 Talkback is a regular
feature in laterlife.com run by journalist and author Helen Franks.
Welcome to talkback 25
Read Helen’s views and ideas, then add your own by
emailing her on helen@laterlife.com. Whatever
your opinion on the subject under discussion, Helen wants to hear it. And in due course a
selection of replies will feature in talkback.
If you would like to suggest future topics for talkback, please
email Helen with the details. And remember you can also start your own forum discussion
thread by visiting the laterlife cafe
Age
discrimination? Scrap it!
When it comes to age we're all in
the same boat, only some of us have been aboard
a little longer.
Leo Probst
 Hot on the heels of last month’s Talkback on
age discrimination in health and social services, comes a report from British Gas/Help the
Aged Partnership. The report makes depressing and aggro-inducing reading: half the UK
population believes that this country treats older people as if they're on the scrapheap,
and 40% believe that older people are considered a burden on society.
The British Gas/Help the Aged Partnership response is
the launching of the Scrap
it! Campaign. Its aim is to root out age
discrimination.
Help the Aged have already received
lots of emails telling about experiences of age discrimination. Read them or add your own
on their campaign comment page. If we want to see success, we have to get involved.
Visitors to laterlife.com can help scrap age
discrimination by visiting Help the Aged campaign pages through their website : www.helptheaged.org.uk
This talkback was produced in 2001
and is part of our archive material. However the Age Discrimination Act
comes into force in October 2006 and as a result as from January 2006
Laterlife Learning has introduced Workshops for employers entitled:
Preparing for
the Age Discrimination Act
Meanwhile, a big bouquet to BT which
is doing its bit to change stereotypes about ageing. You
may have seen some of their ads on TV. My
favourite is the one with the woman in the bath, and also most certainly in later life. Her ‘phone rings. It’s
her daughter, leaving a message and worrying about where Mum is, the poor old, silly old
thing. Mum meanwhile is having a very nice time -
as we see and hear her with her gentleman friend, sharing some intimate moments in the
tub.
I must confess to a special interest in these ads. The gentleman friend is, you see, someone I have known
for about 30 years. He is an actor, George Little
(and father of famous violinist Tasmin Little). Despite
a lifetime in the theatre, including taking over from Topol in
Fiddler On the Roof during the Israeli 6-day war in 1967, George says that for the first time people are
recognising him in the street.
It’s not a case of life
beginning at 70, but is proof that life doesn’t stand still.
PS. I asked George what caused him
to give that great shriek at the end of the bath scene.
Let’s just say something rather rude was going on…
THAT’S later LIFE
Liza Minelli, 56, after a mugging attempt: ‘Nothing scares us…It was just a few
kids fooling around’
Rose Cottle, aged 102, took a petition to Downing Street to protest at the
planned demolition of the care home in which she is a resident - and won!
June Whitfield, is returning to the West End in
a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce at
the age of 76
Got any contributions to THAT’S later LIFE? Send them to Helen@laterlife.com
Previous talkback topics Helen would still like to hear your views Don`t forget to take a look at Helen`s healthwise column
too
    |
