In this 6 week period of Lent many faithful Christians commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence. I'm not a Christian, so I don't. I've just eaten 3 segments of a chocolate orange & 2 digestive biscuits with a mug of tea, yet I had a perfectly adequate lunch a couple of hours ago. That doesn't stop me pondering on the whole issue of plenty as related to food, or the issue of voluntary fasting in a world where so many have an inadequate diet or starve.
I find the the whole concept of half of the world voluntarily fasting or limiting their intake, while the other half struggles to get enough to eat, one of the great dichotomies of the modern world. Yet we seem to be oblivious to the irony.
Research now shows that a couple of days fasting actually does you a lot of good & can even prolong life. Fast diets on the other hand rarely work in the long term. Except for the people who devise & promote them, who make fortunes out of overweight & obese people trying to control what they put in their mouths. We in the developed world are willing to pay good money to conquer the fat and the flab, when all we really need to do is limit our intake of food & exercise more. Many people now are truly living unhealthy lifestyles. Perhaps we need to remember we were "hunter gatherers" or small mixed farmers originally. When we had to catch or produce our food we had to work hard & we really valued it. Now we can have it delivered to our door.
Fast food doesn't have to be junk food, but all too often it is. If you haven't prepared the food you put into your mouth you really have no control over, or idea of, what has gone into it. It isn't just the quality of the ingredients which is bound to be poor if the food is cheap. There are also all sorts of things to mask that very fact - flavour enhancers, bulking agents & preservatives for example.
I should lose some weight, ideally about a stone. I know exactly how to do it. However I live in a land of plenty & I enjoy my treats. I find it very hard to reduce my intake. Temptation lurks in the biscuit / cake tin & the bottle of white wine. I'm lucky & I know it. Perhaps we in the developed world need a regular "famine day" so we really experience what it is like to not have plenty to eat.
Tuesday 26 February 2013
Monday 25 February 2013
Tipping - Point?
I do have a problem with tipping. I feel uncomfortable about it & I'm not at all sure I agree with doing it. In my working life I got paid a salary from my employer for doing the job I chose to do. I worked quite hard to get to the top of my profession & as far as I can remember I have never received or expected a tip. (That might not be completely accurate because I did several holiday jobs to get me through college).
If we tip people for services we are already paying for, such as taxi drivers, waiters etc, are we perpetuating a system which doesn't pay them a reasonable rate for the work they do? I think the answer is yes. If I go to a restaurant or get in a taxi I expect the employer to base his / her charges on an accurate knowledge of the costs of the service, including paying a reasonable living wage, which reflects the skills & experience of the employee.
If I am expected to tip in addition to paying the charge, I am actually condoning the employers inability to manage his business effectively or efficiently. There is also the issue of the "minimum wage" and the "living wage". Employers need to be actively encouraged to pay the higher of the two - the "living wage".
My only reason for tipping, in most circumstances, would be that the employee has been particulary helpful or has gone out of his / her way to do something specifically for me.
All of this becomes much more complex when I go abroad to countries which don't have the long history of fair employment and union protection that we do in the UK. In many countries low paid workers have to rely on tips to exist. The same observations above do apply, but in developing countries there is no mechanism to protect the worker. So I tip, but worry about the system.
In these circumstances the tourist or business person needs to be very aware of the basic economics of the country, because they can inadvertantly skew the system out of all proportion. Visitors from the developed world have a responsibility not to overtip & create an imbalance for everyone else. I have been in countries where the tips which are expected nowadays bear no resemblance to the average monthly income of low paid workers. I feel it's better to tip more people a little, than tip a few people a lot.
What is just as important is to spend your money in local shops & businesses, so it gets down to grass roots level. So many tourists & business people just spend their dollars or sterling in the hotel which is already making a relatively high income & is often owned by a multinational chain. So, for example, take your dirty linen to the laundry round the corner - don't give it to room service. Buy your meals, snacks & drinks in local bars & restaurants. Visit local shops.
