No excuse for neglect (From The Northern Echo)

No excuse for neglect

2:32pm Friday 6th January 2012 in Sharon's View By Sharon Griffiths

BABYBOOMERS of Britain unite! You have nothing to lose but your dignity, your pension and 20 years of decent living 2011 was not a good year for babyboomers.

The first of the post-war babies reached 65 and the recent trickle of retirees became a flood – just as pensions began vanishing like fairy dust. The rest of us, coming up behind them on life’s great escalator began to get nervous.

Somehow it was our fault that our houses had soared in value, that university courses cost money and the bankers had blown the entire system.

And, above all, for looking as though we were going to live longer and take pensions for 20 years or more.

Yes, I know, the decent thing would be if we all went out and shot ourselves now. Or if we’d turned on, tuned in and dropped out and died before we got old. Why didn’t we all f-f-f-fade away...

But failing that, we need to stop thinking about ourselves, or even our children and look at the generation above us. Not good.

Because if 2011 was bad for babyboomers, it was even worse for their parents’ generation. They’re the ones who are really old, the ones who are often neglected by the NHS, abandoned by nurses, neglected by carers, often denied even their dignity.

In 2011 barely a week went by without some more shocking revelation.

So what are we going to do about it?

We should be putting the care of the old near the top of the list. And setting a good example – for if we don’t look after our parents’ generation, how can we expect our children to look after ours?

For the sake of those who can’t fight their own battles any more, we should be wading in and doing what we can. If only out of self-interest – in 20 years’ time, that could be us.

Frail and helpless – and if so, this time we really will have ourselves to blame.

It is easy to neglect the old because often they find it hard to speak up for themselves. Which is why we should do it for them. And Babyboomers have about 20 years in which to do it.

So we’d better get our skates on – while we can still bend down to fasten them.

Traditional Christmas

BEING a traditionalist, I put my Christmas decorations up as late as the family would let me, and have left them up until today, Twelfth Night, long after many of my neighbours have gone back to darkness.

Some people, of course, are even more traditional and keep the decorations up until Candlemas – February 2. Including, apparently, the Queen at Sandringham.

You can bet she doesn’t have to keep clearing up the pine needles.

John Terry

JOHN Terry’s face has been used above a picture of some blackened lungs on Indian cigarettes to warn smoker of how they could end up. Well, it would certainly put me off...

Living off leftovers

I’VE done no food shopping since December 22. We’re living on leftovers, or from the cupboard or freezer. Meals are getting slightly bizarre, and we’re getting down to some old tins at the back of the cupboard. But it’s an interesting exercise and we’re good for a few more days yet – and at least by the end of it, I’ll be able to defrost the freezer.

Breast implants

AFTER reports of sub-standard breast implants rupturing and possibly causing all sorts of damage, there is discussion over whether the women who paid for these should have them removed courtesy of the NHS. Far more important is why so many young, healthy and attractive women feel so inadequate and insecure that they decide the only way to happiness is to have glorified bath sealant sewn into their chests.

That’s the problem we should really be solving.

Mother love triumphs in the face of tragedy

IT’S taken 18 years, but finally there is some justice for the murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

It’s thanks in part to two remarkable women – Stephen’s own mother Doreen, who dignified and determined, refused to give up in all these years, despite some fiendish obstacles to overcome. On the way, she has influenced many changes in British policing.

And Ann Ming, of Billingham, whose equally relentless campaigning after her daughter Julie’s killer boasted of his crime when he was acquitted, was instrumental in ending the double jeopardy law, which prevented people from being tried twice for the same crime.

Between them, they have done a great service, not only for their own wronged children, but for British justice as a whole. We should all be grateful to them – and never underestimate the power of mother love.

Scouts delight

SCOUTS and Guides are incredibly popular with youngsters yet often struggle to get enough adult volunteers to cope with all the children who want to join.

Now the Duchess of Cambridge has said she will become a volunteer with the Scouts near her Anglesey home.

The Duchess in shorts and a woggle?

Something tells me that North Wales will be the one place in Britain where there’ll be suddenly no shortage of volunteers.

Backtrack

Hi Sharon,
YOUR favourite grown-ups as listed in your column could be classed as old dogs learning new tricks.

It’s amazing how some people keep going. We recently saw Joe Brown in concert and he owned up to being 70. And guess what, the show was excellent. In the current issue of Best of British magazine, Marty Wilde is featured and is still doing gigs at 73.

Martin Birtle, by email Dear Sharon,
WE have today happily tipped our paper girl, milkman and post lady as a sign of how much we appreciated their good work, especially in dreadful weather.

We would never pay the 12.5 per cent rip off that you paid at the Booking Office Bar. This is a European nonsense.

I always refuse point blank to pay any service charge anywhere, be it printed on the menu or not. We tip at our discretion, but only for exceptional service.

A tip or a service charge is a voluntary act of kindness and it is has no legal standing whatsoever.

We always ask – pleasantly, politely – for a new bill without the service charge and it has never been refused.

The day anyone puts a service charge on my bill for serving me a couple of drinks, will be the first time and the last time I ever go in that bar.

David Summers, by email