Britain’s forgotten EU students

Posted on 9 February 2010 by Ros Coward

The number of Europeans studying at UK universities has soared, yet they have not figured at all in the debate about cuts

Recently, I’ve been teaching journalism at a British university. It’s a popular course already turning students away. But now, with the requirement for universities to trim their sails and cut student numbers coinciding with a hike in applications, it is likely to be turning down an even larger number. This will add to the hordes of disappointed students we have been hearing so much about in the press recently.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/09/university-funding-european-students

If ever there were proof of the folly of doctors playing God, it’s this man’s barbaric death

Posted on 14 October 2009 by Ros Coward

Last Christmas, I attended a carol service at a church in London. Amid the festive bustle, I sat opposite a woman and her elderly mother.

The daughter placed a tender hand on her mother’s shoulder and gently guided her through the carols, helping her remember words that were now fading from the old lady’s memory.

I watched as the daughter looked after this tiny, fragile little bird of a mother — so frail she looked as if a puff of wind might have blown her away.

Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1220221/ROS-COWARD-If-proof-folly-doctors-playing-God-mans-barbaric-death.html

Reality TV’s talent for naivete

Posted on 1 June 2009 by Ros Coward

Producers of shows such as Britain’s Got Talent must stop pretending that participants like Susan Boyle choose their fate

Why is it no surprise that Susan Boyle was checked into a clinic this weekend at best suffering from exhaustion, at worst some kind of mental breakdown? Anyone who remotely thought about this reality show star as a real person might guess that could happen. It’s the probable outcome when a unattractive, church-going, middle-aged spinster who suffers from learning difficulties and has lived a completely sheltered life with her parents until her mother’s recent death gets discovered for her talent, made over, sought out by the world’s media and then thrown to the media commentators, bloggers and twitterers to indulge in the atavistic bullying now part and parcel of modern celebrification.

Full article:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/01/britains-got-talent-susan-boyle

Podcast:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/audio/2009/jun/02/susan-boyle-britains-got-talent

The health service’s dementia shame

Posted on 18 February 2009 by Ros Coward

I can identify with John Suchet’s brave and moving discussion of coping with his wife’s disease. Sufferers have too little support

John Suchet has done an incredibly brave thing talking so openly about his wife’s dementia because, as he himself said, it isn’t his illness, it’s hers. And that could be seen as “a betrayal”. Why “betrayal”? After all, he spoke so movingly and so tenderly about her and his grief at losing her this way, and there was nothing disrespectful at all in what he said about her.

The answer is that when you are dealing with someone with dementia you never really know how much they know – or remember – about what has been said about them. And if his wife could, or does, remember something of what has been said, she might feel shame.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/17/dementia-health-service

Start talking rubbish

Posted on 10 January 2009 by Ros Coward

We should be asking why we are creating so much waste and how we can reuse it, rather than sweeping it under the carpet

News that the recycling chain has all but collapsed because of failed demand in China has produced the usual wringing of hands and a startling lack of alternative voices.

In terms of straight news reporting – last night’s BBC news for example, and today’s broadsheet coverage – the mountains of rubbish are presented as a “crisis” symptomatic of problems with the global economy. For the Daily Mail, this crisis is symptomatic of something else as well, not just a global crisis but proof that recycling is yet another pointless nanny-state demand on the already overburdened lives of the taxpayer. The paper hasn’t yet run the headline “Waste of time” but it can’t be far off.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jan/10/recycling-credit-crunch

Fashioned against feminism

Posted on 11 June 2008 by Ros Coward

In the past, it was cool for young men to support women’s equality: now a dangerously cliched gender picture dominates

In all the recent accounts of teenage shootings, stabbings and fights, it’s hard not to be struck by just how much testosterone-fuelled anger there is around.

Whenever these cases come to court, what we hear about is young boys taking offence or warding off “disrespect” or insults, always trying to trying to prove their hardness and masculinity. Time and time again what comes over is a picture of boys trying to be cool, where cool is hard.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/11/women.women?gusrc=rss&feed=global

Looking After Mother

Posted on 17 May 2008 by Ros Coward

At 8am the phone rings. “It’s Wandsworth Telecare,” says a cheerful voice. “Your mother’s smoke alarm has gone off twice. We’ve rung her but she seems confused so we’ve called the fire brigade.” Is the house on fire? “Probably not,” he says. “But when the alarm sounded we rang her and sent her to check the stove. When she came back to the phone she couldn’t remember if she had turned anything off. We thought we should play safe.”

An age-old problem

Posted on 12 May 2008 by Ros Coward

I know from experience with my mother that the problem with social care is not that there is too little, but that what there is is utterly chaotic

Gordon Brown’s promise to reform social care for the elderly is very welcome. My experiences over the last few years of looking after my elderly mother have really shocked me; I’ve realised that this issue is one of the most important and neglected issues our society faces. But I have my doubts already about whether the government will really tackle some of the fundamental problems with the current system. My experiences have also shown me that the problems with provision of care for the elderly are not all to do with cash. Many are a result of incoherent, un-joined up, impersonal provision that throws technology and medical fixes at old people and doesn’t look at their care holistically.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/12/anageoldproblem

Looking After Mother

Posted on 3 May 2008 by Ros Coward

Here we go again. Mum’s carer rings me. It’s 5.30pm and she’s called for her half-hour visit, but Mum isn’t there. It’s earlier than the carer should come, and now that the evenings are light and Mum’s days start slowly, I’m not particularly worried. “She’s probably still out,” I say, “but I’ll call on my way home.”

Looking After Mother

Posted on 3 May 2008 by Ros Coward

I need to go to the dentist – my tooth broke some time ago. I’ve also got a headache, which suggests an eye test is needed. My hair needs to be cut. And I still haven’t let my doctor know I’ve moved, although it was six months ago. But I have no time to do any of these things. Not in a preventive way, before they become emergencies. On the other hand, I have to find time to take my mother for her “follow- up” gynae appointment at St George’s hospital. They want to explore the problem that possibly caused the pulmonary embolism that possibly caused her to faint on the bus.