We really do need to be more aware of the impact of our money & spending power - both for good & ill.
If we tip people for services we are already paying for, such as taxi drivers, waiters etc, are we perpetuating a system which doesn't pay them a reasonable rate for the work they do? I think the answer is yes. If I go to a restaurant or get in a taxi I expect the employer to base his / her charges on an accurate knowledge of the costs of the service, including paying a reasonable living wage, which reflects the skills & experience of the employee.
If I am expected to tip in addition to paying the charge, I am actually condoning the employers inability to manage his business effectively or efficiently. There is also the issue of the "minimum wage" and the "living wage". Employers need to be actively encouraged to pay the higher of the two - the "living wage".
My only reason for tipping, in most circumstances, would be that the employee has been particulary helpful or has gone out of his / her way to do something specifically for me.
All of this becomes much more complex when I go abroad to countries which don't have the long history of fair employment and union protection that we do in the UK. In many countries low paid workers have to rely on tips to exist. The same observations above do apply, but in developing countries there is no mechanism to protect the worker. So I tip, but worry about the system.
In these circumstances the tourist or business person needs to be very aware of the basic economics of the country, because they can inadvertantly skew the system out of all proportion. Visitors from the developed world have a responsibility not to overtip & create an imbalance for everyone else. I have been in countries where the tips which are expected nowadays bear no resemblance to the average monthly income of low paid workers. I feel it's better to tip more people a little, than tip a few people a lot.
What is just as important is to spend your money in local shops & businesses, so it gets down to grass roots level. So many tourists & business people just spend their dollars or sterling in the hotel which is already making a relatively high income & is often owned by a multinational chain. So, for example, take your dirty linen to the laundry round the corner - don't give it to room service. Buy your meals, snacks & drinks in local bars & restaurants. Visit local shops.
We really do need to be more aware of the impact of our money & spending power - both for good & ill.
Saturday 23 February 2013
Belonging - Asylum
Asylum - "A safe or inviolable place of refuge"
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics
The world I live in is relatively stable. That isn't true for a huge number of people. I'm lucky I belong to the UK tribe & I take asylum, according to the definition, as normal, as my right.
Many members of my tribe want to retain this comfort and safety & don't particularly want to share it with others. I am sad to discover that I didn't have an accurate picture of what life is like for an asylum seeker.
They get no Income Support or Housing Benefit. Because they won't have National Insurance contributions, they don't get the benefits associated with them.They are not allowed to work so can't get Jobseekers Allowance. The support they get comes from the UK Border Agency. A single adult gets £36.62 a week. A couple get £72.52 a week. A child aged 1-3 gets £3 extra. If they apply for asylum immediately upon arrival in the UK they are given somewhere to live, but can be sent anywhere in the UK.
According to Home Office stat's in 2011 there were 20,000 applications. Of 17,496 initial decisions in 2011 68% were refusals. In 2012 there were 65% refusals in the first quarter. We are hardly letting people flock in. There is a huge backlog and people can be waiting in limbo for years for a decision.
Try as I might to imagine what it must be like to have to leave your own country & everyone & everything you know, to flee from persecution of one sort of another - I can't do it. I just don't have the relevant experiences in my life. To then have to go through the emotional turmoil that awaits in our imperfect system is also beyond my comprehension. I would imagine that mental and physical health problems must be rife. Asylum seekers must feel overwhelmed, hopeless & depressed. All of that on top of whatever persecution they have already experienced & the persecution they experience from some members of our UK tribe.
I am aware this is a complex problem & we live on a fairly densely populated island. But many of these people are highly educated & skilled. Even if they are not, by an large they want to work. Even if it's only to alleviate the boredom of their existance & make them feel they are doing something worthwhile. Surely it would be better to allow them to support themselves through work? I would be more sympathetic to the people who say they are taking our jobs if those people were willing to take any job to support themselves & take responsibility for their own lives.
