I’m not sure that it’s the Government’s role to tell citizens what kind of homes they choose to live in, but in any case there are to be strong incentives to older people to make it easier to “downsize” from empty-nest family homes. A White Paper will explore ways in which this might be achieved.
I have encountered those of my generation who have larger homes from which offspring have now grown and flown; and while they may talk of “rattling around” in an emptier house, they don’t necessarily want to quit their own family home.
Any parish priest will be aware of older people – often widows, sometimes widowers – who are now living alone in a family home, but would be reluctant to move. For psychological and community reasons, it’s often best for older people to stay in their own homes for as long as they are able to do so.
But there is another choice which some senior citizens are now making: that is, to put their empty bedrooms to use by taking in lodgers.
It doesn’t suit everyone to have lodgers, and it doesn’t suit everyone to be a lodger. It wouldn’t go any way to meet the housing crisis for families who need homes. But lodgers can be a cheerful and constructive solution for some older people, and it can be a useful option for younger single people needing accommodation, especially in the London area, where flats or even bedsits are so horribly expensive.
Back in the 1950s – when my husband first came to London – almost all young single people went into “digs” – usually a former family home where the bedrooms were used by lodgers. His “digs” were in Islington, where the landlady was an eccentric Trotskyist, and the other tenants were a hilarious bunch of singletons. It was cheap, it was lively and it was an exercise in community living. Far better than twentysomethings living alone in isolated bedsits; and for the hosts it filled an empty house, and provided revenue too.
Nowadays there may be “health and safety” concerns which make the situation more bureaucratic, but I know of happy and successful lodging arrangements run on an agreement of trust and a sense of honour on both sides. That, also, is how the Airbnb system operates – there has to be trust for the system to work. But isn’t spreading trust relationships a good thing?
Ease up the housing market for those who will benefit from it, certainly. But there are other avenues to explore, and many forms of community living which can benefit all parties.
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There was a fascinating photograph in the media last week of three female prime ministers together: Theresa May of the United Kingdom, Angela Merkel of Germany and Beata Szydło of Poland. It highlighted the positive fact that we are seeing many more women rise to the top in politics. (The president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, is another prominent figure at EU meetings.)
In the UK, Nicola Sturgeon leads Scotland, and in Northern Ireland two women are leading the two main parties for the power-sharing election on March 2 – Arlene Foster of the DUP and Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein. It’s been remarked that it’s harder for women who are mothers to get to the top in politics, since motherhood requires more juggling of time and energy. And while Mesdames Merkel, May and Sturgeon are indeed childless, Mrs Szydło has two children, Mrs Foster three, and Ms O’Neill two (she was a teenage mother).
I’d love to know what language Theresa, Angela and Beata speak when they get together. English? German? Diplomatic French? The feminist sisterhood naturally welcomes the number of women on the world political stage. But what will they say if Marine Le Pen joins them? Oh, my!
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Some Anglican and Catholic schools now have a majority of Muslim pupils. The C of E reckons that about 20 of its schools have a majority of Muslim pupils, and about 15 Catholic schools are in a similar position.
I am sure these situations can be complex, but it sounds to me as though some Christian schools are just providing a good service to their local faith communities.
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