Relax – you’re getting older every day

March 17, 2010 by
Filed under: Politics 

Having posted on Monday about the civic university I duly spoke at the event this morning.  Sadly, the post didn’t elicit any comments but the speech went down OK.

Today I am again looking for helpful thoughts ahead of a speech tomorrow at an event to launch Age UK, which describes itself as ‘the new force combining Age Concern and Help the Aged’.     

Age UK is launching an agenda for later life based around six challenges for government:

• Equal respect
• Support to be independent
• Enough money
• Feeling well
• Taking part locally
• Thinking global

(if you don’t understand what this all means you’ll have to read the full report)

I find it hard to disagree with anything in the Age UK document. I like, for example, the recognition that overall things have got better for older people. But rather than getting into the policy detail, I intend to use my 15 minutes to explore the question: ‘what is our core narrative about population ageing’. There are many difficulties about developing such a narrative.

First, there is what might be termed the psychological challenge. As I have written before, young people have unrealistic, and unduly negative, views about ageing. This is partly because we are bad at thinking about preparing for the long term (which is why, for example, the new Personal Accounts system for pensions will seek to overcome our hard-wired inertia by opting savers in and requiring those who don’t want to participate to opt out). We are also inaccurate in thinking about our future state of mind. We think that being old is like being young but with an older body. In fact, we adjust our expectations and desires as our circumstances change, and people over sixty are amongst the most contented in society.  These weaknesses in our imagination are then compounded by the reliance of consumer marketing on using sex to sell. This reinforces the sense – which is also probably innate in the species – that people are of less value when they have passed the peak of sexual virility. 

Second, there is what might be called the identity challenge. Despite the argument made brilliantly recently by David Willets that demography determines politics and policy, opinion surveys show that generational status is a pretty weak basis for solidarity, in comparison to ethnicity, class or place. Also, while we can talk about feminism or gay pride, the things that older people tend to think they have in common (the likelihood of needing care for example) are those they would rather not experience. Indeed, while we may talk about respecting the elderly, those who can afford it spend more and more time and money trying to avoid admitting their age.

Third there is the related political challenge. The case for society investing more in old age requires us to amplify the drawbacks of ageing while the call to confront ageism rests on painting a more positive picture. 

In terms of campaigning, there is a relationship between age and issues held in common, for example, being retired, relying on pensions, needing long term health care. But arguably in these cases older people have as much in common with people who are not old (e.g. poor pensioners and other benefit recipients, elderly infirm and younger disabled) than with people of their own age but in different circumstances.      

So, how does Age UK, or anyone else for that matter, develop a narrative and a social movement out of this difficult mix of issues? I can’t pretend I have a comprehensive answer but I would start with our psychological hang-ups.

Most of us will be as contented in older age than when we were young and more contented than in middle age. But both our hang-ups, and the way society treats vulnerable older people, mean that we dread getting older. This means we live our lives with a shadow hanging over us, like trying to enjoy your lunch when you’ve got root canal surgery in the afternoon. So – and this is the key point – ageism doesn’t just impact the old, it diminishes our sense of well being throughout life.

If I had Age UK’s marketing budget I would spend it on positive images of older life. I would tell people that they are likely to get happier over sixty. I would playfully point out that it is much more enjoyable being a grandparent than being a parent. I would have a poster of a hassled middle aged person trying to juggle work and family and with little time for personal development or giving back to society, alongside pictures of older people enjoying themselves, engaged, using their wisdom and continuing to develop. The slogan would be ‘relax – you’re getting older every day’.

Politically, it is by showing that getting old can be fun that we underline how unacceptable it is that so many older people are denied the opportunities of the third  age by poverty, isolation and inadequate care.

Or perhaps we should simply rely on Plato “Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the passions relax their hold, then we are freed from the grasp not of one bad master only, but of many.”

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9 Comments on Relax – you’re getting older every day

  1. Anna Duncan on Wed, 17th Mar 2010 3:58 pm

    2. The reality for many people currently in their 20-40s may well be that they won’t face a happier retirement because their pensions, if they exist, will be meagre. Nonetheless I agree that the fear of old age needs to be addressed and a more compassionate attitude fostered. It’s a mystery to me why more people can’t see that this is where they’ll be one day too.