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics
The world I live in is relatively stable. That isn't true for a huge number of people. I'm lucky I belong to the UK tribe & I take asylum, according to the definition, as normal, as my right.
Many members of my tribe want to retain this comfort and safety & don't particularly want to share it with others. I am sad to discover that I didn't have an accurate picture of what life is like for an asylum seeker.
They get no Income Support or Housing Benefit. Because they won't have National Insurance contributions, they don't get the benefits associated with them.They are not allowed to work so can't get Jobseekers Allowance. The support they get comes from the UK Border Agency. A single adult gets £36.62 a week. A couple get £72.52 a week. A child aged 1-3 gets £3 extra. If they apply for asylum immediately upon arrival in the UK they are given somewhere to live, but can be sent anywhere in the UK.
According to Home Office stat's in 2011 there were 20,000 applications. Of 17,496 initial decisions in 2011 68% were refusals. In 2012 there were 65% refusals in the first quarter. We are hardly letting people flock in. There is a huge backlog and people can be waiting in limbo for years for a decision.
Try as I might to imagine what it must be like to have to leave your own country & everyone & everything you know, to flee from persecution of one sort of another - I can't do it. I just don't have the relevant experiences in my life. To then have to go through the emotional turmoil that awaits in our imperfect system is also beyond my comprehension. I would imagine that mental and physical health problems must be rife. Asylum seekers must feel overwhelmed, hopeless & depressed. All of that on top of whatever persecution they have already experienced & the persecution they experience from some members of our UK tribe.
I am aware this is a complex problem & we live on a fairly densely populated island. But many of these people are highly educated & skilled. Even if they are not, by an large they want to work. Even if it's only to alleviate the boredom of their existance & make them feel they are doing something worthwhile. Surely it would be better to allow them to support themselves through work? I would be more sympathetic to the people who say they are taking our jobs if those people were willing to take any job to support themselves & take responsibility for their own lives.
Friday 22 February 2013
Belonging
I belong to the tribe of comfortably off, middle aged, widowed, reasonably intelligent,women. There are an infinite variety of tribes all over the world. We don't tend to think of ourselves in those terms, but when you see how we all, in some way, conform to cultural mores of behaviour, dress & attitudes it isn't difficult to spot.
Tribes vary according to the habitat they live in. All tribes will show differences & similarities. Instead of valuing that difference & the diversity of human populations, sadly we tend to huddle together in our tribes & be fearful, disparaging or even cruel to other tribes.
We fight over national borders, land & posessions, ethnicity & religion. In extreme cases we go to war. We try to restrict population movements from one "sovereign state" to another.
All of this is ridiculous & completely ignores where we all came from. We are all descended from primitive peoples in Africa who migrated across continents in search of better habitats to live in. Or just out of curiosity about what was over the hill. There is good evidence to support this. All of the borders in the world have been arbitrarily created by "man" - I use the term advisedly. Often arising out of wars & ignoring previous cultural borders.
We are all human beings. We all need & want broadly the same things. Many tribes lack the basic necessities and many have far more than they could possibly need.
At some point I hope that we can recognise this & do something really meaningful to equalise opportunity & make life much fairer. Unfortunately I think we have reached a stage of complexity which means that the "haves" will cling tenaciously to everything & turn a blind eye to the "have nots". It might take a cataclysm to achieve a world in which we truly value all peoples & life.
Tribes vary according to the habitat they live in. All tribes will show differences & similarities. Instead of valuing that difference & the diversity of human populations, sadly we tend to huddle together in our tribes & be fearful, disparaging or even cruel to other tribes.
We fight over national borders, land & posessions, ethnicity & religion. In extreme cases we go to war. We try to restrict population movements from one "sovereign state" to another.
