What the papers said in the week ending 26 November 2022
The war in Ukraine is still with us.
The most alarming alternative headlines and stories of the week relate to the impact of financial pressures upon the safety and quality of life of people – most especially the most vulnerable:
- Leonard Cheshire requires more money to care for its residents with multiple and severe disabilities. Councils cannot afford to pay more because their funding has been brutally reduced. Some residents have to find new homes: Disabled care home residents evicted in charity’s dispute with councils | Social care | The Guardian
- People who are known to be seriously ill, cannot get timely access to appropriate healthcare: Ambulance service in England ‘in meltdown’ as one in four 999 calls missed in October | Hospitals | The Guardian
- Others die waiting for social care: People are dying waiting for social care. Wealthy people’s inheritance issues are not a priority | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian
- There are fairer ways to fund social care for all | Social care | The Guardian
- Healthcare professionals feel undervalued: Nurses across UK to strike for first time on 15 and 20 December | Nursing | The Guardian
- Parents are going without food, so that their children can eat: UK single parents skipping meals due to food price inflation, Which? finds | UK cost of living crisis | The Guardian
- Even the most recent budget is seen by some as too timid to counter the difficulties we face: Jeremy Hunt’s plans likely to degrade public services, says report | Public services policy | The Guardian
The advance of technology and the way that it is introduced into everyday communications is leaving some older people, and others, out of touch and unable to pursue the necessities of everyday life:‘It’s discrimination’: millions of Britons frozen out in the digital age | Consumer affairs | The Guardian
- The best smartphones to help older people beat the tech divide | Mobile phones | The Guardian
- This is not a new phenomenon but one which has grown larger and more intrusive. One aspect of this is to provide education so that people can use devices of their choice. Another, bigger issue, is that of allowing for choice. Not everyone wants to spend money on a mobile phone and its upkeep. Even those of us who might afford this, and find it possible to learn how to use a device, will not always want to be railroaded into this way of life and to devote hours of each day to using it. There is urgent need for campaigns to preserve our freedom: Mind the digital gap (ageuk.org.uk)
- Accessibility for older people on phones, tablets and computers | Age UK
- Mobile and landline phones for people with dementia | Alzheimer’s Society (alzheimers.org.uk)
Healthcare: Lecanemab is trumpeted as a breakthrough in the search for a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease: ‘This looks like the real deal’: are we inching closer to a treatment for Alzheimer’s? | Health | The Guardian
- Complicated, expensive, with side effects and without certain value, this has every hallmark of a false dawn, driven by the ambitions of the pharma.
You can have too much of a good thing: moderation even in consumption of water, is being canvassed: Eight glasses of water a day excessive for most people, study suggests | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Another radical approach will test the benefits of fruit and veg on prescription: Fresh fruit and veg prescribed to low-income families in UK trial | UK cost of living crisis | The Guardian
Environmental fears remain high and thoroughly justified. Words flow freely, but effecting necessary changes in practice fail for lack of shared will: World still ‘on brink of climate catastrophe’ after Cop27 deal | Cop27 | The Guardian
- Some of the consequences do give pleasure in the short run: ‘Second spring’ for plant life as mild temperatures continue (magzter.com)
Other matters:
Our interest and concern for prisoners finds more encouragement in a posthumous award for Eric Allison: Late Guardian prisons correspondent receives outstanding journalism award | The Guardian | The Guardian
People leaving Hong Kong are beginning to feel at home in the UK: ‘Here to stay’: Colchester’s Hongkongers on making new lives in the UK | UK news | The Guardian
T S Eliot and Groucho Marx may have been very different- but they admired each other’s work: Dinner With Groucho review – table for two mismatched geniuses | Theatre | The Guardian
The Pope has turned to a football orthopaedic specialist to help with his knee problem: Vatican calls up Atlético Madrid doctor to treat pope’s knee problem | Pope Francis | The Guardian
The fight for taste and elegance in railway circles goes on: Betjeman’s Liverpool Street campaign revived in face of new development | London | The Guardian
King Charles is gracious in his praise of crocs: Crocs – Wikipedia
Taste and a sense of ethics have combined to threaten the existence of Twitter. Christians on Ageing has closed its account: As Twitter burns we must not forget it is people that create social movements, not apps | Samantha Floreani | The Guardian
‘Beautifully chosen’: David Hockney’s yellow Crocs impress King Charles | Fashion | The Guardian
David Jolley. Chair of Christians on Ageing, in a personal capacity. November 2022
