It seems that ‘[y]achtbrokers have seen a surge in bookings as people fleeing the coronavirus crisis look to go into isolation for months afloat’ (‘Demand for luxury yachts fuelled by self-isolation of super-rich’, Telegraph Business, March 23, 2020). As someone who has been involuntarily confined to barracks for a number of years there are a […]
Vulnerable and elderly people must not be discriminated against in this crisis. #gript
Here at Gript, we generally do our best to defend capitalism as, well, the least-worst way to organise a society. As in so many other areas of life, though, the people you defend don’t always make it easy. Here’s Jeremy Warner, writing in that (usually very fine) journal of British Conservatism, The Daily Telegraph: “Using […]
Every general practitioner has lonely elderly patients whose check-ups double as social events. They have few other occasions for interacting with people. Why not enlist the healthcare system in identifying people who are at highest risk for social isolation or loneliness? According to a major report from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, […]
Germany’s highest court has overturned a ban on assisted suicide, introduced in 2015, which was ‘supposed to prevent anyone offering assisted sucide as a commercial venture’ while excempting from punishment ‘relatives or doctors who helped a single patient to die on a one-off basis’; the German constitutional court ruled that the ban meant those ‘offering […]
As a child, both my grandmothers would frequently visit us, often staying for months. At every visit, my parents were happy to pay medical specialists to examine them – no matter how minute their complaint – and pamper them by serving them their favorite foods. They also created room for them by giving them a […]
Friendships between the young and old are a win/win solution to both a growing loneliness epidemic and greater numbers of time-poor working parents. The elderly often have under-utilised time which they are happy to give, and parents and young people are often in need of their support and love. In fact, research shows that the two loneliest groups in society are the […]
Chronic loneliness is an increasing concern, and apparently not just among the elderly and social-media crazed millennials. A recently released YouGov survey finds that almost one in five men in the UK say that they have no close friends. The findings also show that men generally lead more solitary lives than women, who appear to be better at […]
Alzheimer’s disease is the most frequent cause of dementia in the world, with some 24 million people affected worldwide. Now a new, albeit small, trial using electromagnetic waves to reverse memory loss is showing some encouraging results, though scientists warn that the initial study size of just eight people means more investigation is required. Science Alert […]
The elderly are an untapped resource – and so are the young.