(15-november).aspx Tue, 15 November 2011 00:00:00 James Holloway /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(11-november).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By James Holloway, Research and Policy Officer It's been another bad week for older people as the seemingly persistent scandal of poor hospital care was criticised in the most personal terms in a Patients Association report this week. The report by patients and relatives makes for emotive reading, especially following the more anodyne language used to describe the neglect and bad practice experienced by many older people in a recent report by England's health and social care regulator noting issues such as call bells left out of reach, a lack of privacy and older people not receiving enough time or assistance to eat.  The Patients Association report went further with relatives damning uncaring staff, a lack of empathy or responsiveness and other issues of neglect that had contributed to the deterioration or even death of a loved one. Of late the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been criticised by Action on Elder Abuse for shortcomings in their recent unannounced inspection programme and for not being tough or responsive enough in tackling bad practice. Given the harrowing accounts of neglect and bad practice in this most recent report, we're inclined to agree that more needs to be done to prevent such situations occurring and to tackle bad practice and abuse as soon as it is uncovered. Everyone has a right to the fundamental basics of care such as dignity, respect and nutrition. This may turn out to be a good week for family and carers of those with dementia as the Department of Health has this week launched a major campaign to highlight that as many as six out of ten cases of dementia go undiagnosed. Although there have already been murmurs of concern from politicians in Scotland and Northern Ireland that despite the campaigns good intentions, more money needs to be made available to fund dementia services.  Care Services minister Paul Burstow said that people suffering from dementia often go undiagnosed because their carers and relatives can be afraid to face the possibility that a loved one may have the condition, and that the early signs of dementia are often wrongly dismissed as 'senior moments'.  The reason most people are so fearful about the effects of dementia is that to date the disease is incurable, but with early intervention its impact can be much reduced.  To support this aim, the focus of the campaign is to ensure that the families and friends of older people are aware of the potential signs of early dementia in time for Christmas, a time of year when families are getting together. The £2m campaign will feature television, radio and print adverts encouraging people to talk to their GP with the overall aim of reducing excess costs of £6m per hospital due to late or non diagnosis of dementia.  It is therefore potentially a good week for those older people and their families who will be better equipped to slow the impact of dementia and reduce knock-on effects such as high care needs. It's also been a good week for the so-called 'Duracell Sisters' who the Daily Mail reported have a combined age of 308 between the three of them, not to mention thirteen royal birthday greetings from the Queen! Let's wish them many more happy returns! /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(11-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(11-november).aspx Fri, 11 November 2011 16:18:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(4-november).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer Andrew Lansley this week announced a new cross government initiative - The Cold Weather Plan - to help keep people warm and healthy throughout the winter months. The plans will see the government make an extra £10million available to support existing government schemes for those at risk of fuel poverty. On the surface, this sounds great, but put bluntly, the figure is like a snowflake in a blizzard.  If the extra £10million promised by the government were divided equally between all older people in the UK, it would equate to 99p per person, or £2.50 if distributed just to our poorer pensioners. If the £10million were used to support Warm Front, it could help around 5,000 low income households with improvements to heating and insulation (usually worth up to £3,500). So it's a good week for the lucky 5,000 who would qualify, but a bad week for the millions of other people who would remain left out in the cold. Our own experiences, from the people we support, have shown that while responsive with processing applications, completion of Warm Front work can take upwards of four or five months, which will be of little - or no - help to older people struggling with higher energy prices and poorly insulated homes this winter. The proposed measures (which you can read more about here ) do nothing to address rising energy costs. There were 27,000 excess winter deaths last year, a tenth of which, according to the Hills Fuel Poverty Review, were expected to have been as a direct result of fuel poverty. And with energy prices up by 18% since then, and today's news that more than 400,000 over-70 households are currently in severe financial difficulties, it looks like we're headed away from the frying pan and into the fire. Age UK have already predicted that 200 older people could die each day this coming winter because they can't afford to heat their homes. And while Mr Lansley was happy to announce these new cold weather measures this week, there was again, neatly, no mention of the fact that while the average annual fuel bill has gone up by £100, the Government has quietly reduced the Winter Fuel Payment by, wait for it... £100 (that's for the over-80s - it's been reduced by £50 for pensioners under 80). There is also no mention that the eligibility criteria for the Warm Front Grant has been tightened, and it's doubtful that this extra £10million promised by Lansley will bridge the gap created by these changes. People who are worried about paying their fuel bills this winter will, for now, be breathing a sigh of relief - and not through any government action but through the mere fact that chance has delivered us one of the mildest Octobers on record. When the cold does finally decide to bite (and it will if this week's reports of a predicted "Siberian freeze" are to be believed) despite these positive moves, this could still be a winter of discontent for many. /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(4-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/good-weekbad-week-(4-november).aspx Fri, 04 November 2011 16:18:00 Simon Bottery /blog/blog/2011/november/dilnot-o-meter-(1-november).aspx So, how is the Dilnot-o-meter looking on its opening week? Well, Lord Warner, addressing the National Children and Adult Services conference earlier this month, made clear he will get the government to say how it plans to tackle the issues of social care costs for individuals. Andrew Dilnot and his commissioners are feeling positive about their suggestions (Dilnot puts the likelihood of his suggestions being implemented at 80%) and are working tirelessly to keep the momentum up. So for now, we're sharing in the optimism. Dilnot-o-meter verdict: Looking Good. /blog/blog/2011/november/dilnot-o-meter-(1-november).aspx /blog/blog/2011/november/dilnot-o-meter-(1-november).aspx Tue, 01 November 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(28-october).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer A new study, Ageing and the Use of the Internet, commissioned by the Nominet Trust made this a good week for older entrepreneurs. We've reported before on the enormous contribution made to society by older people. Their charitable giving, volunteering, engagement in local civil society, not to mention the hours upon hours of free childcare they provide, make a vast contribution to the lives of others. But now it appears, they are leading lights in our business world too. The study found that while two fifths of the people polled believe most entrepreneurs to be in the 25-34 age group, the truth is that the largest number of British entrepreneurs are in fact 55 and over. The Nominet report also shows there is a real need for services, products and technologies for older people and so have created the chance for older internet entrepreneurs to compete to win financial backing for digital projects that improve the lives of older people. Applicants, who need to be over 55, will have the chance to win a share of £250,000 if they have an idea that either addresses social problems facing older people, or provides a new or better way for older people to feel more comfortable with technology and the internet. While the over-65s have really begun to embrace the e-world, the reality is that there is a sharp drop in the number of over-75s who are online. While 40% of the over-65s are internet savvy, only 20% of over 80s currently use the internet. It seems that this older age group is not yet fully aware of the real benefits of technology and the internet - such as being able to keep in touch with family and friends, pursuing their own passions and hobbies, getting access to better