GROWING OLD DISGRACEFULLY

All their lives workers must endure hardships but for many of them the end of their working life proves even more unendurable. A report on the care given to retired workers at home illustrates this. "The Equality and Human Rights Commission said they found numerous examples of physical and financial abuse. Only half of the 1,254 people questioned by the EHRC said they were satisfied with their home care. Among the catalogue of failures they documented were theft and chronic disregard for older people's privacy and dignity." (Times, 23 November) Dignity is not too much to ask for ageing workers, but theft and violence from so called "carers" is just another awful indictment of capitalism. RD