All of this is ridiculous & completely ignores where we all came from. We are all descended from primitive peoples in Africa who migrated across continents in search of better habitats to live in. Or just out of curiosity about what was over the hill. There is good evidence to support this. All of the borders in the world have been arbitrarily created by "man" - I use the term advisedly. Often arising out of wars & ignoring previous cultural borders.
We are all human beings. We all need & want broadly the same things. Many tribes lack the basic necessities and many have far more than they could possibly need.
At some point I hope that we can recognise this & do something really meaningful to equalise opportunity & make life much fairer. Unfortunately I think we have reached a stage of complexity which means that the "haves" will cling tenaciously to everything & turn a blind eye to the "have nots". It might take a cataclysm to achieve a world in which we truly value all peoples & life.
Wednesday 20 February 2013
Road Map of Ageing
What I thought was a couple of reflective blogs has caused some concern among my readers. I'm not seriously ill or suicidal - just getting older! The thing is there isn't a road map for ageing. Maybe that's a good thing, no point in worrying people unnecessarily if they can't stop it happening. Just like having a baby, no one tells you exactly what will happen, although there is a lot more information about than when I had my daughter.
As I go through the process I begin to understand my parents & inlaws better. My life is very different to theirs, but there are themes that I now see repeating with me. I also see that I wasn't as understanding or sympathetic as I might have been. I guess that's always true. The young are busy with their own lives & concerns. Experience is a very good teacher.
Age brings obvious physical changes. I haven't seen anything that tells you what is normal - what to expect. Skin dry's out, hair gets thinner / coarser & more wayward, nails get ridged & thicker / brittle.....Age also brings mental changes - day to day memory lapses, a brain which feels as if it's made of Gruyere cheese, with thoughts lost in black holes. I swear I can almost see a thought drifting away from my conciousness like a balloon freed from a childs hand.
I also think that personality changes & becomes more polarised. I am nothing like as volatile emotionally as I once was. I know it's a waste of time to errupt & it does more harm to the person who is errupting. On he other hand I have seen for myself people older than me who seem to have distilled down to their more negative and unplesant character traits. This is particularly true when people have dementia of some form or other.
Just like the rest of life, ageing is what you make of it. Possibly the fact that I have seen firsthand how difficult the elderly can be will help me to avoid the pitfalls. On the other hand maybe it was ever thus & we just kid ourselves "it will never happen to me"
As I go through the process I begin to understand my parents & inlaws better. My life is very different to theirs, but there are themes that I now see repeating with me. I also see that I wasn't as understanding or sympathetic as I might have been. I guess that's always true. The young are busy with their own lives & concerns. Experience is a very good teacher.
Age brings obvious physical changes. I haven't seen anything that tells you what is normal - what to expect. Skin dry's out, hair gets thinner / coarser & more wayward, nails get ridged & thicker / brittle.....Age also brings mental changes - day to day memory lapses, a brain which feels as if it's made of Gruyere cheese, with thoughts lost in black holes. I swear I can almost see a thought drifting away from my conciousness like a balloon freed from a childs hand.
I also think that personality changes & becomes more polarised. I am nothing like as volatile emotionally as I once was. I know it's a waste of time to errupt & it does more harm to the person who is errupting. On he other hand I have seen for myself people older than me who seem to have distilled down to their more negative and unplesant character traits. This is particularly true when people have dementia of some form or other.
Just like the rest of life, ageing is what you make of it. Possibly the fact that I have seen firsthand how difficult the elderly can be will help me to avoid the pitfalls. On the other hand maybe it was ever thus & we just kid ourselves "it will never happen to me"
Monday 18 February 2013
Carpe Diem - Leaving Life
"20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover". - Mark Twain.
I am very aware that I may not have another 20 years. So this is a very appropriate mantra. I feel as if I am slowly leaving this life, so I need to ensure that my brief existance has some point. There are themes which become ever more important as I age. Not just living every moment, but divesting myself of the trappings of existance which can see overly important in youth.