services and being informed citizens, so we'll be looking forward to seeing the outcomes of Nominet's plans. It was however a bad week for social care. We were really disappointed to learn that, since the coalition came into power, £1.3billion has been removed from council's annual spending on help for the over-65s. While older people are already struggling to cope with rising food and fuel prices, low interest rates on their savings, and now a cut in their winter fuel allowance, a report from the House of Commons has now shown that most councils are increasing their charges for social care, while also restricting their support to only those with the most critical needs. We predicted last year, when George Osborne promised an extra £2bn for social care, that without ringfencing, this money was likely to find itself being used to plug the holes left by huge cuts in other council funding. And it's clear now from these findings, that much of this money has indeed failed to make it through to the frontline. We need to be asking why some of our most vulnerable citizens are being asked to shoulder these extra costs by having to pay more for less care. We hear from the people we support that valued, low-level, low-cost services that perform an essential preventative role (such as lunch clubs and befriending schemes) are being disproportionately affected. It is these services that have a proven impact on reducing the need for higher level care and reducing the risk of admission to hospital, which ultimately costs us all more.   /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(28-october).aspx /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(28-october).aspx Fri, 28 October 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(21-october).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer It looks like we could be heading for a winter of discontent. We blogged back in August, when the consumer price index (CPI) rate of inflation hit 4.5%. Well, this was another bad week for our finances as the CPI reached a 19-year high of 5.2% in the September figures. The last time CPI was higher was back in 1992, when it reached 7.2%. The jump has been driven mainly by the huge increases in energy prices, although price rises for only four of the big six utility companies has been taken into account (the other two will be reflected in the October figures). Energy bills have gone up by over 18% since this time last year (ouch), but transport and food have seen large increases too at 12.8% and 4.9% respectively. We'll all feel the squeeze on our incomes, but it's older people, who live on fixed or even declining incomes, and who are typically more exposed to fuel, energy and food prices, who will be hardest hit.   David Cameron and energy secretary, Chris Huhne, came out in sympathy this week, vowing to tackle energy costs by discussing with energy suppliers how to bring down consumers' energy bills. The government was also happy to remind us of their promises to cut fuel duty and freeze council tax in an effort to help households. But, while the pair are visibly giving with one hand, criticising energy companies for adding £100 to average annual fuel bills, they are quietly taking away with the other, as they plan to cut the winter fuel allowance next month by, coincidentally, £100. The over-80s will this year receive £300 in winter fuel payments, instead of the £400 they have received in previous years, while payments for pensioners under 80 will go down from £250 to £200. So, we've had a lot of warm words this week, some may even say hot air, but they will be cold comfort for the older population, for whom in reality, things are about to get a whole lot tougher. Still, there is something for the ageing population to look forward to. It's a good week for older brain power as research by Canadian scientists has shown that the over-55s use their brains more efficiently than younger people. A Daily Mail article this week reported that while older people 'may take more time to come to a decision, they are simply conserving their energy...Younger people by contrast, give the impression of being sharper, simply by coming up with answers more quickly. But this...may be a sign of inexperience rather than wisdom.' The study author, Dr Oury Monchi said "The older brain has experience and knows that nothing is gained by jumping the gun...we now have neurobiological evidence showing that with age comes wisdom and that as the brain gets older, it learns to better allocate its resources." Given that the ONS this week announced that life expectancy has risen again - to 78.2 for men and 82.3 for women - the news that wisdom really does come with age, means the future of our country is, in one respect at least, looking bright.    /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(21-october).aspx /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(21-october).aspx Fri, 21 October 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(14-october).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer This was a bad week for hospitals. First we had news that nine million hospital meals go back untouched, according to NHS figures, adding to worries that frail, older patients are not getting the help they need to eat. And this was swiftly followed by the CQC findings, that hospitals are failing to care properly for older people. According to the report, more than half of hospitals were not meeting key standards for dignity and nutrition, and too often, staff failed to treat patients with kindness and compassion. Inspectors found patients not receiving the help they needed to eat, people being interrupted during meals, meaning they didn't get a chance to finish, patient call bells being put out of reach and staff talking to them in a condescending way.  The findings are wholly unacceptable. All people in hospital should expect to have their basic needs cared for. And certainly, on top of the risk of MRSA and a secondary infection, they shouldn't have to worry about becoming malnourished, which will only elongate their stay. Sadly, this is not the first time we've heard of evidence of ageism in the NHS. It seems as though older people are still treated like second-class citizens. We have to ask ourselves whether children or younger adults would ever be treated in the same way. Perhaps, though, we ought to be looking at ways of improving prevention and in-community treatment, to help keep older people out of hospital in the first place. It is nothing short of absurd that there are 275,000 admissions of older people for falls each year but only 1 in 5 gets any follow-up to prevent future falls, even though they are at significantly greater risk. Many older people would rather be cared for at home and this report shows that good care is good care regardless of who is providing it. Hospitals are clearly failing to see the person in front of them. It's time to put the TLC back into healthcare and to cease the line between health and social care. We need to look at driving care back to the community and giving GPs and the ambulance service the support they need to help keep people at home. Thankfully for all that, there is some positive news out there as this was a good week if you are 65. If you suddenly feel as though you have a new lease of life and have woken up with a spring in your step, it'll be because a report released by the City Bridge Trust, and developed by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), says that discourse about ageing needs to change. The report highlights that while the over-75s are at greater risk of living alone, not having access to transport and being lonely, those in the 65-74 age group continue to lead lives similar to those of younger middle-aged people. The report suggested 'a simple but blunt way' of targeting those most at risk could be to focus on the over-75 age group, rather than those simply over retirement age, allowing policymakers to reach, and make a greater difference to, those most in need.   /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(14-october).aspx /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(14-october).aspx Fri, 14 October 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(7-october).