What the papers said in the week ending 11 September 2021
The big news of the week for older people and the whole nation comes from a first glimpse of an attempt to improve the funding of services for people who are ill or persistently disabled and in need of care. Almost everyone agrees that something should be done and this requires extra funding. It is not clear that there will be agreement of how much will be diverted to this, what changes in services there will be, and how the funds will be raised. Government proposals are that the main source will be from National Insurance payments. The objection to this is that it takes money away from young working people who are already struggling
- Johnson faces Tory battle over tax rise as cabinet reshuffle looms | Boris Johnson | The Guardian
- Using national insurance to fund social care is regressive and unfair | Letters | The Guardian
- Rishi Sunak agrees to add extra £1bn to NHS budget increase | NHS | The Guardian
- It’s time for those who benefited from a housing boom to pay up | Tax | The Guardian
- If national insurance must fund social care, at least make it fair | Economic policy | The Guardian
- Pensioners have already paid their fair share in tax | Letters | The Guardian
- Boris Johnson stakes reputation on £12bn fix for health and social care | Boris Johnson | The Guardian
- Increase taxes not national insurance to fund social care, says Jeremy Hunt | Social care | The Guardian
- Boris Johnson has created a ‘social care plan’ without any plan for social care | Frances Ryan | The Guardian
- Labour must seize the initiative on social care | Letters | The Guardian
- Archbishop of Canterbury criticises social care tax rise | Social care | The Guardian
An unfair world:
It is inevitable but a painful truth that reduction of benefit payments to pre-covid lockdown levels will affect the most vulnerable adversely: Ending universal credit boost will hit sickest areas the hardest, study shows | Universal credit | The Guardian
People seeking asylum in this country pose problems and conflicting passions Concern for migrants’ safety as hundreds resume Channel crossings | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian
- Return of migrant vessels: a violation of maritime law and moral duty | Migration | The Guardian
- And differing profiles of welcome and generosity: Labour councils house eight times as many asylum seekers as Tory areas, analysis finds | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian
Leaseholders – including older people in assisted accommodation are finding themselves required to pay escalating bills: Post-Grenfell fire safety: leaseholders risk being fleeced, warns top adviser | Grenfell Tower fire | The Guardian
Gordon Brown and others urge unselfish sharing of the vaccines which can protect people from Covid-19 The west has more vaccine doses than it needs – and no excuse not to share them | Gordon Brown | The Guardian
Sadly the challenges of these times are producing fault lines in the NHS and other services: GPs in England ‘finding it increasingly hard to guarantee safe care’ | GPs | The Guardian
- GP surgeries in England cancel flu jabs amid vaccine shortage | Flu | The Guardian
- Where the national service is failing, the private sector will help those who can afford to pay Long NHS waiting lists fuel return to profit at healthcare firm Spire | Healthcare industry | The Guardian
Despite all this – there are new treatments which are being afforded: ‘Revolutionary’ lung cancer drug made available on NHS in England | Lung cancer | The Guardian
Frances Heaton, who is 100 lends her voice to a campaign to ensure rights and freedom to care home residents: Yorkshire care home resident, 100, pleads for end to Covid isolation | Social care | The Guardian
- Petition · Please let me hug my family before it’s too late! · Change.org
- How It Began – Rights for Residents
Some unusual books by unusual authors have been winning prizes and look likely ease our troubled minds: ‘Unreal’: Samaritans volunteer has life turned around by six-figure book deal | Books | The Guardian
- Wainwright prize for nature writing goes to James Rebanks for English Pastoral | Science and nature books | The Guardian
- Women’s prize for fiction goes to Susanna Clarke’s ‘mind-bending’ Piranesi | The Women’s Prize for Fiction | The Guardian
Other matters:
Channel 4 is much admired but is struggling to maintain its status: Channel 4 opens new HQ in Leeds as it fights against privatisation | Channel 4 | The Guardian
A global view links the welfare of trees and the natural world with wellbeing amongst humans: The Guardian view on saving forests: when trees are at risk, so are we | Editorial | The Guardian
There is concern that extreme views are nurtured in schools – Teachers ask for help in learning how to recognise and counter this Extreme views and conspiracism rising among England’s pupils, research finds | Education | The Guardian
The Anglican Church in Wales will allow blessings of same-sex couples, placing it as more liberal than the church in England but some way behind the Episcopal Church in Scotland and the Methodist Church Church in Wales votes to bless same-sex marriages | Christianity | The Guardian
House owners find their houses continue to increase in value: UK house prices hit record high despite cut in stamp duty break | House prices | The Guardian
Noise pollution is hazardous to the brain and linked to increase incidence of dementia – as demonstrated by a Danish study: Transport noise linked to increased risk of dementia, study finds | Dementia | The Guardian
Too much free time might not cause dementia but it does challenge a sense of wellbeing – too much/too little – and just right as in almost all things Study links too much free time to lower sense of wellbeing | Psychology | The Guardian
The organisation which has shared British Culture with populations around the world – with benefits for all – is losing its funding: British Council to close 20 offices across globe after cuts and lost income | UK news | The Guardian
Lockdowns saw more people investing in pets, especially dogs to be companions on walks and at home. Not all such relationships are surviving the return to more normal social life More dog owners thinking about giving up pet, charity says | Dogs | The Guardian
Plans have been made to cope in the event of the death of Queen Elizabeth II Security operation for Queen’s death includes social media blackouts | The Queen | The Guardian
The Pope has shown compassion to prisoners in the heat of Rome – Pope Francis sends 15,000 ice-creams to prisoners in Rome | Pope Francis | The Guardian
Iris Apfel ‘Geriatric Starlet’ makes a statement for life in very old age Iris Apfel Celebrates Her 100th Birthday and H&M Collection (thecut.com)
David Jolley
