Health

• Scotland making good progress on heart disease - BBC Scotland
• Weight training benefits Parkinson’s sufferers - Telegraph
• Blood clot grabber could save stroke victims’ lives - Daily Mail

Care

• Guide dogs for the mind: the retrievers trained to give dementia sufferers a new lease of life – Daily Mail
• Scotland launches telecare services - Guardian

Social

• Pensioner lay dead in her home for months - STV Aberdeen
• Survey highlights transport problems for older people in Dumfries and Galloway: Galloway Gazette

Crime

• Woman, 84, robbed by bogus caller - BBC Scotland (Read our information on home safety.)

Money 

• Rise in UK’s average retirement age - Age UK
• Labour market figures mask impact on older workers - Age Scotland
• Shock delay to pensions will hit thousands - Scotland on Sunday

Something for the weekend 

• New website from Joseph Rowntree Foundation stimulates discussion on ageing – Global Ageing Network

Myfriends Online Week is a national digital inclusion campaign which aims to reduce social isolation and loneliness by supporting and encouraging people in later life to make new friends and stay in touch with old friends and family through the internet.

Throughout the week of 19 – 25 of March, events will be taking place across Scotland, as well as the rest of the UK, to provide hands on learning opportunities for older people to discover the social side of the internet and what it can offer them.

In Scotland alone, around 4% of older people never see any family or friends – that’s the equivalent of the population of Inverness.There are approximately 5.7 million older people who have never been online and over 1 million (11%) people aged 65 or over in the UK say they are always or often feel lonely.

Staying in touch with family and friends is for many older people the biggest incentive for wanting to get online and gaining the skills and confidence to connect can make a real difference to quality of life for older people.

You can help reduce loneliness and social isolation for older people in your local area by running an information session or training event during Myfriends Online Week. From providing basic introductions to email to helping make contact through online video calling like skype, there are many ways, big and small to get involved.

Register your event now to access free resources to help you plan and deliver successful events during the week. All registered events will be promoted on the Age UK website and through their national call line, which will be open to the public throughout March. Free resources available include: promotional posters, event banners, balloons, press release templates, and learning packs for your event participants.

For top tips on how to plan a successful event, check out the new 2012 planning guide.

Myfriends Online Week is a UK-wide campaign managed and delivered by Age UK in partnership with Age Scotland, Age Cymru and Age NI.

• Learn more about MyFriends Online Week
• Learn more about Age Scotland’s campaign to end isolation
• Register your MyFriends Online Week event 

Politics

• Grey vote could decide independence referendum – Daily Record

Money

• Funding announced for boiler scrappage scheme – Age Scotland
• An electronic system that could help save the cheque - Telegraph
• Big six accused in costly tariffs row - Independent

Health

• How eating too much could double risk of memory loss - Daily Mail

Social

• Plans to resurrect seniors’ forum in Dumfries – Age Scotland
• Number of drivers over 80 passes 1 million - Daily Mail
• Older workers on ‘jobs scrap heap’ as crisis deepens - Telegraph

Crime

• Nurse assaulted 77 year old care home resident after TV row - STV News

Something for the weekend

• Six couples on one block celebrate 50+ years marriage together - Daily Mail
• Glamorous oldies and silver surfers have never had it so good – Telegraph

We would like to hear from older people in Scotland that have a view on the Bill. We will feed individuals’ perspectives into our official consultation response.

The main provisions of the proposed bill are:

• it will give any person who meets the eligibility requirements the right to request medication to end their own life
• it will set out a straightforward process for a qualifying person to follow, involving initial registration followed by two formal requests
• it will decriminalise the actions of those who assist a qualifying person to end their own life within the parameters set by the Bill
• it will require a trained and “licensed facilitator” to be present when a qualifying person takes their own life.

Do you have a view on this topic? If you would like to feed into the charity’s position on the Bill, please contact our Senior Parliamentary and Policy Officer, Callum Chomczuk on Callum.chomczuk@agescotland.org.uk. You can also leave comments on this blog post; we’d very much like to hear your feedback. The deadline for this is 13 April 2012.

February 10 is Bobble Day! Today Age Scotland is encouraging people all over the country to get involved and raise money to help improve the lives of older people in later life.

Across Scotland, people are digging out their favourite woollies, wearing them with pride and donating £2. Silly, daft, funny and colourful woollen wear is most definitely encouraged; staying warm and cosy will help older people stay warm and cosy too through the money raised.

If you’d like to support the day, you can donate £2 by texting AGES10 £2 to 70070 from your mobile phone, as well as donating online or over the phone on 0845 833 9334.

The bear models a bobble

You can also visit our Age Scotland charity shops, pick up a worthy woolly item and strut your stuff. As well as this, our shops in Galashiels, Falkirk and Nicholson St, Edinburgh have colourful bobbles to complement your outfit – you can pick them up in-store for a small donation.

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We’ll put some photos up next week of the crazy and colourful outfits supporters have donned in order to raise money for Age Scotland.

• Read more about our work in Scotland. 
• Donate to Age Scotland online. 
• To donate over the phone, please call us on 0845 833 9334.