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer Without wanting to sound like a stuck record, this was another bad week for pensioners' pockets - particularly those of our poorest pensioners. Figures released this week by insurance company, MetLife, shows that the retired population is forking out, on average, 27% of its income on tax. Their combined annual bill for tax is around £34billion. For poorer pensioners, the figures are even bleaker. They are losing around 33% of their household income on tax, which former government pensions adviser, Dr Ros Altmann this week labeled "scandalous". It's VAT and council tax in particular that she singled out as really unfair, since they take a higher proportion from those with the lowest income. There will be some relief as Chancellor, George Osborne, this week announced he will be freezing council tax next year in a move to ease the financial strain on households. While this will, of course, be welcome news to all, it does mean in real terms, that those who live in more expensive areas, on the higher rate council tax bands (in other words, probably wealthier citizens), will be the ones making the greatest savings here. Well, it really does seem like the government has had a "spot of luck" recently. The Chancellor found £800m to implement this decision. And just last week, Eric Pickles found £250m to help English councils keep or restore weekly bin collections. We just have to hope, that when the time comes, they'll be equally "lucky" at finding the necessary funds to help implement some of Andrew Dilnot's proposed recommendations for the overhaul of our care system. Still, one thing we know money can't buy is love. It's a good job it just happens to be in the air at the moment, as this was a good week for the Duchess of Alba who finally got her man. The 85-year-old this week married civil servant, Alfonso Diez, 24 years her junior. The pair first met 30 years ago but the Duchess went on to marry someone else and it was only three years ago that they "spontaneously fell into each others' arms." The Duchess's heirs are, according to an article in The Independent, furious about the relationship but the Duchess made it perfectly clear that her "love life was off-limits to family consultation." On emerging from her 15 th -century Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville as a newly-married woman, the Duchess allegedly tossed her bouquet into the crowd before removing her shoes to perform a sevillana dance. Good luck to the Duchess, who, following her displays, seems to be a living embodiment of Mark Twain's sentiment "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt." It's unclear how the pair reconnected, but it wouldn't be a surprise to learn it was through the wonder of internet dating. According to new research by Experian Hitwise this week, it's the older generation that is really making the most of this modern phenomenon.  The number of over-55s using the internet to find love has increased by 39% over the last three years. And not only are the numbers of older people partaking on the up, they tend to be more successful at it too. Industry experts believe their luck with online love is down to the fact that their main focus has moved away from marriage and children, so they are more likely to base their decisions on shared interests rather than perceived capability for parenthood. /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(7-october).aspx /blog/blog/2011/october/good-weekbad-week-(7-october).aspx Fri, 07 October 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(30-september).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer This was a bad week for older gardeners in Brighton and Hove who are being issued with notices and even threatened with eviction if they fail to keep their allotment in good order. An article in local paper, The Argus , reported that, "a notice to repair a shed has been served on a 78-year-old woman… another elderly plot holder was called upon to remove a tree, while an elderly widow, who has recently lost her husband to cancer has been served with a cultivation order." Gardening has been shown to have a number of benefits for older people, such as providing physical exercise through stretching, bending and walking. It has also been shown to help with mental health by reducing stress levels. And that's to say nothing of the social interaction that may result from being an allotment holder. While we can understand the need for allotments to be properly tended to, to ensure they remain viable for future users, it's a shame to come down so heavily on older gardeners. We'd like to see the council use more innovative ways of finding a solution. Schemes already exist where younger people, keen to grow their own but lacking a green space, can team up with an older person who may be struggling to keep on top of their gardening. In fact, a quick internet search on this threw up that Brighton and Hove has its very own "Grow Your Neighbour's Own" scheme, which, according to the website, "pairs up gardeners who have nowhere to grow their own food with garden owners or allotment holders who have space to grow but for whatever reason are not able to." Perhaps Brighton and Hove council would do better ploughing resources into their green-fingered matchmaking efforts than simply issuing intimidating notices. It's a good week for anyone hoping to be able to celebrate their centenary as the ONS released it latest data on the ageing population ahead of Older People's Day this weekend. According to the Daily Mail , when today's centenarians were born, there were thought to be only 100 people across England and Wales who qualified for a birthday card from the Queen. Today in Britain, we have 12,640 people aged 100 or over (and that's up from 2,500 in 1980). The proportion of people aged over 85 has gone up from one in 100 in 1985, to one in 50 today, and is projected reach one in 20 by 2035. That's great news for the UK population, although perhaps not so good for the Queen who will have to make sure she keeps up her wrist exercises to prevent writer's cramp setting in. The news should put further pressure on the government to act on Dilnot's recommendations for the future funding of long-term care: the population may be reaching an older age, but it's arriving with increasingly complex care needs. The debate at least seems to be gathering momentum at the party conferences this month, but, moving away from the Queen of our land, to the King of Rock n' Roll, in the profound words of Elvis, we need to see "a little less conversation, a little more action please." /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(30-september).aspx /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(30-september).aspx Fri, 30 September 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(23-september).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer This was a bad week for older people's bank balances as insurance giant, Aviva, reported that a quarter of those over 55 have to survive on £24 a day or less. The Real Retirement Report showed that older people are facing an increasing struggle to balance the rising cost of living with a small, and often fixed, income, little or no savings, low interest rates and large debts. Many older people consequently have been forced to cut back on basics such as food, as well as using their car less, buying fewer clothes and cancelling holidays. Worryingly, 25% of the 10,000 people surveyed have just £500 or less saved in the bank, 40% save nothing each month, and 80% claimed to be "worried, concerned or terrified" about meeting potential future care costs. The report highlights the importance of keeping up pressure on the government to act on the recent recommendations laid out by economist, Andrew Dilnot, in his Fairer Care Funding report. Millions of pensioners currently live in fear of incurring unlimited bills for care in later life. Dilnot's suggestions will see a fairer split between the individual and the state to meet care costs, with a suggested cap on individual contribution of £35,000. Ministers are due to publish a white paper on their recommendations for care reform next April. Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom out there. This was a good week for 81-year-olds Mary Lyness and John Akings. The pair, who were childhood sweethearts, lost touch when John joined the RAF at the age of 15. But, after 65 years apart, the couple reunited, and rekindled their relationship, through the internet. Mary received an email from John after she was given a laptop for her birthday - their first contact for 65 years - and this week, tied the knot in West Yorkshire. Thrilled, Mary told the Daily Mail : "It makes us feel 21 again. It's great that we found each other. I was so scared to meet him at first because I now have so many wrinkles, but my daughter said "he will have wrinkles too". I'm so glad I met him because he's still good looking, he always was." Click here to read the full happy story. This story comes in the wake of new research released this week by Age UK and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which shows that even though older people have come to the web more recently than younger people, they are using it to greater effect. That's really positive news but the report does also highlight that despite this, there are still 5.7million older people who are not online. It's older people who have the most to gain by being online. Those who are not part of the e-world lose out on a great number of benefits, from keeping in touch with family and friends, saving money on goods, pursuing their own passions and hobbies and getting access to better services. Clearly we need to take steps to enable more older people technologically, by helping them to appreciate what technology can do for them. Whether they want to see pictures of their grandchildren, keep in touch with their family, download knitting patterns or identify wild birds, we need to tune into their interests, and help them see the benefits for themselves. /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(23-september).aspx /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(23-september).aspx Fri, 23 September 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(16-september).