I want to simplify my life in many ways. I don't value "things" at all now. So when / if I move house I'd like to give a lot of my posessions away. I need to have strict criteria - only keeping things which have a special meaning, related to people who have passed through my life, or things which give me real pleasure to look at or use.
Experience, good and bad, (so long as one learns from it), is what is important. I have got 68 years worth, which must be useful to someone. Being able to help others in some way isn't being a "do gooder". It's a symbiotic process - both parties benefit. A smile begats a smile.
Leaving behind the extraneous things of life is very liberating. Maybe you have to be ageing fast to do it. Simplicity & quiet reflection is very hard to find in this day and age. But also "leaving the safe harbour" & really living your life - every day, is both challenging and important.
I am very aware that I may not have another 20 years. So this is a very appropriate mantra. I feel as if I am slowly leaving this life, so I need to ensure that my brief existance has some point. There are themes which become ever more important as I age. Not just living every moment, but divesting myself of the trappings of existance which can see overly important in youth.
I want to simplify my life in many ways. I don't value "things" at all now. So when / if I move house I'd like to give a lot of my posessions away. I need to have strict criteria - only keeping things which have a special meaning, related to people who have passed through my life, or things which give me real pleasure to look at or use.
Experience, good and bad, (so long as one learns from it), is what is important. I have got 68 years worth, which must be useful to someone. Being able to help others in some way isn't being a "do gooder". It's a symbiotic process - both parties benefit. A smile begats a smile.
Leaving behind the extraneous things of life is very liberating. Maybe you have to be ageing fast to do it. Simplicity & quiet reflection is very hard to find in this day and age. But also "leaving the safe harbour" & really living your life - every day, is both challenging and important.
Saturday 16 February 2013
Ownership
Having done Lasting Power of Attorney & a will I'm thinking about what I own & I realise that the answer is nothing. I don't own my family or friends, they have completely free choice to be with me or not. Friendship should be a two way street, so I just hope I can be a good friend to them & be interested in their lives & they will want to reciprocate.
Ownership of material things can only be temporary. I can't take any of it with me when I die. So I think I need to look at the stuff I have & start giving more of it away. Especially if someone else will be pleased to have it, or it can raise money for people who need help. Having lost almost everything 3 years ago when my house & contents were severely damaged by a mains water leak from the loft while we were on holiday, I realise that there isn't much I am deeply attached to anyway.
As for the house & garden - a house is a shelter & a home. I could probably make a life anywhere really, so long as I had friends & family - and books & music. I live alone, I don't need to please anyone else.
So much of the trouble in life is caused by people fighting, literally, to retain something, land or property. One of the most insidious things people fight for is power of some sort. If we really accepted that we begin & end life with nothing, we might be a little more generous in spirit.
The things that do matter are often free. The snowdrops that are blooming in clumps all round my garden. A beautiful sunny or snowy day. The view from the top of a mountain. The sound of a river meandering along a valley. Sharing your life with someone you love. Conversations with friends. A cheery fire and a good book on a cold day. I could go on and on.....
Maybe this revelation and clarity only comes as we age & begin to realise how unimportant a lot of life is. By then the mistakes are made, but hopefully they have provided valuable lesons.
Ownership of material things can only be temporary. I can't take any of it with me when I die. So I think I need to look at the stuff I have & start giving more of it away. Especially if someone else will be pleased to have it, or it can raise money for people who need help. Having lost almost everything 3 years ago when my house & contents were severely damaged by a mains water leak from the loft while we were on holiday, I realise that there isn't much I am deeply attached to anyway.
As for the house & garden - a house is a shelter & a home. I could probably make a life anywhere really, so long as I had friends & family - and books & music. I live alone, I don't need to please anyone else.
So much of the trouble in life is caused by people fighting, literally, to retain something, land or property. One of the most insidious things people fight for is power of some sort. If we really accepted that we begin & end life with nothing, we might be a little more generous in spirit.
