The secret of youth: flares and orange carpet
And lo, Liz arose from her wheelchair and walked, and it was all down to the swirly-patterned wallpaper. The BBC’s The Young Ones concluded last night with the housemates undergoing a series of tests which purported to show pretending you are living in 1975 can make you fitter, better at remembering things and generally more [...]
Falling apart, stylishly
‘I like being old at least as much as I liked being middle aged and a good deal more than I liked being young,’ Jane Miller writes on the first page of Crazy Age. It is an encouraging start, promising a thoughtful, individual and particular take on ageing. A former English teacher and professor at the [...]
Agebomb to hold an event with Nesta in early October
Excellent news: the splendid Marc Freedman will be visiting London from San Francisco for two days in early October and has agreed to be the keynote speaker at an Agebomb event on the new old age, to be held in conjunction with Nesta on the morning of Tuesday October 5. We will be looking at [...]
The exciting and previously unknown ageing brain
The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain, by Barbara Strauch, Viking, US $26.95 Some of us (I am speaking personally here) have been afflicted for our entire lives with the habit of running eagerly upstairs to get something, arriving in the bedroom and completely forgetting why we’re there. Some of us (me again) arrive at [...]
UK state pension age rises – but what is retirement for?
The British government has confirmed that, as expected, it will bring forward the increase in state pension age. The previous planned rise from 65 to 66 for men will now almost certainly come eight years earlier, in 2016, and for women by 2020. Meanwhile, there will be a review of how much further and faster [...]
What happens when you’re old and gay?
Angelo Marcellini is 75 and lives in sheltered housing in London. When he’s in the lift, his fellow residents won’t join him. If he comes in, they leave. Only two of the households on his floor speak to him. Angelo is gay. The managers of his sheltered housing are evangelical Christians and they won’t help [...]
Pension? what pension?
Yesterday I went to see Steve Webb, the new pensions minister, speak at a debate sponsored by the International Longevity Centre (ILC). With some trepidation, because I find pensions terrifying. I know I don’t have enough of one, and I don’t understand them. The debate was quite consoling, because it was clear, firstly, that pensions [...]
Immigration – the politicians’ dirty little secret
Wading through the new Office for Budget Responsibility’s analysis of the state of the British economy, it’s obvious that the ageing population will be a significant factor when it comes to restoring growth (or not). The pre-budget forecast highlights real dangers of a slowdown caused by fewer people working and higher demands on pensions and [...]
Grandmentors: the new idea from the Department for the Big Society
Older people are to be recruited to mentor troubled teenagers and help them get back into education, training or work under a new initiative launched today at the House of Lords. The idea is credited to Lord Freud, the former Financial Times journalist, banker and New Labour advisor, now Conservative peer and Minister for Welfare [...]
Old and gay part two. Why we need role models – a 23 year-old writes
By Freddie Norton on 24 June, 2010
As a gay man of 23 I have lived my formative years in a completely different world to anyone over the age of 60, but particularly anyone who’s gay. When I was 10 years old Tony Blair came to power along with changing public attitudes to gay people and gay rights. When I started to [...]
Posted in Blog, Commentary, Culture | Tagged AIDS, gay rights, Ian McKellen, Peter Tatchell, Tony Blair | 1 Response