Plan for the future and fear the worst

IDGOM has been on the back burner a bit in recent weeks because we have been researching dementia specialist care homes for MIL.

The manager of the residential home where she lives has told the family that they cannot any longer offer her the care she needs, following a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in March this year, and that we need to look at alternative services from the New Year.

We have always known that it was not a specialist dementia home, and that this moment could come at any time, but it is still one hell of a shock.

How on earth are we going to explain to someone who often doesn’t know what time of day it is, let alone what day, that they are having to move because their home of the last five years is no longer able to look after them?

And that their meagre savings will pretty soon be swallowed up because residential dementia care starts at more than £1,000 a week? One place we looked at cost £1,400.

When the decision was taken, by them, to move into residential care in 2011 because of FIL’s increasingly frail physical health, their home and investments were sold at their request to buy annuities.

They did not want their children to face an uncertain financial future should the money run out and annuities seemed to be the way to go.

As they were not multi-millionaires their money only paid for non-index linked annuities that covered around 85% of the cost of care.

But the balance was made up by their state pensions and attendance allowances, leaving them with some savings to cover every day items such as clothes, telephone rental, life insurance, treats etc.

Five years on and after average 4% increases in fees each year, adding around £40 a week to costs while pensions have risen by a few pounds a week, those savings are almost gone.

I’ve not mentioned all this because the family wants sympathy. This is not a unique situation and after all, MIL and FIL chose to go into privately funded care. And surely there is help available from a variety of sources?

Erm, no. The local councils treat the annuities as income, even though it can only really be used for care (she could live independently and receive the annuity income but this would then be taxed).

So in their minds MIL is a very well-off 89-year old, with an annual income well above the national average salary.

Her professional body can’t help either because, again, she has a substantial monthly income.

So, the moral of the story is that you are likely to die penniless if you work hard all your life, save for your retirement, don’t ask the state to help you early on with care needs and if you get unwell enough to require specialist care.

A sobering thought that my reader would do well to take on board.

Do anti-establishment voters know what they are doing?

Well thank you very much, America, for giving the world President Donald J. Trump.

Maybe the financial markets haven’t crashed yet, but there’s still time.

We can only hope that Trump isn’t as bad as some (most?) of us think and that he simply realised that appealing to the lowest common denominator – fear of foreigners – was a vote winner. Let us pray that this mantra isn’t successful in other countries.

For at the moment it appears there is an undercurrent of inward-looking, pull-up-the draw-bridge politics across Europe and leaders of right wing parties are licking their lips in anticipation.

Political commentators have said that the Brexit result and the Trumpit victory were shots across the bows of the establishment by disenfranchised people.

But remember that you can only do that in a democracy so people thinking about a radical protest vote need to consider the consequences of their actions. Very, very carefully.

Hobson’s choice maybe but please make it the right one

Please, please, please let me wake up tomorrow morning to find the lesser of two poor choices elected as the next President of the US of A.

I can’t take a repeat of the 2008 crash in the financial markets should Donald Trump win.

After all, a man who can insult all Muslims, objectify women and say all Mexicans are bandits must be the most unsuitable candidate ever.

Hopefully a majority of Americans will agree that a poor choice is better than a dangerous one.

Nearly 250 million adults to choose from and you end of with these two. You couldn’t make it up.

I now appear to have two readers. My piece on the football Poppy ban attracted a few supportive comments, including the following which I thought I should share.

Dear Sir

I entirely agree with your poppy tirade.

I cannot understand why anyone bothered to ask FIFA in the first place; their credibility is so low that ask them anything is surely a sign of an overwhelming sense of inferiority and insecurity on the part of the enquirer.

In defence of FIFA, the Swiss were totally unaware of the two world wars, peace-loving innocents simply mystified by distant rumbling sounds accompanied by sudden influxes of money and works of art from people whose names were entirely composed of numerical digits.

The FIFA management today does its best to continue that tradition, by accepting donations regardless of the colour, creed or political affiliation of the anonymous donor, even going to the inconvenience of keeping the funds at home whenever the banks are closed for business.

What selfless behaviour! I have nothing but admiration for a nation that has deliberately moved away from its original global-warming manufacturing roots in the clock industry, to a fully service-based way of life.

Mrs Thatcher would be popping out of her grave shouting ‘Cuckoo’ had they done anything else.

Yours sincerely

Sir Herbert Gussett

I have also had a response to my parish magazine editing post:

Regarding your magazine editing, I have ‘done’ our local one for many years, and the standard has slipped a little with the introduction of worm processing and spell Czechs.

It did not detect my incorrect typing of ‘Birch Women’s Institute’ (‘R’ being unfortunately next to ’T’ on my keyboard).

Worse, in some ways, this year I unwittingly consigned our old folks club to a day trip to Wrexham and Dulwich, the machine having decided that Wroxham was not such fun, and that Dunwich did not exist (for which, the original town now being largely under the North Sea, there is perhaps some excuse). A coach trip of some 400 miles instead of the 150 intended. At least it makes reading more fun!

Poppy madness by world football’s governing body

As my reader will know only too well, I am something of a footie fan.

It started in the heady days of the 1970s when I supported the mighty Bishop’s Stortford FC at far-flung stadiums such as Dartford, Dagenham and even Wembley (for the 1974 FA Amateur Cup Final).

I am such a fan that I even managed to fit in an Africa Cup of Nations game while in the Gambia in 1979 on a journalistic assignment and have since seen too many matches to mention. In particular the England v Saudi Arabia friendly at Wembley in the 1990s.

During more than 40 years of following the beautiful game I have never given much thought to the administrative side of the sport. The FA, UEFA and FIFA have never held my attention for long, apart from the recent FIFA corruption scandals.

But now I am angry. Really angry. With FIFA. What are the administrators of this egotistical Swiss-based organisation on?

How on earth can they justify FIFA’s decision to ban the England and Scotland players from wearing poppy armbands in this Friday’s World Cup Qualifying match?

FIFA says it prohibits political, religious or commercial messages on shirts. By a process of elimination it must deem the poppy a symbol of one of those three.

What utter poppycock. As far as I am aware, the poppy is a symbol of remembrance and hope for a peaceful future. Simple as that.

So good on the English and Scottish FAs for saying players from both sides will wear black armbands carrying the poppy symbol.

That should send FIFA a clear message.