The things that do matter are often free. The snowdrops that are blooming in clumps all round my garden. A beautiful sunny or snowy day. The view from the top of a mountain. The sound of a river meandering along a valley. Sharing your life with someone you love. Conversations with friends. A cheery fire and a good book on a cold day. I could go on and on.....
Maybe this revelation and clarity only comes as we age & begin to realise how unimportant a lot of life is. By then the mistakes are made, but hopefully they have provided valuable lesons.
Friday 15 February 2013
"Food glorious food...."
I can't believe there can be a single adult in the UK with half a brain, that doesn't realise that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys - or horses in this case. Media chefs & diet programmes have been telling us for years that we should eat freshly cooked food using raw ingredients and a have balanced diet. There is a whole multi million pound book & TV programme industry based on it.
We are as culpable as the food processing industry in some ways, with our demand for ever more cheap food. Seemingly we don't care what we put into our mouths, so long as it isn't expensive & it cooks quickly with no effort on our part. We are time poor & a lot of us have given up preparing and eating good food with our families. We don't care how that food is produced as long as we get instant gratification.
I bought some cooked, sliced, chicken pieces for my lunch from Tesco. Not the thin sliced re-constituted, rubbish you get in the deli counter. Something that did actually look like chicken breast. It was so nondescript it could have been anything. There was no taste or "bite" whatsoever. I wouldn't have been able to identify it blindfold. It was watery & bland, even with a liberal helping of mayo.
I cook for one, which can be quite difficult. I do buy "cook chill" foods for convenience. But I still cook from scratch & really enjoy the results with a nice glass of dry white wine. Cooking pasta for example is almost as fast as a ready meal. There really is no excuse when you can get good nutritious recipes from cookbooks or the internet. We should value our health & bodies more & know exactly what is going into our mouths. Even more important - the mouths of our children.
So I have little sympathy with all the coverage of the latest food scandal. If we aren't prepared to pay reasonable prices for good, tasty food we deserve everything we get. Even if it is unmentionable, mechanically scraped, meat from God knows where. Criminals go for the jugular. They see moneymaking opportunitite & don't give a damn about any consequenses.
We are complicit - we allow it to happen. It will continue to happen untill we all do something about it & vote with our purchasing power.
We are as culpable as the food processing industry in some ways, with our demand for ever more cheap food. Seemingly we don't care what we put into our mouths, so long as it isn't expensive & it cooks quickly with no effort on our part. We are time poor & a lot of us have given up preparing and eating good food with our families. We don't care how that food is produced as long as we get instant gratification.
I bought some cooked, sliced, chicken pieces for my lunch from Tesco. Not the thin sliced re-constituted, rubbish you get in the deli counter. Something that did actually look like chicken breast. It was so nondescript it could have been anything. There was no taste or "bite" whatsoever. I wouldn't have been able to identify it blindfold. It was watery & bland, even with a liberal helping of mayo.
I cook for one, which can be quite difficult. I do buy "cook chill" foods for convenience. But I still cook from scratch & really enjoy the results with a nice glass of dry white wine. Cooking pasta for example is almost as fast as a ready meal. There really is no excuse when you can get good nutritious recipes from cookbooks or the internet. We should value our health & bodies more & know exactly what is going into our mouths. Even more important - the mouths of our children.
So I have little sympathy with all the coverage of the latest food scandal. If we aren't prepared to pay reasonable prices for good, tasty food we deserve everything we get. Even if it is unmentionable, mechanically scraped, meat from God knows where. Criminals go for the jugular. They see moneymaking opportunitite & don't give a damn about any consequenses.
We are complicit - we allow it to happen. It will continue to happen untill we all do something about it & vote with our purchasing power.
Monday 11 February 2013
NHS - Cradle to Grave?