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer This was a good week for the millions of tons of food that are unnecessarily binned each year. Now, instead, it's the sell-by dates that are hitting the scrap heap. Just as producers will no longer be able to mislead customers into thinking their food is off, we got to thinking, isn't it time we applied the same principle to older people too, who often, are considered to have a sell-by date of their own? Time and again, we see evidence of ageism and discrimination across society. From the health service to the workplace, older people are treated as though they have a shelf life. In fact, far from being second-rate citizens, older people make a disproportionately large contribution to society - their volunteering alone was recently valued at £10billion a year and the free care they provided to their grandchildren helps contribute £4billion a year to the economy. They are a wealth of knowledge and experience and they can, do, and want to continue making a valuable contribution to society. So shouldn't we include a shift in the way we label older people too? This was a bad week for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after a Select Committee report claimed the regulator in charge of inspecting hospitals and care homes had "distorted" its priorities. The CQC has been focussing on registering providers, which in turn, has led to a 70% drop in the number of inspections it conducts to check care standards and safety. The report states that some hospitals are not even visited every two years if they are deemed to be low risk. Perhaps then, we might be unsurprised by this morning's news, that half our hospitals and care homes are failing to look after patients. This is even further evidence of neglect of older people in hospital wards and care homes and comes just months after another CQC report, which found evidence of older people being overlooked, left thirsty, or not given the assistance they need to eat while in hospital. We have to ask ourselves whether children or younger adults would ever be treated in this way. Ultimately, though, this neglect damages not just the patients but the healthcare system itself: poorer care means older people take longer to recover and are more likely to be readmitted. And that, in the end, will cost us all. /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(16-september).aspx /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(16-september).aspx Fri, 16 September 2011 00:00:00 Harriet Steele /blog/blog/2011/september/how-to-find-your-perfect-cup-of-tea.aspx By Harriet Steele, Community Fundraising Officer Working on the Big Tea has made me think a lot more about the morning cuppa which I usually take for granted. How can some leaves in a bag fill me with such joy as I start the day? As my interest in all things tea has grown, I took a friend along for her birthday to a recent tea-tasting workshop at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond. Set in one of the many greenhouses, tables were laid out ready, with a tea bowl, tasting notes sheet and plates full of cake - which we resisted for as long as possible as it affects the tasting palate! Jennifer Wood of the award winning Canton Tea Company (www.cantonteaco.com) introduced all the teas we tasted varying from the subtle flavours of the white teas to the more robust flavours of the Oolong teas. She divulged the truths and myths of tea and explained the tea production methods as well as to how to brew the perfect cup! Tea drinking will definitely never be the same again! Jennifer has very kindly offered to support Independent Age and the Big Tea by running a tea-tasting workshop. If you like tea and would like to know more about this English tradition come along and sample a range of quality teas and learn about the production methods involved. Date: 8 October 2011 Time:11am Location: Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, Off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey,TW10 7AG Tickets: £10 for the talk and tea tasting or £25 to include a light lunch after the workshop To book please contact Orla at Petersham Nurseries on 020 8605 3627 or send an email . For more information about Independent Age contact Harriet at or call 020 7605 4288. /blog/blog/2011/september/how-to-find-your-perfect-cup-of-tea.aspx /blog/blog/2011/september/how-to-find-your-perfect-cup-of-tea.aspx Mon, 12 September 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(9-september).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer This was a bad week for Wilf Cooper of Lockleaze in Bristol after his wife finally got wind of his double life. Contrary to what you may be thinking, this 90-year-old was not guilty of indulging in illicit trysts, gambling or drinking but of sneaking out and secretly running half marathons. Wilf had already successfully completed six events behind his wife's back - who believed Wilf to be watching the races from the sidelines - before being caught out by a neighbour who spotted him on TV. "He was in the doghouse that day," says Mrs Cooper in an interview in the Daily Mail. Despite his wife's concern, the 90-year-old, who suffered a heart attack 20 years ago, is planning a swan song: he'll be running one last time to raise money for St Peter's Hospice. As well as keeping himself super fit, Wilf clearly enjoys flexing his social media muscles too. He has his own JustGiving page here . If you'd like to see the full story, read it here . This was a good week for Britons with a mortgage as record low interest rates mean that mortgage borrowers have shaved £51 billion off their payments since the bank rate hit 0.5% two and a half years ago. That is, of course, really positive news for many, since we're all feeling the strain in the current economic climate, but it is, sadly, the silver lining of a rather grey cloud. Those same low interest rates mean that savers - who outweigh the number of borrowers - are estimated to have lost out on £43billion in interest earnings in the same period. Pensioners, in particular, many of whom have paid off their mortgages - so don't see the benefits that borrowers do - are reliant on the interest from their savings to live. While borrowers celebrate their gain, pensioners are seeing their spending power slashed, especially when combined with high inflation rates (CPI rose to 4.4% in July). It's a double whammy for pensioners who get the rawest deal with price rises since they typically spend more on things like electricity and fuel, which have seen eye-watering price hikes this year. You can read more about this here. /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(9-september).aspx /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(9-september).aspx Fri, 09 September 2011 00:00:00 Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(2-september).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer This was a bad week for pensioners living on a fixed income as figures published by Prudential revealed that inflation cuts the real value of their funds by 60%. We have commented before on how pensioners are hit hardest by inflation, which is higher for food and fuel. Older people need to keep their room temperatures higher than younger people to stay healthy and are also, perhaps because of problems with mobility, likely to spend a lot more time indoors, pushing the proportion of their income they spend on these up even further. In effect, this means, according to research by Age UK, that while average annual inflation recorded by the Retail Prices Index has been 3.1% a year since January 2008, pensioners have suffered annual inflation of 4.6%. The figures lay bare the potential crisis we have on our hands since someone retiring this year on an annual income of £16,600, would find the same figure to be worth only £6,700 in 20 years time. You can read more about this in this Daily Express piece . Still, this was at least a good week for James Bond, Jay Kay, Paris Hilton and anyone else with a soft spot for a stylish motor. Now, as you get older, you'll no longer have to worry about trading style for practicality as 38-year-old engineer, Andrew Wylie, has created a range of mobility scooters modelled on some of our most iconic vehicles. Scooters which look like a Jeep and a classic Land Rover are apparently already on sale and "The Harley Davidson, particularly, is causing quite a stir". At 8mph, the scooters, obviously, don't have the speed of their full-size counterparts but does mean they're ideal, as Wylie claims, "if you're looking for a disability vehicle ...[that you] don't need a licence to ride". Check out this article in the Daily Mail to take a look . /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(2-september).aspx /blog/blog/2011/september/good-weekbad-week-(2-september).aspx Fri, 02 September 2011 00:00:00 By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(26-august).