Health

• Can sugar really be toxic? Sadly, yes - Telegraph
• Men who smoke more likely to suffer dementia in later life - Daily Mail

Care 

• Shocking care standards at Southern Cross’s Scottish old folks home exposed - Daily Record

Social

• BBC boss: I got it wrong with older women - Daily Mail
• Last veteran of first world war dies, aged 110: Mirror

Money

• 63% of Britons do not have a will - Age UK
• Gas prices hit six year high - Express
• Fewer deaths ‘may hit pensions’ - BBC News

Crime

• ‘Cross-dressing rogue’ dressed up as elderly woman to steal £11,000 - STV News
• Auxiliary nurse criticised over pensioner’s death - BBC Scotland 

Something for the weekend

• Silver surfers face up to social networking - News Letter
• Ken Clarke and Baroness Trumpington get Oldie awards - BBC News
• Scottish twins the oldest in the world at 102: Scotsman

Retirement is a major life transition for lots of people.  Giving up work and re-focusing your aims and aspirations is not quite as straight forward as many people imagine. Not enough to do and no reason to go out can leave people with no sense of purpose and frequently isolated from friends, family and old colleagues.

A group of students are now investigating how people successfully adjust to retirement as part of a Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at the Centre of Therapy.

Last year the students distributed and collated a questionnaire aimed at finding out what makes for a successful adjustment to retirement. It seems that people who have planned for and investigated retirement and how it will affect specific areas of their life will ultimately adjust to and enjoy this phase of their life much more than those people who move in to retirement with little thought or planning.

The students have now developed a three hour Cognitive Behavioural Seminar to support people who are either already retired or planning to retire in the near future. This seminar uses assessments, visualisations and planning tools to help you think through what you want from your retirement, and supports you to put plans in place to ensure you are able to meet all your goals.

The students are holding this session on Saturday 18^th February in the Centre for Counselling and Therapy, Ashfield House, 402 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow,  G2 3JD. The Session will start at 10am and finish with lunch at 1pm. See this location on Google Maps.

Would you like to attend or want more information? Contact Linda Anderson on: 01355 521463 or on her mobile: 07763226466. You can also email: linda1anderson@blueyonder.co.uk.

Photo - Darren Shaw

It’s coding time again, how fast the years fly by! It’s the time when you will be expected to read, understand and inform HMRC if they have got your tax codes wrong. This year HMRC tell us that their new computer system is now running at 98% accuracy. This is brilliant news and means that for most of us our tax affairs will be in order.

But hold this thought in mind… There are approximately 35 million people paying their tax under the Pay As You Earn method (PAYE) and another 5 million paying by both PAYE and Self Assessment. If you do the maths you will see that 800,000 people will still have problems.

You got it… You still need to check your coding notices and statements carefully, especially if you have multiple sources of income, have recently retired, been bereaved or had any change in circumstance.

Here are the 2012/2013 rates, allowances and reliefs (subject to the budget):

• Basic rate band (you will pay tax at 20%)                        £0 to £34,370
• Higher rate band (you will pay tax at 40%)                       £34,371 to £150,000
• Additional rate band (you will pay tax at 50%)                  Over £150,000

Personal allowances

• Age under 65                             £8,105
• Age 65 to 74                              £10,500   (Can be claimed at the start of the tax year if income for the year is less than £25,400)
• Age 75 and over                        £10,660   (As above)
• Married couples’ allowance      £7,705
• Blind person’s allowance          £2,100

The married couples’ allowance is only available if one of you was born before 6^th April 1935, it is restricted to 10% so you would expect to see half of this figure in your tax code (£3,853). You are able to share this allowance with your spouse and if you have done this check your coding notices very carefully.

You do not have to be totally blind to claim the blind person’s allowance but need to be registered with your local authority on the blind register (in England and Wales only). If you think you may qualify, ask your doctor to refer you to an eye specialist. This allowance can also be shared with your spouse; if your own income is low it may be beneficial to do this.

All you have to do now is match this lot to your own situation. For example:

Mrs A is 63 and still working, has deferred her state pension and doesn’t have any other income. She will have a personal allowance of £8,105 before she pays any tax. Her code will be 810L which will be sent to her employer.

Mrs B – also 63 – receives her state pension of £7,105, has a work’s pension and a part-time job. She has the same personal allowance of £8,105 but her state pension is taxable and can’t be taxed at source, so it needs to be subtracted from her allowance. So £8,105 minus £7,105 leaves £1,000. This will be sent to her pension as it is a continuing source as code 100L, as all of her allowance is used up any other income is taxed at basic rate (BR) 20%. Care has to be taken to make sure that income sources are large enough to operate the code.

Don’t fret. We will continue with more examples next month!

It’s just a few days to go until Bobble Day on 10 February! We are asking people to resurrect their winter woollies, wear them with pride, and donate £2 to Age Scotland’s important work helping people in later life stay warm during the colder months.

Wacky woollen wear has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity with online retailers reporting a huge 600% increase in sales of festive knits compared to last year, so why not wrap up in your most colourful and crazy knits on 10 February?

Visit the Nicholson St, Edinburgh charity shop, as well as shops in Galashiels and Falkirk to pick up a bobble!

If you’d like to get involved, look no further than your local Age Scotland shop which has a wide selection of winter warming woollies at bargain prices.  You can also finish off a woolly outfit with a colourful bobble, available from Wilkinsons stores for a suggested donation of just £2, as well as the Galashiels, Falkirk and Nicholson Street, Edinburgh charity shops.

Bobble Day is a chance to have fun, but there is a serious issue at its heart, and although Christmas is over and people are looking forward to spring, February is often one of the coldest months of the year and many older people find it difficult to stay warm.

There are other ways to get involved in Bobble Day too, just visit www.agescotland.org.uk/bobbleday and download our woolly information pack get your friends, family or work colleagues to “Get Their Woollies Out” and have fun.

You can also make a donation of £2 by simply sending the text message AGES10 £2 to 70070. The money raised will help Age Scotland to spread the warmth message to people in later life during the colder months.

• Find out more about Bobble Day. 
• Learn about the work Age Scotland does in Scotland.