The Government is in self congratulatory mood over Social Care after the announcement of a new strategy for caring for our elderly. They circumvent the fact that they have yet again appointed an independent person, Andrew Dilnott, to review the shambles that currently exists, only to igore his main recommendations. What on earth is the point of having an independent review if you don't impliment it's findings & delay implimentation of your own alternative for 6 years? By that time all of the maths will be irrelevant.
It is welcome that the amount an individual has to spend on nursing care will be £75,000, allowable assets will increase to £123,000, & payment for accommodation & food will be capped at £12,500 a year. This generation bought into & has paid into a system of healthcare which guaranteed healthcare, free at the point of need, to everyone. The demographic of the "Baby Boomer" generation has been known for decades, but sucessive governments did nothing to tackle it. If you get on the bus & pay your fare to the terminus, you don't expect to be thrown off before your journey ends.
The fundamental question is what is nursing care? The elderly often have multiple, chronic, incapacitating, conditions as well as more serious illnesses. If you can't feed yourself, dress yourself , go to the toilet unaided or reliably take your medication, I would argue that is nursing care, not just for the elderly, but for anyone of any age. Do we really need a hierarchy of conditions & a cut off somewhere? It is no longer reasonable to expect that care to be provided by the family, if you are lucky enough to have one.
There is very little dignity in being sick or getting old. We can afford to care for sick people whatever their age. We should have a discussion about what the NHS should not pay for, such as meals - It is perfectly possible to make a "hotel" charge for hospital stays. People who chose to take part in dangerous activities or holiday abroad should have to take out insurance & pay for their care. We also need a discussion on what is cosmetic or elective surgery. I can see no reason why, if a patient choses to have medication which is not routinely prescribed, they should not pay the difference. Perhaps more contentiously, I remain to be convinced that free fertility treatment is a right. I also am ambivalent about people who knowingly jeopardise their own health through addictions for example. I do feel they should at least be able to show that they have tried to tackle the root cause of their condition, before expensive healthcare is undertaken. I would, however, expect them to get up to date advice & support to enable them to tackle the problem.
This is a complex area. It demands a real dialogue because it affects everyone. Politicians need to stop being so lilly livered & make the right decisions not the decisions they think will get them re-elected.
It is welcome that the amount an individual has to spend on nursing care will be £75,000, allowable assets will increase to £123,000, & payment for accommodation & food will be capped at £12,500 a year. This generation bought into & has paid into a system of healthcare which guaranteed healthcare, free at the point of need, to everyone. The demographic of the "Baby Boomer" generation has been known for decades, but sucessive governments did nothing to tackle it. If you get on the bus & pay your fare to the terminus, you don't expect to be thrown off before your journey ends.
The fundamental question is what is nursing care? The elderly often have multiple, chronic, incapacitating, conditions as well as more serious illnesses. If you can't feed yourself, dress yourself , go to the toilet unaided or reliably take your medication, I would argue that is nursing care, not just for the elderly, but for anyone of any age. Do we really need a hierarchy of conditions & a cut off somewhere? It is no longer reasonable to expect that care to be provided by the family, if you are lucky enough to have one.
There is very little dignity in being sick or getting old. We can afford to care for sick people whatever their age. We should have a discussion about what the NHS should not pay for, such as meals - It is perfectly possible to make a "hotel" charge for hospital stays. People who chose to take part in dangerous activities or holiday abroad should have to take out insurance & pay for their care. We also need a discussion on what is cosmetic or elective surgery. I can see no reason why, if a patient choses to have medication which is not routinely prescribed, they should not pay the difference. Perhaps more contentiously, I remain to be convinced that free fertility treatment is a right. I also am ambivalent about people who knowingly jeopardise their own health through addictions for example. I do feel they should at least be able to show that they have tried to tackle the root cause of their condition, before expensive healthcare is undertaken. I would, however, expect them to get up to date advice & support to enable them to tackle the problem.
This is a complex area. It demands a real dialogue because it affects everyone. Politicians need to stop being so lilly livered & make the right decisions not the decisions they think will get them re-elected.
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