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? It was a bad week for hospitals as the Patients Association revealed that two out of three patients are not being checked for signs of malnutrition. We were really disappointed at the news, which comes just months after the CQC had found evidence of neglect amongst older hospital patients, with them being overlooked, left thirsty and not given the assistance they need to eat. We all know that food and water are the basics of care and are vital to rest and recuperation, yet somehow they are still going amiss in our NHS. Staff need to engage properly with their patients to ensure they are being properly looked after - individuals have individual problems and conditions like arthritis or problems with sight can make things like eating and pouring a drink much more difficult for some older people. If staff don't pay enough attention to the needs of their patients, these things can fall under the radar, leaving older people - and others -entering a downward spiral towards malnutrition and further ill health. According to Age UK, malnourished patients stay an average of 5-10 days longer in hospital, so overlooking these basic checks is not just damaging to the patients, it does us all a disservice - it'll be the collective whole who finds ourselves footing the bill further down the line. This is a good week for over sixties with a problem weighing on their mind. New research from the University of Texas has shown that 'wisdom really does come with age'. According to an article which ran in the Daily Telegraph this week, previous studies, which suggest decision-making ability declines with age, were 'biased against older brains'. The new findings show that younger people veer towards making choices that lead to immediate rewards, while older people tend to take a more measured, strategic approach to decision-making which takes the longer-term into account. /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(26-august).aspx /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(26-august).aspx Fri, 26 August 2011 00:00:00 By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(19-august).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? Bad week : It looks like it's a case of hard cheese for those looking forward to a bacon sandwich at the weekend. The cost of living in Britain was laid bare this week with the consumer price index showing staggering price increases compared with this time last year. With the price of flour up 40%, butter up 12.9% and back bacon up 9.2%, it looks like our porcine weekend treat might just be enough to break the piggy bank. The sharp increases in not just food, but clothes, transport and energy bills caused the CPI to increase to 4.4% this July. We'll all feel the effects of these price rises, but it's older people, who typically find themselves living on either fixed or declining incomes, who will be hardest hit. According to an article in The Telegraph this week, those aged between 65 and 74 are most exposed to petrol, electricity and food price rises, while those of 75 and over will suffer most once the new double-digit energy price hikes come into effect later this month. This was however a good week for Scotland's oldest woman, Janet Roberts, who marked her 110th birthday. Janet is the granddaughter of William Grant, the creator of Glenfiddich, making her the matriarch of the Scottish whisky industry, and meaning that she quite literally has whisky in the blood. Could Janet be living proof that a little tipple does us no harm? Perhaps, but Janet, who, determined to prove herself in a typically male-dominated society by studying at two universities and persuing a legal career, attributes her longevity to "hard work and moderation" - perhaps not quite the response that some might have been hoping for. If you would like to learn more about Janet's history, here's the full article . /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(19-august).aspx /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(19-august).aspx Fri, 19 August 2011 00:00:00 Director of Policy, Simon Bottery, Media and PR officer, Rebecca Law /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(12-august).aspx Director of Policy, Simon Bottery, is dismayed by the riots that swept the country this week; Media and PR officer, Rebecca Law, counts just how many happy returns we may be in store for. This was a bad week for, well, just about anyone who lives in one of our major cities. The rioting and looting seen in London, Manchester and elsewhere caused despair to those directly and indirectly affected. In Tottenham 89-year-old Aaron Biber saw the barbershop that he'd run for 41 years totally destroyed. Well wishers have since raised £5000 to help him back into business. As the week progressed it turned into a bad week for some of the rioters too. Swift arrests and sentences saw many, including care workers and teaching assistants, facing the consequences of their actions. In Manchester, 30-year-old Daniel Bell pleaded guilty to stealing a Macmillan Cancer Relief collecting tin from a looted branch of Maplin, an act the judge described as 'the most despicable and contemptible I have had to deal with all day'. Despite the gloom, anger and fear, there was some good news to be found: this was a good week for youngsters who have a penchant for birthday parties as the Department for Work and Pensions released figures highlighting that one in three girls and one in four boys born today will live to 100. Still, the good news does bring with it more than just the issue of how to fit 100 candles on the birthday cake: Gordon Burns would have a field day with that little Krypton Factor challenge (a joke there, for those of us who are a slightly further along on our journey to 100). I don't mean to rain on the parade but there are some out there who have gone so far as to describe the news as a "time bomb". It does of course bring with it issues about how we are going to support an ageing population given the current budget deficit and an already pending pensions crisis. Certainly, Andrew Dilnot's suggestions in his report of 4 July this year already go some way in offering sensible solutions to the future funding of long-term care; so long as the Coalition is prepared to take heed - and action. Just for a moment though, can't we do away with the pessimism and just embrace the fact that those born today are over 40 times more likely to turn 100 than those born a century ago? Yes, we'll need to look at how to ensure that people are not just reaching old age, but a good old age. But just think of the difference the news would have made to those only three generations before us, who counted themselves lucky to reach their fiftieth. /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(12-august).aspx /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(12-august).aspx Fri, 12 August 2011 00:00:00 By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(5-august).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? This was a bad week in the bus world according to an update from the Campaign for Better Transport. Tens of thousands of pensioners could be left without transport as 72% of local authorities target buses as a means of making savings. The cuts mean that hundreds of routes are being axed and the number of services slashed. The news will be a real blow for thousands of older people, who, without their own transport are reliant on the bus network. It's particularly bad news for those in rural areas where links are already poor. Access to public transport allows older people to continue leading active lives and to stay linked with their local community, when they might otherwise struggle to get out and about. While we accept that councils have to save money, we believe, with moves like this, they are targeting the wrong things. Cutting bus routes would have the worst impact on those who need them most and will simply leave a greater number of older people cut off. National and local government needs to be much more joined up. It makes no sense for central government to require councils to give all pensioners a free bus pass, while at the same time allowing them to withdraw subsidies from the very routes that the most isolated older people will be using. It's a good week for all the 90-year olds out there who happen to have adopted a Stone Age diet since their thirties. According to Michael Rose, a professor of evolutionary biology, you can halt the ageing process for the next few years and enter a stage of "coasting" where the body won't face any new problems beyond those already present. Sounds good - if a little like a Gulliver's Travels narrative plot. But other experts remain sceptical claiming that "Professor Rose [has] dismissed solid evidence into the causes of ageing...it is misleading to hold out the hope that something remarkable happens to arrest ageing very late in life..." So, perhaps for now, the jury's out, but, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, so for those who would like to give it a go for themselves, the full article is here: http://t.co/xposrzW /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(5-august).aspx /blog/blog/2011/august/good-weekbad-week-(5-august).aspx Fri, 05 August 2011 00:00:00 By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(29-july).aspx Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older people? This has been a good week for Centrica's shareholders, after the company's dividend was increased by 12%. This follows the news of £1.3billion profits in the first half of the year for the energy giant