• Old age is awash with euphemism: on Monday the government launched its "building a society for all ages" strategy, complete with a "good place to grow old programme", an "active at 60 package" and a "grandparents summit".
  • At last it's out. The Green Paper on adult long term care. Is it sad to say that I'm really looking forward to reading this document and discussing with people in London next week?
  • As I understand it, the green paper is bold in two contrasting ways. On the one hand, it seeks to turn social care from being a service for the poor to one that is universal. It does this by guaranteeing that everyone needing care – regardless of their income – will be entitled to advice and guidance from the state. On the other hand, the green paper clearly implies that of its various payment options it favours the social insurance (or as it is inelegantly referred to ‘co-payment’) model. In this scheme people are opted in (another example of nudging here) to an insurance scheme whereby they commit a lump sum either at retirement or death to insure social care costs. In this way, risk is pooled and care is affordable to both the individual and the state.