    Perhaps it’s more about cracking a culture obsessed with outward appearance and ‘self’. Youth and celebrity culture largely push the line that obscene wealth equals success and it probably doesn’t matter too much how you get there. So the challenge is how to convince people that being more civic minded will actually bring them greater happiness now (they don’t have to wait until retirement). With work demanding so much of our time, most people need and want to spend their spare time with family or in leisure. Is there a way of rewarding employers who give their staff time off for civic duties, among them spending time with the elderly who are frequently just lonely? Otherwise, I don’t know how you encourage generations who’ve never thought much about community into a new frame of mind. You’d have to make it fashionable.

  2. Livy on Thu, 18th Mar 2010 2:16 am

    3. @Anna:

    The celebrity-obsessed culture is a factor, and I’ve even heard one of their PR professionals say that women start to be de-valued by the age of 25. But at least that whole world is so insular and detached that we needn’t pay much attention to a relatively small group of narcissists who give vanity a bad name.

    And yes, I’d agree. People want pensions, they just don’t want to think about it; some even reject a 15% contribution from their employer. Come April people will be paying more tax anyway, it’s now doubtful they’ll want to pay even more for the move towards a compulsory funding model for social care. And for the policy side of things, the campaigning for it would have to be rigorous.

    There seems to be broad support for a compulsory charge as a voluntary scheme would mean too many people opting out and undermining the system. The LGA seem to think the demand for services is being politically underestimated, the Audit Commission believes our ageing population will double the cost of social care by 2026. I can’t see any practical long-term answer to this other than what’s already on the table; at first I naively thought the £20,000 idea wasn’t so bad, and Tories wouldn’t want to be in a position of opposing it at this stage – or with Republican language. But then again, those might be votes they wouldn’t get anyway.

    Government – whoever it is – should be clear with the electorate and concede that a large proportion of the public will end up paying for this themselves. Perhaps if more people knew it they’d be encouraged to self-fund, who knows.

    A couple of years ago David Lipsey said we live in a Britain where two nations are in retirement…that’s where the conversation needs to go.

    @MT:

    The ageism isn’t always one way. I’ve often heard it said, half joking half seriously, that people in this country aren’t afraid of the police – they’re afraid of children.

    I’ll give Tories credit where it’s due here; before the ’05 election the thoughtful ones observed a completely different, closer relationship between children and adults existing in Mediterranean countries. I personally saw this growing up and Asian friends tell me the same thing about their families. Children raised with regular contact with grandparents and older people in their communities tend to have more respect for elders, and the ‘commitment device’ you’re looking for is already built into sub-cultures of second and third generation immigrant families living in the UK.

    But as for your main point…agreed. We need only remember the media’s treatment of Menzies Campbell when he was party leader, and a feeling (among more people than you’d think) that he wouldn’t have been subject to so many personal comments were he gay or female.

    Livy

  3. Walls on Thu, 18th Mar 2010 4:12 pm

    4. When I begin or starting to encounter trials the only words that comes out in my mouth is that I still love to stay at the younger age or as a “child”, because at that stage less problems and less responsibilities. But times goes on, I came to realized that though many difficulties I encounter, still I made my own change
    through facing those difficulties.

    While getting old many pressure walls or trials as I said, but the enjoyment still there.

  4. Roger on Fri, 19th Mar 2010 4:13 pm

    5. Its a great pity we have such a debate about retirement when it seems to me describing older people as anyone over 55 it is getting to be the halfway house along the way to 100.

    Money is the key factor in old age for most people and pensions are going to be only half of the answer. Even private pensions have to pay out!

    You can’t ignore the fact he dividends or interest paid to pensioners are going to come out of the pay of the work force. With this logic its better to keep individuals economically active past their retiremnt.( if they want or need).

    To some extent this happens in some sectors with older people continuing to make a contribution through various and sometimes low paid work. Once their career ends with their full time employment.

