2009: we need action, not promises

2008 started with high hopes that the centenary of the State Pension might herald a breakthrough in pension provision. Instead, pensioners have seen their entitlements eroded by exceptional rises in fuel and food prices, while many with private pensions have seen their investments fall dramatically as the stock market lurches through the recession. So is there more hope on the horizon for 2009?

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Speed cameras - do they really work?

Speed cameras (not for the first time, and - I'm guessing here - not for the last) are in the news. But do they work? Are they simply ways to milk the driving public? Or do they do more harm than good? By Andrew Fawkes, MT's motoring correspondent.

This is your life

 What have you done with your life? asks Mature Times Editor Tony Watts.

Fed up with bad language? Then tell the Prime Minister!

A new online petition to the Prime Minister has been launched by mediawatch-uk, the organisation campaigning for good taste and decency on TV since the 1960s, calling for him to intervene with broadcasters and film-makers to remove unnecessary swearing from TV programmes and films.

How grandparents can help prevent child abuse tragedies

In the wake of the Baby P scandal, and putting aside the abject response to the tragedy in PMQs this week by baying herds of MPs, several questions spring to mind. One is: excuse me, but haven’t we been here before? Secondly: if we really DO care for the most vulnerable in society, why is there a shortage of social workers in places like Haringey? And thirdly, what role, if any can grandparents play in preventing this?

More possessions - but are we any happier than 50 years ago?

Readers often tell us that, even though they "didn't have much" in the way of money or possessions, life was much happier a few decades ago than it is now.  And it seems that our readers are quite right in their comments - as shown recently in a special 50 year anniversary report called 'Family Spending', published by the Office for National Statistics.

Urban myths

  I love the way that jokes somehow make their way into the national consciousness as ‘facts’. This is usually because jokes are overheard in pubs (where alcohol has a way of dimming one’s judgement) or relayed by minicab drivers (say no more).

Ageism: now let’s finish the job

 In August, Mike O’Brien, Minister of State for Pensions Reform set out the Government’s position on ageism. Fine words, says Kate Jopling, Head of Public Affairs at Help the Aged. But there is still a lot more to be done to eradicate discrimination.

 

 

What’s it worth?

 I’m writing this having taken a call from a radio station. They want someone to go on air and defend retaining our post offices. Someone, somewhere, I suppose, will be brought on to say: ”Yes, closing them is a sad but necessary thing”.

 

I’ll stoutly say they’re a jolly good thing. And no doubt we’ll have a brisk on air discussion with listeners ringing in. But I think there’s a bigger argument here than just post offices. One that has its roots in the very way we choose to run our lives.

Stop electoral register being used by junk mail companies!

Very few people escape the modern trend of junk mail Give your address to a company, or buy a product - and suddenly there are so- called 'unbeatable offers' flooding through your front door every week. More recycling. But now a new survey has shown overwhelming support for a change in the law to ban junk mail companies from gaining access to voters’ details through the electoral register.

To BOGOF or not to BOGOF? That is the question

The mushrooming of large supermarket chains has changed the face of shopping for ever, causing the decline or even extinction of many small local shops. But how has it affected those on fixed incomes such as pensioners, and the millions who live alone. Jayne Warren wonders why everything - including the shelves - are stacked against them.

Madonna hits 50 - but what does that say about the rest of us?

  Passing the 50 mark is always a significant moment in our lives. We're currently watching Madonna go through that stage - in her own way. But what does it mean for the rest of us? Baby boomer marketing expert Judith Cork has her own take on life after 50.

A taste of their own medicine

 The idea of giving people in positions of power a “taste of their own medicine” has such huge appeal that we should, I think, extend it says Mature Times editor Tony Watts.

It's good news week!

  ... occasionally you get the good news pieces in the papers: new treatment hope for cancer, a rare victory in sport for one of our national teams, or Elvis being spotted eating sausage and chips in a café on the A1. But they are few and far between ...

 

Mature Times editor Tony Watts tries to buck the trend and look on the bright side.

What the Romans did for David Davis

"The prospect of catching murderers, rapists and terrorists before they strike again makes it, to me at least, a price worth paying." Was David Davis right to stand on a platform of civil liberties that would make life easier for the criminal? Mature Times editor Tony Watts doesn't think so ... and neither, it seems from your response to date, do our readers.