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Ageing in Russia
Over the past several months I have made research visits to Russia (three times), Germany and South Korea in connection with several projects, including an almost completed one on the changing circ...
Climate Change and Ageing in Spain
A critical issue facing Spain’s health system is their ageing population with 30% of their population projected to be aged 65 years or more by 2050. This is against a background of major econ...
The New Global Gag Rule
Numerous controversial executive orders, memoranda and proclamations signed by US President Trump since his inauguration have left many people aghast and distraught, and the rate at which they are ...
Who Wants to Be a Geriatrician? A Looming Shortage in Our Time of Need
If I had to compile a list of “frequently asked questions” when discussing my future medical career with others, “what type of doctor do you want to become?” nears the top o...
The world’s longest studied birth cohort turns 70 – here’s what they’ve told us
The world’s oldest continually running birth cohort study – the MRC National Survey of Health and Development – turns 70 this month. A birth cohort study is one where a represe...
TODAY, THE MIRROR OF TOMORROW
A few months ago I woke up to the news of Emma Morano’s birthday. She turned 117 years old on November 29 in Verbania, Italy, where she has lived for her entire life. She is now the world&rsq...
Is Age a Factor in Financial Exclusion?
My recent report, "When I'm 84". Locking the Door on the Older Old: the Challenge Facing Britain’s Banks, argues that the very oldest in our society are at risk of being shut ou...
Photovoice
“I can’t remember what I’ve seen today. I can’t really remember where I was and what was happening. It’s really hard to keep things together. Sometimes I’m losin...
Inequalities in death
"It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it ." - Martin Luther King While this quote from Martin Luther King is a noble and emotive one, it does still beg the quest...
Dementia as a cause of death
A statistical bulletin released by ONS last week reported that in 2015 Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias were the leading cause of death in England and Wales. As the bulletin expl...
Co-living with robots in a care home
Social robots are not something most people encounter in their everyday life and especially not in the UK. Yet, robots seem to be a subject of great interest, and a phenomenon so ubiquitous within ...
Statistical (il)literacy and expert fatigue
In this country it is perfectly acceptable to say “I don’t do numbers”. It’s a strange cultural quirk, which would be completely unimaginable in China or Vietnam. ...
Home Sweet Home 2: Housing supply and policy reform
In July, I wrote a blog exploring the future of housing for older people. Housing demand outstrips supply in all sectors, but a lack of appropriate housing for older people has a knock-on effect fo...
Combining localism with globalism is the real mandate for Brexit
With the publication of the results of wave nine of the British Election Study, the survey conducted in the days immediately after the EU referendum between the 24th June and the 4th July 2016, it ...
Ageing Nobel Laureates or an Ageing Mankind?
It is Nobel Prize awarding season, and with just one award to go – Literature is to be awarded on Thursday – it is also the season of pundits noticing the laureates have a remarkable te...