which owns British Gas. This may anger British Gas customers who will justifiably feel this has been a bad week since they face increases in their gas and electricity bills of 18% and 16% respectively from mid-August. The increases are particularly bad news for older people, the majority of whom live on fixed or declining incomes. Centrica's explanation for the price hikes is that, while the figures may look good, British Gas profits are in fact down 54% in the first half, so, as they claim, if they didn't increase gas and electricity prices in the second half, their profit could be entirely wiped out, or they might even run at a loss. This will however be of little comfort to all those currently living in fuel poverty - and the increasing number who will be pushed into it as a result of the price hikes. It may be an over simplistic way of looking at it, but profits of £1.3billion can hardly be considered negligible, so British Gas shouldn't expect sympathy from their customers any time soon. The pain may however be muted, if only a little, by those with pension funds - many of which contain British Gas shares. Whether this small gain will compensate for the almost eye-watering increases in energy prices, however, is questionable. /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(29-july).aspx /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(29-july).aspx Fri, 29 July 2011 16:47:00 /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(22-july).aspx By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer Bad week: We were left feeling cold this week as we found out that nearly half of all households in fuel poverty contain someone aged 60 or over. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released its 2011 fuel poverty statistics showing that fuel poor households in 2009 had risen by a whopping 1 million in the UK (from 4.5 million to 5.5million) since 2008. And the bad news was compounded - for older people and for all - as Scottish and Southern Energy rubbed salt into the wound by becoming the third major UK energy suppliers to announce double digit price increases. Older people will be particularly hard hit by the changes. They have to keep their room temperatures higher than younger people to stay healthy, and are likely to spend a lot more time indoors. But when caught out by by rising bills, a reduction in their winter fuel payment and changing eligibility criteria of the Warm Front scheme, it's going to be a long, hard winter in which they may find themselves cutting back on other basics or risking the cold. Good week: Better news this week as Age UK announced they are teaming up with the NHS Confederation and Local Government Group to launch the Partnership on Dignity in Care. The commission, which aims to improve the dignity in care provided to older people, will hear from nurses, doctors, patient representatives and leaders across the health and social care. It follows far too many examples of neglect and ageism in our hospitals and care homes (some, not all, of course). It's a step in the right direction. /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(22-july).aspx /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(22-july).aspx Fri, 22 July 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(15-july).aspx By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer Bad week This was a bad week for Southern Cross residents as the company finally posted the keys through the letterbox and walked away. The firm lost its battle against huge rental bills and cuts in fees from local authorities. Southern Cross promised there would be an "orderly closure of the group's affairs". The Department of Health has promised that no one will find themselves homeless or without care, but the events still leave staff, thousands of residents and their families facing uncertainty and anxiety. Good week This was a good week for cheque users as the Payments Council announced it was bowing to people pressure and abandoning its plans to withdraw cheques by 2018. Many groups who are still reliant on the payment method, including older or housebound people, small businesses, schools and charities, breathed a huge sigh of relief. The media are speculating however whether the move is just a stay of execution, especially given that the guarantee card was axed just two weeks ago. There are also concerns that disproportionately high fees could be attached to cheque usage. But for now at least, the concerned parties have a reprieve (as do the excuse-makers who can still say "your cheque's in the post!"). /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(15-july).aspx /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(15-july).aspx Fri, 15 July 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(8-july).aspx Welcome to our new, regular Friday feature Good week/bad week: a round-up of how the week is looking for older people. Good week Good week for economists: Andrew Dilnot's thoughtful review single-handedly raised the reputation of a much maligned group of academics this week, not to mention offering a glimmer of hope to thousands of people by reducing the anxieties that many feel about paying for care in later life. The suggested cap on the amount someone should pay for social care (around £35,000 or no more than 30% of their assets) is a much clearer way for people to know in advance how much they might be expected to pay. We don't agree with every single word (not quite convinced by the "granny tax" idea) but the almost universally positive response to the report made George Osborne's apparent intent to kick it into touch that much harder (and gave economists a temporary reprieve as we all have a bona fide reason to hold on the jokes about them, for now at least anyway.) Bad week Bad week for Elaine McDonald and what her case says for the potential care of older people. The 68-year-old disabled ex-ballerina was denied the right for an overnight carer to help her use her commode following a stroke. Instead, she has been left to use incontinence pads overnight even though she is not incontinent. Elaine herself described the decision to be an "intolerable affront to her dignity". We have to ask ourselves, if going to the toilet is now regarded as a privilege in our overstretched social care system, what on earth are they going to cut next? We have to decide whether, as a society, we would rather have our older friends, parents and grandparents in incontinence pads, because we are not prepared to face the question of how best to pay for care. This is a clear warning of what care and support will become if the coalition fails to act on Andrew Dilnot's recommendations. /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(8-july).aspx /blog/blog/2011/july/good-weekbad-week-(8-july).aspx Fri, 08 July 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/may/the-final-countdown.aspx By Claire Nurden, Research and Policy Officer Of all the challenges that Dilnot has faced in his review of social care over the past year, the final key decision seems to have boiled down to this: do we or do we not compel people to contribute to the potential future costs of their social care? General speculation has certainly pointed in the direction of an insurance scheme to help people protect themselves against the cost of future care and support needs, but as the ABI suggests, the general public currently have little awareness of the need, or indeed willingness, to pay into a scheme of this sort, especially if a state funded option is available as a safety net. A serious anomaly exists here. Without making contributions to an insurance scheme for social care compulsory, the most effective incentive to encourage people to sign up is to make the state funded option unattractive. But not only would this be unfair to people that have been forced to rely on the state funded option as a result of financial hardship, but deliberately constructing a sub-standard system of social care is unacceptable, if not immoral, in a civilised society. /blog/blog/2011/may/the-final-countdown.aspx /blog/blog/2011/may/the-final-countdown.aspx Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/may/plastic-fantastic.aspx By Claire Nurden Research and Policy Officer Apologies in advance for ranting about this! But is it any wonder so many women resort to surgery? Two articles in the Daily Mail this morning, one describing a 68-year-old, dare I say it, natural, Jean Shrimpton as "grey-haired, prim, and almost severe", while the other proclaims "Sexier than ever at 73", and plasters photos of Jane Fonda's surgically enhanced face and body across the page. There are a hundred different issues here, but I'll try and keep it brief. The first thing that springs to mind is how dangerous it is for us to constantly uphold images of beauty in older age that depend almost entirely on expensive, and invasive, surgeries to hold back the years. But moreover, I have to ask, why are we so ashamed about showing our age in the first place? What is everyone so afraid of? It is sad to think that so often older people are not judged by their achievements, but how effectively they have erased the markings of the experience that makes them who they are. Lines are simply the signs of having a life, and if we're lucky