Older People: Their Place and Contribution in Society

Lord Giddens Excerpts

Friday 14th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Giddens]

My Lords, the most reverend Primate is sitting there basking in praise. I hope that he will not collapse under the weight of it if I offer a bit more and say how much I admire his work and his writings. I wish him a very happy transition to Cambridge. Someone spoke of Cambridge as an “ivory tower”. As someone who was a professor in Cambridge for many years, I fiercely reject that suggestion, as I reject it of all universities. I regard the remark as the moral equivalent of ageism for universities. I emphasise that universities are in-the-world institutions and I am sure that the most reverend Primate will find that to be the case when he comes to Cambridge.

Old age is a time, if I can use the word, for mordant, self-deprecating humour, and we have heard a good deal from noble Lords along those lines today. How do you know you are getting old? You keep in touch with your friends through the obituary column. How do you know you are getting old? You have a party and the neighbours do not even realise it. How do you know you are getting old? You enjoy hearing about other people’s operations. My experience in the House of Lords bears this out. One of the first things that I heard when I arrived in your Lordships’ House was someone saying to me, “We talk a lot about our operations in here”. I did indeed find that to be true.

Yet there is ageing and ageing. Last April, a marathon runner decided to make the London Marathon his last such race. He will now compete in what he called “short” runs of five or 10 kilometres. Fauja Singh is 101 and did not take up marathon running until he was 89.

We casually talk about the ageing society and regard it as a problem, yet in many respects we live in what I would call a “youthing” society. I mean that the lifestyle patterns of older people resemble those of younger groups today far more than they did a generation ago. I am not saying that that is all a good thing, but it is the case. There are dating sites for the over-70s, pop singers in their 60s and 70s continue to perform and draw large audiences, and people of these ages can sustain an active sex life—or so I believe.

As we know—other noble Lords have spoken on this—the frail elderly present major difficulties of care. It is important to see them not as a category just defined by age, as we can see from the example of Mr Singh. A high proportion of people over 60 are in relatively good health. Believe it or not, in terms of health statistics there is not much difference between those aged 60 to 70 and those aged 20 to 30.

How are we to make best use of their talents? For some reason, no one has asked the Minister questions but I take it that I can do so—and I propose to. I will briefly run through my questions. First, raising the pension age is a core economic necessity in all industrial countries, including this one. Does the Minister agree that the best way to defuse the pensions issue is affirming the right to work and therefore combating ageism? People of all ages should have the right to work.

Secondly, would she agree that combating ageism is especially important in the case of older women, who often face a double barrier of discrimination? Thirdly, would she agree that activist policies are needed to make lifelong learning a reality? Would she agree that neither the previous Labour Government nor the present Government have made much impact here? I have been working in this area for about 15 years. Lifelong learning has been talked about during all that time, but not many policies have actually promoted it, although many exist in other countries as possible case studies.

Fourthly, would she agree that expanding work opportunities for older people, such as in the schemes and incentives pioneered in Finland, does not reduce job opportunities for the young? This is a crucial point. A recent OECD study showed that those countries with the highest proportion of older people in work also have the highest proportion of younger people in work. Statistically and in terms of job generation, that is an absolutely crucial observation. Finally, would she agree that 89 is the best age at which to become a marathon runner? If so, many of us sitting—and standing—here have a good few years of training in front of us.