Help the elderly feeling the blues
ONE OF the saddest stories this week was about pensioners who don’t seek help for mental health problems because they “don’t want to worry anyone” and feel “it’s a private matter”.
A report from the charity Independent Age breaks my heart because it talks about a generation who’ve had it ingrained into them that no matter what ails them, they’ve just got to grit their teeth and get on with it.
More than 75 per cent of pensioners polled said they’d suffered anxiety or low mood since turning 65 – and believed it was just a “part of getting older”.
Isn’t this yet another area where we’ve let our elderly down? No one cares enough to tell them that how they feel matters. We must try to make the elderly understand they’re as entitled to help as the young.
And they shouldn’t be embarrassed or ashamed to ask for it.
JACQUI Smith, who’s getting all geared up for her stint on Strictly, was asked what she thought her greatest challenge was going to be. “The e small issue of not ot being able to dance,” ” she h said. You’ve got to love her honesty. And no, she won’t win but she WILL lose shedloads of weight, she’ll get tons of TV work, she’s probably being paid a hefty fee and she’ll have loads of fun. What’s not to like?
COMPARE and contrast. This week Prince William, together with Sir David Attenborough, made the news with the launch of a £ 50million environmental prize. Cut to La La Land where uber- woke conservationists and equality warriors Harry and Meghan dined out at a posh steakhouse ( where an un- woke porterhouse steak costs £ 100) with multimillionaire film producer David Foster, who was celebrating knocking up his 36- year- old girlfriend. Good to see the pair are still keeping it classy!
THE RELEASE of the latest and last Bond film for Daniel Craig, No Time To Die, might have been delayed because of Covid but Craig still has some advice for his successor: “Don’t f*** it up and leave it better than you found it.” He should have added: “And don’t publicly trash the brand by saying you’d rather ‘ slit your wrists’ than play Bond again and then take a reported $ 25million to play him again!”