Totally sick of this ageing twaddle. Baby boomers are dropping like flies - bad habits, poor diet. With few exceptions, the ones in their 80's and 90's are from a tougher generation, and they are only alive (if it could be called a life) because of drugs.

While I am happy to agree with the exhortation to do-gooders to stop exaggerating the social impact of our increasing life span, the rest of the case embraces a weird inconsistency. Governments should get out of the way but then should do more to facilitate tackling ‘life transitions’. As usual, wanting to have it both ways will produce a bad result. And in this field I can almost guarantee that government efforts to remove ageist policies and age discrimination will have exactly the opposite effect to that intended. For example, if I were an employer faced with legal imperatives to ensure equal opportunity for older job applicants to protect myself against some kind of age discrimination complaint, you can be sure I would be ultra-careful not to get into that situation in the first place. If there was some decent research that contradicted my intuitive response (backed incidentally by the wisdom of age) then I might happily change my mind. Till then let’s keep the matter of age equality well away from governments, especially the anti-discrimination mafia, and leave it to a well-informed market to sort out.

ttbn - you're wrong to think that oldies are only alive because of drugs. Medication has its use across all ages if that kind of treatment is needed.

You're right in your belief about the resilience of 'over 80s', but I suggest that it has less to do with their coming from a tougher generation and more to do with the fact that age brings more experience, hence competence in life management skills.

Maturity means much.

A pretty good article overall

The author writes much sense, eg. "Unless we prepare better, inevitable later life experiences like ‘retirement’, moving home and becoming a carer will continue to take us by surprise and become traumatic events not productive transitions"

and

"And if not, what can you do now at this young age [of 50] to prevent pensioner penury and all the attendant health miseries that go with that. What skills do you need for the next phase of productive life?"

Well, there's the destiny of demography! And several choices? A use by date and compulsory euthanasia? No?

What about real tax reform! That does a couple of things? Ends endemic massive tax avoidance and evasion, by the simplicity of an expenditure tax or a flat rate tax? And in every case everyone pays! With the social wage adjusted to remove any and all obvious inequities?

Making compliance unnecessary and thereby returning an averaged 7% to the average bottom line! Given there would be nothing to benefit from negative gearing! End it And treat all capital gains as income!

Then introduce a (then affordable) noncontributory 15% super, with the money made available after 65-70 as proscribed pensions only and for the balance of your days.

Moreover, we need better more affordable health insurance, which has to be not for profit members only schemes! Ditto nursing home care!

There's something extremely unpalatable about folks, (vultures) who make veritable millions from seriously rationed aged care, most of which can nonetheless be conducted in the home for far less imposts on the public purse. But particularly if our health care becomes the sole responsibility of just one arm of streamlined rationalized government, minus the previously available buck passing!

Then replace big pharma's preferred medical care paradigm, with the preventative model! Which will include evidence based H.R.T, (out of patent) routine Chelation therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and hydrotherapy.

We need to grow the economy, then make it and it alone pay all our tax, so it won't be left to fewer and fewer tax payers to pay all our tax even as multinationals avoid billions! And halve the average cost of living or just doing business, by outlawing middlemen profit takers, which must include buying and selling, (falling from the skies) water!

Too stop the world from over population all people over 70 should be put to sleep without any pain. Unless they are very important to the younger population, like doctors and scientists, pilots, politicians, builders, policemen, soldiers and many other people who contribute many good things to the society. Though soldiers should be kept in check in case they go rogue with their guns and other wepons which makes a lot of sense.

Old people over 70 don't do much but take a lot of extra money from the young people cause of their bad health which is not very fair is it.