we'll make it to our later years, so why deny it? If nothing else we will save ourselves a huge amount of money. Hmm I really hope I don't change my mind about all of this when I get to 40... /blog/blog/2011/may/plastic-fantastic.aspx /blog/blog/2011/may/plastic-fantastic.aspx Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/may/are-you-ageless-and-amortal.aspx By Claire Nurden, Research and Policy Officer Interesting piece in the Mail this morning. Sitting right at the top of the gossip column, at first glance it seems like yet another article feeding the public's fascination with looking younger (note the photos of cosmetically enhanced Demi Moore). But on closer inspection the message is actually very different. While yes, some of the discussion is about how we look, it goes on to recognise that looking ageless is more than skin deep, and that more and more men and women are now challenging the stereotypes they are faced with in their older age - and reaping the rewards. Granted, the fact that they have led with the headline, "Can you believe this woman is 65?" (and some of the less than pleasant reader comments!), is evidence of how far we have to go in terms of challenging ageist ideas of later life in this country, but as a whole it does seem like a positive step in the right direction. /blog/blog/2011/may/are-you-ageless-and-amortal.aspx /blog/blog/2011/may/are-you-ageless-and-amortal.aspx Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/april/multitasking-myths.aspx By Claire Nurden Research and Policy Officer Now I'm no scientist, so I can't question the validity of the research findings on older people's ability to multitask, which have been widely reported in today's media. But we can question the nature of the reporting of these findings, and the skewed impression it gives about people's capabilities in their later years. The headlines (unsurprisingly) seize on the evidence that older brains are 'less nimble' in their ability to deal with more than one situation at once, and that the ability to multitask 'wanes' with age. But surely the point here is not how many tasks you do at once, but how well you can do them. The added skills and experience many older people bring to bear on the situations they are faced with could, in fact, counter any supposed decline in pure processing ability. This point is made very strongly in the recent Lewis Wolport book on ageing. While some changes in brain functions might occur as we age, we shouldn't be reporting this as if it was the only thing - or even the most important thing - about getting older. /blog/blog/2011/april/multitasking-myths.aspx /blog/blog/2011/april/multitasking-myths.aspx Tue, 12 April 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/april/keeping-mum.aspx by Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer It is reported that 750,000 people in the UK have dementia and 12% of the adult population in the UK are carers. Those are quite staggering statistics, so it's really touching to see Marianne Talbot's first hand account as one of those living with and caring for a dementia sufferer in her book, Keeping Mum, published today by Hay House. In it, Marianne has candidly chronicled the five years that she took in and looked after her mother following her dementia diagnosis in 2003. The topic may sound dour, but Marianne handles it with real compassion and even humour, taking us on a full emotional journey as we watch them both face the daily challenges brought on by her mother's illness. You can feel Marianne's frustrations as well as the profound love she obviously has for her mother. It's got some pretty handy practical tips too, covering daily living, managing others' finances, and the social care system. For more information visit  www.keepingmum.org.uk . /blog/blog/2011/april/keeping-mum.aspx /blog/blog/2011/april/keeping-mum.aspx Mon, 11 April 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/april/cautious-welcome-to-green-paper-plans-to-simplify-pensions.aspx At last the coalition has published its pensions green paper, to generally positive response. Most commentators - including Independent Age - have given a cautious welcome to the plans to simplify the current system. For us, the fact that a third of today's pensioners are not claiming the means-tested element of the pension means that the current system has failed and needs reform. However we should be careful about at least two elements of the green paper. Firstly, the very complexity of the current system is hampering attempts to understand what is proposed by way of reform. At the moment even pensions analysts are struggling to understand how the new proposals for a more generous flat rate pension can be achieved without either costing more or having some 'losers' as well as gainers. As one Conservative MP asked us, 'if cost neutral, who loses?' Or as the GMB union puts it with more hostility, 'the real question is what the government is taking away, not what it's promising to provide'. At this stage, probably only the government itself (and particularly the impressive pensions minister Steve Webb) has the data, analytical capacity and understanding of the current proposals to answer this question, but it will become clearer. The second reason we should be cautious is that the green paper does not propose a flat rate pension outright but as an 'option' and it also suggests an alternative, which is essentially a speeding up of plans to phase out the current second pension. Amid all the headlines about a £155 flat rate pension for all, this option has rather been overlooked. It may be, though, that the cautious heads inside the Treasury and elsewhere see this as their banker bet if the flat rate idea runs into problems. /blog/blog/2011/april/cautious-welcome-to-green-paper-plans-to-simplify-pensions.aspx /blog/blog/2011/april/cautious-welcome-to-green-paper-plans-to-simplify-pensions.aspx Wed, 06 April 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/april/are-we-losing-our-marples.aspx By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer. What's this we hear of Disney casting 38-year-old Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple - one of Agatha Christie's best-loved characters who was apparently based, in part, on the author's own grandmother? Is it not Miss Marple's age and all of the lighthearted stereotypes that go with it, which make her so delightfully implausible as a detective; that aside from the knitting and the weeding she is able to use her life experience to scupper police officers half her age and beat them at their own game? Take away those salient qualities and, sadly, Miss Marple is no longer herself - she quite literally loses her Marples. Joking aside, by denying us one of our few remaining older role models, Disney is making a grave mistake. Not only is the decision laughable, it highlights a serious unwillingness to accept and honour older age and suggests that it might be unreasonable to subject audiences to the exploits of an older, less than physically perfect, heroine. /blog/blog/2011/april/are-we-losing-our-marples.aspx /blog/blog/2011/april/are-we-losing-our-marples.aspx Tue, 05 April 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/march/the-mystery-of-ids'-flat-rate-pensions-speech-is-now-solved.aspx by Simon Bottery, Director of Fundraising, Policy and Communications So now we know the solution to the mystery of Iain Duncan Smith's missing speech. He shelved the announcement of a flat rate pension at the Age UK conference because he didn't want to/was not allowed to steal the Chancellor's Budget thunder. Except that the sound turned out to be not so much thunder as the vague echo of music we've already heard. Once again the government said little beyond the fact that it was considering the options, adding that any scheme would not apply to current pensioners. The figure of £140 was quoted again but without any clue as to whether this was at today's prices or some future date. So what on earth is going on? I don't pretend to know, but on this evidence you can expect the next installment to come not in any official way but as an unattributable briefing to a Sunday paper. Government by spin, anybody? /blog/blog/2011/march/the-mystery-of-ids'-flat-rate-pensions-speech-is-now-solved.aspx /blog/blog/2011/march/the-mystery-of-ids'-flat-rate-pensions-speech-is-now-solved.aspx Thu, 24 March 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/march/officials-search-whitehall-for-rest-of-iain-duncan-smith's-pensions-speech-to-age-uk-conference.aspx By Simon Bottery, Head of Fundraising, Poloicy and Communications Officials are hunting all over Whitehall for the second half of Iain Duncan Smith's speech on pensions to the Age UK conference yesterday. The Work and Pensions Secretary was supposed to announce a £140 flat rate pension, heavily trailed in that morning's media. But after a promising opening to the speech, the minister simply called for an open debate on pensions reform and sat down. It is now believed that the second half of the speech was blown out of an open taxi window on the way to the conference, or was eaten by the dog, or spontaneously combusted - no one is quite sure. Sceptics have raised other, unrealistic possibilities for the missing content. Some have said that it was spiked by the Treasury, which still isn't convinced that the proposal will cost nothing (you can see where they're coming from - administration savings are somehow supposed to pay for a 40% increase for most pensioners and a 10% increase for those currently getting the pension credit top up). Others suggest that the Chancellor loves the idea but wants to have a share of the announcement of it. A shame. As IDS said in the half of the speech he was able to deliver, the current system is so complex that no one knows what they are going to get, which hardly encourages retirement planning. And since a third of those eligible for pension credit don't claim it, the system allows hundreds of thousands of older people to live in poverty needlessly. So the time for reform is long overdue. Looks like we may have to wait just a little longer for that speech to be found before we can see what type of reform the coalition intends.  /blog/blog/2011/march/officials-search-whitehall-for-rest-of-iain-duncan-smith's-pensions-speech-to-age-uk-conference.aspx /blog/blog/2011/march/officials-search-whitehall-for-rest-of-iain-duncan-smith's-pensions-speech-to-age-uk-conference.aspx Wed, 09 March 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/march/new-campaign-encouraging-people-in-the-north-west-to-seek-an-early-dementia-diagnosis.aspx We're welcoming today's launch of a new Department of Health pilot campaign in the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber, to help people recognise the signs and symptoms of dementia and urging them to seek advice from their GP. According to the campaign, there is an estimated 82,661 people living with dementia in the North West, over half of whom are undiagnosed and are consequently missing out on access to treatment and support which could help improve their independence and quality of life. It can be tough, or even frightening, to admit that you, or someone close to you, might be suffering from dementia. Or you might just not be aware of the signs, but the sooner you discuss it and seek help, the better, since, as the campaign highlights, early diagnosis is key to enabling people to access advice, information and support from social services, voluntary agencies and support groups. For further information on how to recognise the signs and symptoms of dementia, visit: www.nhs.uk/dementia /blog/blog/2011/march/new-campaign-encouraging-people-in-the-north-west-to-seek-an-early-dementia-diagnosis.aspx /blog/blog/2011/march/new-campaign-encouraging-people-in-the-north-west-to-seek-an-early-dementia-diagnosis.aspx Fri, 04 March 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/february/run-the-royal-parks-half-marathon-with-us-9-october-2011.aspx We have ten places available this year torun the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London this October. Applications willl be accepted for Independent Age Gold Bond Places from March 2011 and successful applicants will be informed by the end of May. We ask runners for a deposit of £50 and to pledge to raise at least £250 for Independent Age. To register interest or to receive a Golden Bond application form, please email  events@independentage.org.uk  or call Harriet on 020 7605 4288. If you're after a challenge that's more artistic than athletic, the Royal Parks Foundation have launched a competition to design their official 2011 Royal Parks Half Marathon race shirt. Details on the competition can be found here:  http://www.royalparkshalf.com/runners/running-kit/ The competition closes at noon on Thursday, 10 February 2011, so you'd better (ahem) race to get your entries in. Sorry, that was terrible. But good luck to you all. /blog/blog/2011/february/run-the-royal-parks-half-marathon-with-us-9-october-2011.aspx /blog/blog/2011/february/run-the-royal-parks-half-marathon-with-us-9-october-2011.aspx Thu, 03 February 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/february/scams-awareness-month.aspx The Office of Fair Trading has declared February 2011 Scams Awareness Month, and we're glad to spread the word, since older people are the most common victims of scams. It's not just older people who are affected, though: nearly half of the UK population has been targeted by scams, and more than three million adults - 6.5% of the adult population - fall victim to scams, losing £3.5 billion per year. To help stop the scammers, the Office of Fair Trading has produced a 'scambuster' guide that explains some of the most common scams (clairvoyants and psychics, email bank account transfer scams, pyramid schemes, etc) and how to avoid them. You can also find out more from the  Office of Fair Trading website. /blog/blog/2011/february/scams-awareness-month.aspx /blog/blog/2011/february/scams-awareness-month.aspx Tue, 01 February 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/february/campaign-to-end-loneliness-launches-today.aspx The Campaign to End Loneliness launches today, 1 February 2011. The campaign, a collaborative effort between Independent Age, Age UK Oxfordshire, Counsel and Care, and WRVS and funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, aims to fight loneliness and isolation in older people. Although research suggests that loneliness is a greater threat to health than obesity, and as bad as lifelong smoking, fewer than 1 in 5 people have ever seen or heard information about loneliness as a health risk, and fewer than 1 in 3 who work in health and social care professions have. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risks of loneliness and to make sure they are treated as a serious risk to public health. A report, Safeguarding the Convoy, is also published today to accompany the campaign, and calls for others to join and take action to end loneliness in order to future proof forthcoming generations of older people against it. Visit  http://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk/  for more information or to download a copy of the report. /blog/blog/2011/february/campaign-to-end-loneliness-launches-today.aspx /blog/blog/2011/february/campaign-to-end-loneliness-launches-today.aspx Tue, 01 February 2011 00:00:00 /blog/blog/2011/january/lancashire-county-council-publishes-scary-details-of-cuts-to-its-care-services.aspx by Simon Bottery, Director of Fundraising, Policy and Communications Lancashire county council has just published its budget, outlining in detail how it plans to cut a quarter of its spending - £179m - over the next three years. For older people using care services it makes scary reading. The direct savings for 2011 alone include: £2.5m by raising the eligibility threshold for adult social care from 'moderate' to 'substantial'. The council has 3,900 people currently assessed as 'moderate' so their care is now at risk. £1.5m in reducing spending on non-residential social care - a cut of up to 20% in spending on domiciliary care, day care and personal budget. Instead there will be 'greater reliance on universal, preventative and low-level initiatives', 'greater use of telecare' and more focus on 'rehabilitation, reablement and recovery services' £1.5m cuts in its Supporting People programme of housing support for vulnerable adults £1.85m cuts in social-care assessment and management staff costs, leading to a 'delay in non-urgent social work assessments' £4.2m in increased charges for non-residential care services meaning that some people will pay between £30.75 and £53.80 per day for services that are currently costing them £5. The council estimates that the largest group of users affected will be 5,000 who will pay £11.63 more each week. There are other savings that will have less obvious but potentially drastic effects on services too: £1.5m cut from social care training £7m saved by reducing the fees paid by the council to care providers. This means organisations providing social care will see their fees cut by 2 percent in 2010. The council says, surely optimistically, that this 'should not affect overall levels of service'.  The council is making cuts across the board, from environment to children's services. You can read its plans in full at http://council.lancashire.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=1051 Across the country, other councils are gearing up to do similar things to Lancashire. Hackney Council in London, for example, is cutting £46m over the next two years. Adult Social Care is being hit by cutting drop-in centres and residential units, and day care is being reduced. Contracts for outsourced services are also being reduced. Staffing levels are being reviewed. Not all these changes are necessarily bad. The emphasis on reablement and preventative work is welcome, while telecare has potential if the need for social contact is met in other ways. Nonetheless, it has been hard to see this as anything but a major reduction in service provision. For all the coalition government's statements that councils have been funded to maintain social care funding, this is the reality of the average 27% cuts they face over the next four years Happy New Year. /blog/blog/2011/january/lancashire-county-council-publishes-scary-details-of-cuts-to-its-care-services.aspx /blog/blog/2011/january/lancashire-county-council-publishes-scary-details-of-cuts-to-its-care-services.aspx Mon, 10 January 2011 00:00:00