Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Why older people should have pets

Dogwalkers6 Let's lighten the mood here a little. A couple of years ago when I was writing a piece about the sociability of dogwalking, I read several research articles about the social and health benefits of owning a pet. Sometime I'll return to this theme, especially to consider the benefits for older people. Meantime, here's a fun piece (including a summary slide show) from USNews.com offering ten reasons why older people should have pets:

  • Companionship
  • Having a routine
  • Exercise
  • Less stress
  • Getting out
  • Making new friends
  • New interests
  • Protection
  • Taking care of something
  • Investing in life.

Thanks to Leo at Our blocks for the (indirect) link.

19 May 2010 17:46:06 | Older people

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'Small state, big society' is obviously the right idea: so do it properly Hey, I just came across this fascinating document from the early years of new Labour, developing its ideas 'to give citizens, communities and local government the power and information they need to come together, solve the problems they face and build the Britain they want.' Remember when this was novel? 'We will radically reform the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live.' Or this? 'We will take a range of measures to encourage volunteering and involvement in social action...' Oh you'd guessed, I was lying, actually it's from the Cabinet Office Building the Big Society document, released today. In publishing terms it's shoddy, in content terms it's underwhelming. I'm sorry for the run of negative posts recently, but I find this paper weak on one level because it's reasonable to expect Cabinet Office documents to show some sense of authority. They could start by having a statement of origin and a date of publication. This looks like an internal memo intended to motivate the back office staff. As to content, we already know there are old ideas like community involvement in planning, but there are some new ideas, or rather reaffirmation of ideas presented before the election, like making regular community involvement a key element of civil service staff appraisals. (Can I just ask, who's going to find that a particularly laudable policy measure? Yes ok The Daily Mail. Anyone else?) And the defenders of the faith will miss the point and condemn anyone and everyone who criticises this document for sour negativity, because we're all supposed to get behind the Big Society and do our bit for the country. This is a movement which has been created by people who are mostly wealthy, educated, empowered and influential, to encourage others who are not, to become active in the collective interest - overlooking minor questions of social justice, and swearing by a high proportion of ideas that were given a run-out over the past ten years of a previous government. Forgive us our scepticism. 'Small state, Big Society' is obviously the right idea. Pssst: we already knew that. So do it properly, start with the folk who've been doing it for a long time against the odds. There's more amusement for those of us watching the unseemly jostling for position around new faces in power. Take this comment from the CEO of NCVO, quoted by New Start magazine: 'Many may mock this new term – civil society.' Eh? The chief exec of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations thinks 'civil society' is a new term. What does that tell you about the state of civil society?
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Starting to bring some reality to BS Sound and entertaining comments from Alastair Tibbitt, Development Manager for Greener Leith, after attending yesterday's Downing Street launch of Big Society: "if we're to see a new civic revival then we'll need an investment in old school community development, adult education and a real commitment to making more local government information accessible and understandable. Without this, it will be hard to sustain that army of 'community organisers.'"

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