Over-70s are wise enough to make up their own minds
‘For many in their 70s, this can be a last decade of good health’
OSCAR-WINNER Dame Judi Dench at 85 becoming the oldest cover star of Vogue next month highlights how older generations are still making valuable contributions to our national life – and should not be locked behind closed doors.
Some over-70s may well be vulnerable to coronavirus but many are fit, well and should not be constrained by government-imposed restrictions.
Full of fun, Dame Judi has become an unlikely lockdown star with the Twitter video of her wearing a novelty dog hat saying, “Just keep laughing”, racking up 5.4 million views, while she took to TikTok dancing with her grandson to a US rap song.
Elegantly attired in a Dolce & Gabbana trench coat for the cover shot, Dench has performed many of her greatest roles over the age of 70, including the BAFTA award-winning Notes on a Scandal and the splendidly no-nonsense M in the James Bond movies.
The number of over-70s still working has more than doubled over the past decade with half a million in full or part-time jobs, that’s one in 12 of those in their 70s. Some of these have been bravely working in the NHS despite the great risk.
NURSES Margaret Tapley and Joan Grimshaw were well into their 80s when they caught the virus and died, but their families said their jobs meant everything to them. At 101 years old, former nurse Joan Rich hopes to raise money for the NHS by doing 102 laps of her local park in Suffolk.
Some over-70s still work because they have to thanks to a dramatic fall in income driven by ridiculously low interest rates on savings. But many others do so because it’s good for their minds and bodies to keep busy. It was dismal news this week that the Office for National Statistics revealed that anxiety levels had shot up during lockdown and were especially high among the over-70s, usually a group known for higher happiness levels compared with young generations.
“Those aged 70 years and above reported being happier than those aged 16 to 69 years before the lockdown,” said the ONS. “By the third week of lockdown, this gap had closed.”
Our well-being is frequently linked to our sense of usefulness and that comes partly from earning money but also being valued family members. It has been heart-breaking that so many grandparents have been denied their usual roles of picking up grandchildren from school and looking after them when their parents are busy.
That can be one of the most loving and valued relationships in any family and has been cruelly denied by social distancing.
For many in their 70s this can be their last decade of good health before ageing inevitably catches up with them. Travel and social fun beckons and the last thing they want to do is give up one moment of this precious time. The thought that lockdown for the over-70s could go on for a year or more until a vaccine is found is just unconscionable. Some say they’d rather go to prison.
The Government has been giving mixed messages on this crucial subject. Their website has said that over-70s are “clinically vulnerable” and must minimise contact with others outside their household.
But Health Secretary Matt Hancock has rolled back on this saying they do not face a “blanket ban” and to suggest that all older people are vulnerable regardless of their medical condition is “wrong and deeply misleading”. The most crucial factor in surviving coronavirus is not your age but your underlying health.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty made it clear that 90 per cent of those who have tragically died from Covid-19 had at least one other disease, with cardiovascular illness being a leading killer alongside the virus.
Of course, getting older does make us all more vulnerable to disease but if you keep fit and active well into your 70s, there is no reason why life cannot continue to be sweet. But only if you make the most of your life and are not confined behind your front door by misguided government rules.
SOME of our greatest Britons won their most notable achievements in their advanced years. Sir Winston Churchill was 70 when he stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to celebrate VE Day in 1945.
Her Majesty the Queen is still helping to inspire the nation at the age of 94 and, of course, Second World War veteran Captain Tom Moore was 99 when he raised tens of millions for the NHS.
Now that goes to show you’re never too old to make an impact. So let’s throw open those front doors and let the over-70s in good health make their own decision on how to spend their golden years.