Who do we think we are?
Yes, I'm still coughing and numbly gazing at daytime TV. On some hiddeous Sunday talk show called "The Big Questions" this morning they were slugging it out over the crisis being suffered by the elderly. Do we all have a sell-by date? Should the elderly be forced to sell their assets to pay for care?
My first reaction would be *No*. People pay their taxes in good faith now and punishing the saver is not the answer. If we cannot expect a pension or some semblance of medical or social care when we retire considering the NHS cuts and comments about elderly care this week, what are we paying for and more importantly, how will this develop?
In 1881, a 72 yr old widow died in abject poverty in the Bloomsbury workhouse. Nothing unusual about that? OK so far. Her name was Ann Green and she was my Great-great-great grandmother. She herself was the youngest of 9 and had coincidentally raised 9 children of her own. I presume she had supported her husband John through his years of business as a Silversmith but on his death she was certainly left with nothing. She lasted less than a year. When I found out that she had passed away in such a place under what I understand to be filthy and maggot-ridden conditions, I wasn't ok. I was frankly rather upset and my position changed.
If she had owned a property, I would have urged her to sell it and give herself a good death. Anything would have been better than what I imagine to be such a squalid and comfortless end. She didn't have the choice to pay, but I imagine that if she did, her care may have been arguably better than standards today.
This issue has raised its ugly head again this week in the press, with the release of reports detailing conditions that describe various levels of neglect, willful or otherwise of the elderly both in hospitals and residential settings accross the country. Being forced to pay, possibly twice, for care is one thing, but paying at all for the neglect described is effectively robbery. Ann died aged 72 dirty, malnourished and surrounded by strangers. I can't help thinking that more than a hundred years on, with the increases in the standard of living and education that we now enjoy, the attitude towards end of life care appears to have regressed.
I don't know whether the answer is more tax, have more babies, compulsory pension/assurance investment or as Joe Haldeman* suggests, no access to healthcare at all on retirement. But I do know that we ruled out the notion of Big Society some 150 years ago when the government had their asses handed to them by Florence Nightingale and other contemporary notables. http://www.nhshistory.net/poor_law_infirmaries.htm
I'd like to think that any contemporary exchange would look something like this: **
http://www.youtube.com/embed/xHWtXSKSQSY
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves.
* Author of "The Forever War". One of my favourite books.
** Big Train. Big Fan.
My first reaction would be *No*. People pay their taxes in good faith now and punishing the saver is not the answer. If we cannot expect a pension or some semblance of medical or social care when we retire considering the NHS cuts and comments about elderly care this week, what are we paying for and more importantly, how will this develop?
In 1881, a 72 yr old widow died in abject poverty in the Bloomsbury workhouse. Nothing unusual about that? OK so far. Her name was Ann Green and she was my Great-great-great grandmother. She herself was the youngest of 9 and had coincidentally raised 9 children of her own. I presume she had supported her husband John through his years of business as a Silversmith but on his death she was certainly left with nothing. She lasted less than a year. When I found out that she had passed away in such a place under what I understand to be filthy and maggot-ridden conditions, I wasn't ok. I was frankly rather upset and my position changed.
If she had owned a property, I would have urged her to sell it and give herself a good death. Anything would have been better than what I imagine to be such a squalid and comfortless end. She didn't have the choice to pay, but I imagine that if she did, her care may have been arguably better than standards today.
This issue has raised its ugly head again this week in the press, with the release of reports detailing conditions that describe various levels of neglect, willful or otherwise of the elderly both in hospitals and residential settings accross the country. Being forced to pay, possibly twice, for care is one thing, but paying at all for the neglect described is effectively robbery. Ann died aged 72 dirty, malnourished and surrounded by strangers. I can't help thinking that more than a hundred years on, with the increases in the standard of living and education that we now enjoy, the attitude towards end of life care appears to have regressed.
I don't know whether the answer is more tax, have more babies, compulsory pension/assurance investment or as Joe Haldeman* suggests, no access to healthcare at all on retirement. But I do know that we ruled out the notion of Big Society some 150 years ago when the government had their asses handed to them by Florence Nightingale and other contemporary notables. http://www.nhshistory.net/poor_law_infirmaries.htm
I'd like to think that any contemporary exchange would look something like this: **
http://www.youtube.com/embed/xHWtXSKSQSY
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves.
* Author of "The Forever War". One of my favourite books.
** Big Train. Big Fan.