My New Old Self

Get old, get happy 2

Sep

17

2016

Do we really get happier as we get older? A new study shows this to be true – more than ever. My New Old Self is on record as being a sucker for any claim that starts with the words “A new study shows…” I also confessed in a past blog post to being unduly compelled by ...

Mythbusting – not a bad thing 1

Sep

1

2016

Mythbusting originally came from the name of a TV science show but now It’s a Thing, and not a bad one. In the past 20 years medicine has adopted an evidence-based approach to decision-making. This requires interrogating whether there is irrefutable proof for our beliefs – and busting the myths. This seems a good approach to ...

Much ado about a view 1

Aug

18

2016

I always enjoy a view. I like getting a wide angle perspective of a landscape or seascape – whatever stretches out before my eyes. Especially of natural surroundings, and ideally all the way to the horizon. My favourite viewing position is parking off at a window or an outdoor outlook. My idea of a good ...

RIP VCR

Aug

4

2016

The world’s last new Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) rolled off the assembly line at Funai Electric in Japan last week. This marked the end of the original home video format, 60 years after Ampex pioneered the technology and 40 years after JVC introduced it to the mass market. The Video Home System (VHS) was once ...

How to sprout – with e-Help

Jul

23

2016

Older people have a not undeserved reputation for complaining. Something we often complain about is technology. It has been challenging for Baby Boomers to master the ever evolving technological advancements of the digital age. Those born between 1946 and 1964 have straddled the analogue and digital eras. We were well into adulthood when we started transitioning ...

Generations at War post-Brexit 1

Jul

7

2016

Intergenerational war has broken out in the UK. Battle lines were drawn in the recent referendum on Britain’s EU membership, whose result is known as Brexit. For young people the enemy is easily recognisable – by their grey hair and wrinkles. All over our economically fragile world the older generation is getting the blame for ...

Live longer – and better!

Jun

24

2016

When I saw this cartoon it depressed me. “These are them?” All this effort to stay young – and all it gets us is more years of being old? Wait a minute. Let’s refill that half-glass of water, abandoning such pessimistic measurement of its emptiness. Readers of this column will know how fond My New Old Self ...

Ali Aged Well 1

Jun

12

2016

A champion with his fists and his mouth, Muhammad Ali was also a champion at getting old. And a champ at living, and aging, with Parkinson’s disease. The contrast between the Ali we remember dancing like a butterfly in his gorgeous youth and the sight of him starting to lurch, slur and tremble could have ...

To Do: Nothing 1

May

27

2016

Here is some praise for an activity that gets a lot of criticism: Doing Nothing. We are endlessly exhorted to Do Things. To be active, to keep moving – forward. What is this relentless busy-ness aimed at? Achieving goals. Our To Do lists are full of goals: to exercise more, to eat less, to kick ...

Same Old Same Old for Women at Cannes

May

11

2016

There are more women directors with movies in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. But in terms of older women it looks like Same Old Same Old. The Cannes 2016 main jury is headed by George Miller, director of the Mad Max action movie franchise. At 71 he is NSP (No Spring Chicken) but I haven’t ...