How Disgraceful!

It was so depressing to read, at a time when there is real misery in rich and poor countries alike, that a young couple should consider it right to have such a large and lavish  party for their enormously rich friends that only the Palace of Versailles could accommodate it.

Probably they do not even know that, in 1789,  just such OTT behaviour in that same "venue" led to the perpetrators and many more going to the guillotine.  History can repeat itself.

Elderly Advisers for Care of the Old

Those who want to find out what causes teenagers to get into unruly gangs and otherwise behave badly have had huge success by recruiting other teenagers who understand the problem from the inside and know how their contemporaries think.

Those who try to improve the care of the elderly have no such idea.  Our fate is decided for us by well-meaning people of every age except our own.  Nobody, by definition, knows what it is like to be old because nobody has experienced it.  But some of us could give help in that direction.  When I visit a geriatric ward I so well understand how the inmates are feeling, but am usually condescended to and sometimes mistaken for one of them.  With the best will in the world, those young nurses can't empathise with the elderly.   They refuse to believe that there comes a point when you accept the thought of death with equanimity and the jolly rebuttals of any such suggestion only serve to make the aged more lonely than ever.

The role of money

I have just come across a note I made in 1988.  J.K. Galbraith, the economist wrote "It is funny that incentive for the poor involves taking money away and incentive for the rich involves giving them more".

Some things never change.

What is a living wage?

I went to Wimbledon on Saturday to buy some clothes in the excellent charity shops there.  I noticed several advertisements in the shop windows of the "Help Wanted" variety, which is apparently at odds with the current difficulty in finding jobs.  But it all ties in perfectly logically - these are jobs people just can't afford to take.  One was for a manager of a charity shop - full time - £12,500 a year.  Another for a full-time cook, £6.90 per hour.  How can people afford to do these jobs, unless they have a partner who is earning better?

Shopping

Yesterday I wanted to buy some trousers.  I think of British Home Stores as including the elderly among their clientele.  I was offered "petite" "classic" or "summer".  I opted for "classic" and was amazed and amused to find they were all made of denim.  This is when you feel you have really fallen off the edge of the world.  Language no longer means what it once did.  A kind young assistant went through the "summer" collection and found the only pair of size 14 in either black or navy.  It was perfect, but I was lucky.  What I was looking for seemed such a classical sort of request, but evidently not. However, I would, at 85, feel ridiculous in bluejeans.

Housing Shortage

The shortage of housing is directly connected with the creation of teenage gangs and their poor behaviour.
When families are inadequately housed there is just nowhere at home for youngsters to invite their friends in.

There are thousands of empty houses and flats in London.  Why do we allow this situation to continue?  If they belong to Councils which cannot afford to put them in good condition, let the Councils open them up to people on their housing list and give the responsibility for mending them to the new occupants.  In return the occupants would have to agree not to sue the Council.  This sueing is destroying life for so many families.  If they are in private hands the Council Tax should become punitive.  It is anti-social to keep property empty while you  wait for it to increase in value. 

Love

I had a visit from a 12-year-old girl yesterday.  She comes from a religious family.  We were talking about teenagers helping out with chores around the house and garden and I said that mostly if you see someone you love with too much to do you help them out of love.  She said "I don't think there's much love in the world".  It's a sad conclusion for such a young girl to come to.  When I challenged her assertion she said she had offered to carry a heavy load of shopping for an old lady, but her offer had been rudely refused.  She asked if I would accept such an offer from a young person I didn't know.  I said I would, but would take care my money was in my pocket and not in the bag. 

I blame the media for the poor opinion we all have of each other.  News of bad behaviour sells newspapers and happy stories mostly don't.  Trailers of films or TV programmes show the nastiest and most violent clips, sure that those are what will attract the viewers.  With what enthusiasm does the media follow the corruption or infidelities of people in the public eye!

We must, as a society, be doing something wrong if a 12-year old, religious girl thinks there's not much love in the world.  There certainly is, but nobody likes to talk about it.

Patients in Corridors

It's a shame to castigate the NHS for not finding beds for new admissions, because the bed-blocking is often caused by their own humane regulations.

When I broke my hip I wasn't allowed home before re-learning how to go upstairs and would not be released until a hand-rail was installed on my own staircase.  The delay for installing the hand-rail was 2 weeks.  I was luckily able to afford to have the work done myself so only bed-blocked for 24 hours.

Living on £1 a day for food

Congratulations to the Bishop of Oxford who decided to live for a week spending only £1 a day on food.  He managed it by eating lots of porridge and lentils and carrots, and ended up really hungry at the end of the week.   I admire him for doing it, especially as he had to go to dinners where everybody else was gorging themselves and there was lots of tempting food around.  I should think it is a useful exercise to make you realize what it's like to be always wishing to eat your fill and be reminded that so many children, particularly, over the world never have enough to eat.

A Joan of Arc for Greece

Greece needs some charismatic leader in the Joan of Arc style to suggest they all work together instead of supporting 30 different parties and demonstrating and striking and generally making matters worse.

If they left the euro they could return to the drachma and it would be very low in value.  It is an ideal tourist country and instead of rather putting off the tourists with all this unrest, they could all put their minds to making it very welcoming.  Joan of Arc could summon up their patriotism and, with a hopeful, cheerful atmosphere, combined with low prices, tourists would flock there, to take advantage of them and to encourage a country which is trying to recover.  They could appeal to all those rich Greeks living abroad to send money, or come for holidays themselves.  It doesn't seem to me impossible.  Force of personality can achieve so much and it could be a great example to other countries facing such difficulties.

Incidentally, we might try a little cooperation in this country, instead of the mud-slinging politicians seem to enjoy so much.

Human Duties

Recently it has been suggested that some doctors may refuse to treat patients who will not give up smoking or try to lose weight.

Have they got a point?  If we have a "human right" to medical care, we surely have also a "human duty" to do our best to keep our own bodies in good order.

Except for very small children, who have all the rights and none of the duties, we surely have to each play our part in trying to make society work.

Being out of touch

It's not only David Cameron and his posh friends who are out of touch with normal beings.  On Friday I went to see one of the doctors (not my favourite one, though) at our surgery.  We are very lucky - if we don't specify a doctor, we can see somebody the same day.  I have a painful lung and have had pneumonia before, so thought I should have it checked.  He said what I expected, take anti-biotics and come back in a week's time if it's still painful.  This was perfectly satisfactory, but, when listening to my chest, he asked why I was wearing so many layers of clothes.  I had to explain that old people who use public transport have to wait at bus stops and they get cold if they don't wear enough clothes.  Mostly they have learnt this.  Anyone shivering at a bus stop is usually someone too young to own a vest.  Is  it not sensible for an old woman with a dodgy chest to wear plenty of clothes on a cold May morning?  David Cameron is one thing, a doctor is another.