    I see that charities and governent continue to attemt to attract this cohort into volunteering, providing their time for free. The reality is many community organisations that need voluteers can no longer find enough, people that have retired have other interests and in many cases can afford to indulge in them.

    I think we should concentrate more energy in finding way to occupy the older age groups in economic activity. Extending the range of work to include them, for example yesterday I spent 2 hours as a tourist in Westminster Abbey it was a great experience and I have not visited it since the 60′s. Today its well staffed and well run organised with an effort to make your visit as enjoyable as possible.

    But with certain exceptions the age group of those in attendence I would place under 30, (with some notable exceptiions in the pulpit), has Westminster no one in an older age group willing to work and be paid in these jobs.

    Regards

  5. Livy on Fri, 19th Mar 2010 5:29 pm

    6. @Roger

    “With this logic its better to keep individuals economically active past their retirement. (if they want or need).”

    No doubt. But would bus drivers and mortuary assistants agree?

    There’s also an issue of poorer health and markedly shorter life expectancy too.

    When should we start paying pensions, and should everybody start drawing them at the same time?

    “Has Westminster no one in an older age group willing to work and be paid in these jobs.”

    Funny, I was just moaning about the exact opposite problem with the British Museum. I really really wanted a job as a tour guide and was really really disappointed when I found they were all unpaid, retired volunteers.

    But you still have a point – they’re short nevertheless.

  6. Andrew Chidgey on Sun, 21st Mar 2010 12:35 pm

    7. I was at the Age UK conference so heard you and others speak Matthew. I thought the most interesting challenge you brought to the discussion for an organisation like Age UK was about the balance they strike between on the one hand showing how awful ageing is for some people, while on the other how brilliant it can be.

    There is an incentive for organisations who want to secure public and political attention to say that life is terrible (for older people in this case) and indeed for many it can be and is. However, the trick that is often missed (and it’s always the bit of the quote that journalists knock off for reasons of space) is to explain how many people are having the most exciting and rewarding chapter of their lives in later life and thereby using this fact to reduce the fear of ageing and show how different it could be for those who are not ageing well.

    We’re wired from birth in many ways to have a fixation about age and therefore it seems likely that changing attitudes towards ageing is only likely to happen over time. We tend to ask young children how old they are and “I’m 5″ comes back the excited response. Then at the other end of the spectrum people say “I’m 96 you know” and people say “isn’t she marvellous”. Our daily discourse is littered with reference to age…”what do you expect at your age?”, “well he had a good innings”, “life starts at 40″. The shelves of Clinton Cards and their ilk would be virtually empty if it weren’t for cards making jokes about age. All of this is hardly surprising when life can change so dramatically over time and people are routinely living into their 80s and 90s.

    Where I’d want to develop a point in your blog is your comment about the argument for more resources to invest in ageing. Yes of course that will be important and tricky in the next few years. However, what I would suggest is that as a society there is currently a serious waste of the knowledge and experience of older people. If we can get better at helping people throughout the generations to recognise and share their knowledge, ideas and experience then we can deliver a massive resource for all – this is surely part of the boon of an ageing society.

  7. Stefan Lubomirski de Vaux (lubo) on Mon, 22nd Mar 2010 9:30 am

    8. Hi Mathew,

    No truer words were spoken: Relax – your getting older everyday – Epictetus and Voltaire said much the same thing. Relaxing and living a good life, requires time and space for thinking and a group on LinkedIn have proposed the idea of a Thinking Hotel http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2882471&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=.anb_2882471_*2.anh_2882471 and I think to an extent the RSA already is one. So I ask that you join the group and contribute your ideas and maybe even we can craft some space at the RSA to specifically match that ideal! Any ways the journey will be fun.

    Thanks and regards, Stefan FRSA

  8. DaveG on Mon, 22nd Mar 2010 11:04 pm

    9. Matthew,

    Excellent uplifting post I thought. As a soon to be 41 y.o. men juggling family, friends, work and play I don’t have time to analyse what you’ve said. But it feels right, and is a really positive, interesting take. Thanks!

  9. Alex on Fri, 16th Jul 2010 3:22 pm

    10. Great post! There’s certainly no point fighting it! Embrace getting older and all the changes it brings!

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