Sometimes an older person decides to sell her home and move into rented accommodation near one of her children, while still keeping part of her independence. That works well until she reaches the point when she needs daily care. We call the people who look after those who cannot look after themselves 'carers'. A carer cares for people who need looking after because they cannot lead independent lives. A carer is not a nurse, although she or he will quickly learn some nursing skills. Millions of wives and husbands are carers for their partners, and countless daughters and daughters-in-law become part-time carers for their parents, both because they love and want look after their parents - and because somebody has to take on the responsibility. The state provides some carers, nurses, social workers, residential homes and the National Health Service for people at the end of the their lives. (Half the beds in the NHS are occupied by people over sixty-five; older people have more illnesses, but also patients with strokes or dementia may become long-term patients because they have no other accommodation where they can be cared for. This is very bad for the effective organisation of the NHS as a service, while 'finding homes for the elderly without families' is a continual problem for social workers.)
The problem is about money; the state does not - and cannot- provide enough to satisfy demand. Increasingly the British are living longer, often into their late eighties and nineties. During their seventies and early eighties, typically they are active and capable of looking after themselves. Then, possibly for several years, they need as much support as the state and their families can provide. They need nursing and preferably places to live that have been adapted for older people -somewhere with ramps for wheelchairs, with bars and lifts and adapted baths.
At this point families may think about a place in a residential home for granny. Some are (as far as such places can be) pleasant: everyone has his or her own room, and can use a communal dining room or prepare their own meals. Nursing stuff are specially trained. However, such homes are too expensive to be a widespread solution. Government, the NHS, specialists in health care and the population at large are always discussing what to do. The current proposal is to put money into helping older people to live in their own homes for as long as possible, and indeed to enable them to die at home if they wish to do so - as most people in Britain wish to do. Many local authorities provide 'sheltered housing', blocks of specially-built flats where elderly people live their own lives but where they are always able to call a trained warden and nurse if they have any difficulties. This may be the future answer to the question of what we do with our grannies. They preserve some independence while we provide as much love and attention as we can.
Almost half of those people who are over the age of 85 have little contact with friends and more than a quarter have little contact with their family. Such acute loneliness is as debilitating as a physical illness. A typical English response is as follows: Get together and find a way of solving the problem. Start a charity whose primary aim is to organise social gatherings for lonely, older people. This charity will bring together people who are willing, once a month to organise afternoon tea in their own home for a group of lonely elderly people. It is a simple idea that helps the fight against depression and the general ill health created by loneliness. It gives lonely pensioners real social contact in a friendly setting, and allows people to build friendships, and encourages younger people (the volunteers) to keep in touch with older people. Similar charities intended to make the lives of older people more enjoyable exist all over the country.
We all know of old people who are marooned, isolated and, as it were, shut away from the world. This terrible fate in old age is not uncommon, but the statistics we have suggest that it is less common than similar fates a century ago. We have no evidence that today's old people are living in a world of heartless children and grandchildren. The problem is that while modern medicine has produced marvellous cures, and is now giving millions of us a lively old age, at the same time modern medicine is also good at keeping us alive, perhaps longer than we wish to be, or indeed should be kept alive. We worry about growing old, losing our facilities and being a burden to our partners and children. There are no simple solutions. Independence carries its own consequences, including a sense of tragedy for those who have known and loved independence and are now, through age and incapacity, deprived of it.
Part Four. Work and Money
When I wrote the first edition of Understanding Britain in 1991, I was acutely aware of the great difference between attitudes to work and money in the Soviet Union and the attitudes commonly found in a Western country. Now, in 2009, much - not all - of that difference has disappeared. My readers know all about looking for work, the pressures to search for ways of making a living wage, and the constant juggling with money which is officially much more than the roubles earned in the Soviet Union, but which often seems to amount to rather less! Therefore this part of the book is considerably shorter since I have less to explain.
I write about how we find jobs, aspects of our work culture, and how we spend the money which we earn.
Chapter 1 How We Find Work
In 2009 it is possible for a boy or girl to leave school at sixteen and start looking for a job. The government is keen to change this situation so that all young people between 16 and 18 are either in school or in some special 'work training' which will provide them with the skills for something better than unskilled manual labour. Even when the present law is changed (if it is changed), young people who are aged 18 and not about to enter higher education must find a job. Later, university graduates must find jobs. So how do they do it?
Employers sometimes ask for a CV (the Latin is Curriculum Vitae meaning 'Account of my Life'). Imagine you are eighteen and looking for work. Writing your CV can be quite complicated because it makes you think about yourself as others might see you. A good CV will contain name, address, telephone and email address; education; qualifications (national exam results and any other relevant qualifications); details of any previous employment including part-time employment during the holidays; useful experiences and attainments, such as having a driving licence; interests, hobbies and activities such as volunteering - which is often crucial; two referees. Referees are people who know you and who are ready to provide an honest account of your abilities and character. If you have just left school, one referee might be a schoolteacher who knows you well, and another might be the person who employed you when you did a holiday job.