Don’t let Saga get away with it

I hesitate to admit to schadenfreude but there was certainly a degree of smugness when I read that Saga are facing a possible disaster because of government legislation against what might be termed ‘reverse discrimination’. Saga have been offering cruises and coach tours exclusively for the over-50s for years but legislation banning all discrimination in the provision of good and services – including on the grounds of age – means the company might have to open its doors to all comers thus allowing young people access to their ’silver tours’.

 Saga was originally told that the law would require them to offer all cruises, resort and touring holidays and numerous financial products to everyone irrespective of age. They have responded by claiming that their brand name would be jeoparidised and their business could collapse if trendy young things are allowed to ’pollute’ the sedate and rarified ambience of their traditional activities. The government have since hinted that they might be prepared to compromise to help Saga out of a potentially deep hole. But why should Saga receive special treatment? If they can get away with what is quite simply an ageist policy why shouldn’t others? To allow Saga to circumvent the legislation would make a mockery of everything the anti-ageism laws are supposed to stand for. Saga should sink or swim along with the rest.

Like John Wayne with piles

What has two wheels, moves like John Wayne with piles, is dripping wet and covered from head to foot in mud? Yours truly after completing 32 miles on my bike in yesterday’s Thames Bridges ride in aid of the Stroke Association. Yet, despite having cursed every yard of the way as rain fell incessantly like stair-rods and winding up bedgraggled, barely able to walk and with a very sore bum, my outward appearance did not match what I was feeling inside.

My sense of elation at having completed this marathon in conditions even Sir Ranulph Fiennes would have baulked at was quite extraordinary. I felt like a hero, fulling deserving of the medal I was presented with at the end, and ready to take on whatever life could throw at me. To push yourself to the limits and beyond is truly gratifying in a way that cannot be explained unless you have done it. What was particularly pleasing was the fact that I was able to ride shoulder to shoulder with much younger folk and in some cases leave them in my wake. What next, you may ask? I wonder if Ranulph needs a PA?

Ball park figure

The bitter taste of revenge came swiftly to me after posting a recent blog about a friend of a certain age being offered a seat on the bus by a young woman. When the death of Alan Ball was announced this week at the age of 61 my friend took great pleasure in bating me about the fact that I am the same vintage as England’s 1966 World Cup hero. This untimely poke in the ribs stung momentarily but I quickly reminded myself that age really is all in the mind and fixating on a number is pointless – unless you are a mathematician.

The Italians apparently have a saying ‘The old will die; the young can die’, which highlights the fact that life and death are two sides of the same coin. The reality is that we could be knocked down by a number 27 bus, fall down a manhole, get bitten by a Black Widow or poleaxed by a coronary at any time but that’s something we can’t control so why worry about it? As far as I’m concerned, the fact that Alan B popped his clogs at 61 has no more relevance to me than a game of bingo. When my number’s up it’s up – but in the meantime I’m not going to waste time checking my card every five minutes.

Live it to the max!

Having been thoroughly irritated by an article penned by Brian Appleyard in the Sunday Times magazine a couple of weeks ago, which slated baby-boomers for ’seeking the fountain of youth with increasingly desperate enthusiasm’, I was contrastingly buoyed by a piece in The Times today headlined ‘Why 50somethings live like 20somethings’.  The Times article revealed that boomers are basically having a whale of a time in a whole variety of ways and are as fit and fulfilled – if not more so – as those in their twenties were during the 1950s.

Some people just don’t get it, do they? The whole point about the new breed of  fit and feisty older people is not that they are in denial of death; rather that they don’t want to give up and sit there waiting for The Grim Reaper like their parents and grandparents. What is wrong with wanting to make the most of your alloted span and, if possible, extend it?Anyone who thinks otherwise simply does not appreciate life for the wonderful gift that it is.

I’m all stood up

A good friend got much more than he bargained for when he took a bus ride during the rush hour recently. A young lady, around his daughter’s age, noticed him standing up, smiled, got to her feet and offered him her seat. My friend was mortified but I told him he shouldn’t be too quick to jump to conclusions because there were three possible ways of interpreting her action: 1 She was being polite and respectful. 2 She was thinking ‘Poor old git; he’s about to keel over’. 3 She had a thing about mature men and was trying to pull him.

Life is all about perception and so is our individual take on age - in ourselves as well as others. So, let us know what you think – was my friend being pandered to, pitied or pulled? His self-esteem is in your hands.

Can’t get no satisfaction

Sitting in the London sunshine reading through a daily paper, I was struck yet again by our  – or should I say the media’s – obsession with age. Why does everyone automatically have that ridiculous, mandatory tag placed after their name, e.g. Mick Jagger, 62, as if leaving it off would somehow deprive us of a vital piece of information?

I do not have particularly strong feelings about Mick Jagger one way or the other but one thing I do know – I couldn’t care less if he is 101 or 21 and I certainly don’t want to have it rammed down my throat every time I see an article about him. I take people as I find them; I don’t base my perceptions or my opinions on what I am supposed to think as dictated by some artificial construct of our society. As Patrick McGoohan used to say in cult TV show, The Prisoner, ‘I am not a number; I am a free man’.

The truth about older workers

Employers often tend to under-value older workers because of long established negative beliefs about their contribution and ‘value for money’, which in turn leads to ageism and age discrimination. It is often thought that older workers are more expensive than their younger colleagues. They are, of course, often paid more because of seniority and incremental pay awards.
Nevertheless, recent research implies that some organisations value the knowledge, relevant experience and loyalty of the older employee which more than compensates for higher salaries.
(Source: Centre for Research into the Older Workforce July 2006)

The training of older workers

Recent research indicates that workers who receive training after their fiftieth birthday are likely to stay longer in the workforce. This is probably due to the greater employability of workers with higher skill levels and increased loyalty resulting from the organisation’s investment in the employee.
Levels of qualification have been rising since the Second World War. People now in their 50s and 60s generally are better qualified than previous generations, but they are not as well qualified as workers in their 30s or 40s. However, often the training of the older workers is informal and problems arise when older employees are the victims of ageism and made redundant and forced to seek new employment.
Government priorities for development should be to ensure equal access to current training, compensation for previous inequality, and learning to manage age discrimination.
(Source: Centre for Research into the Older Workforce July 2006)

Simply does it

In search of the secret of long life, the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes ventured into a small group of valleys amidst the karst limestone mountains of south-west China where people work in the fields at 100 years old and regularly live to the age of 110.
In the valley of Longlaodun, Wingfield-Hayes found an idyllic scene with crystal-clear streams flowing beneath stone bridges and peaks cloaked in swirling mist.
This oriental paradise is populated by sprightly centenarians who work tirelessly and enjoy a simple lifestyle unspoilt by Western intrusions.
Outsiders have speculated that the communal longevity is due to a combination of cool mountain air, clear water, rice wine and even the cannabis seed that many like to chew.
However, Wingfield-Hayes concluded that the secret of their ripe old age lies in their simple diet – mostly corn and vegetables – and the extraordinary peace that pervades the valley. The outside world hardly intrudes at all; there appears to be little or no yearning for its wealth or trappings.
The number of Chinese over the age of 60 is more than 134 million – 10 per cent of the population and increasing at 3.2 per cent per annum. By 2050 the number of over 60s will be 400 million – 25 per cent of the population.

Old money

Age discrimination suits have provided rich pickings in the United States. One study found the average payout in cases where age discrimination was proved was $268,926 (approx £144,000) compared with £94,000 for racial discrimination, £81,000 for disability discrimination and £65,000 for sex discrimination. In Ireland, a fifth of employment tribunals involve cases of alleged discrimination on the grounds of age.