Saturday 22 December 2012

It isn't just the elderly who are victims

Earlier this month, I saw a TV programme on BBC 1 featuring elderly people who had been tricked out of money or their life savings by unscrupulous conmen or loan sharks. Perhaps this programme was put out because we are near Christmas, but one thought crossed my mind when I was watching it -and it was have you ever noticed how on TV shows like this, it is always the elderly who are shown being tricked by loan sharks or conmen or the unscrupulous, but they rarely, if ever, mention the mentally ill or disabled or people with conditions such as Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, General Learning Disabilities or those who are just vulnerable being conned, ripped off or taken advantage by conmen or loan sharks or the unscrupulous? They are just as much at risk at falling victim as the elderly. Some of the elderly are more mentally alert or astute than myself. Some of the elderly know exactly what they are doing and saying and many of them aren't tricked by conmen or loan sharks. Some of the elderly aren't vulnerable at all. It is time that others who could be taken advantage of and conned were featured on these programmes. How about readdressing the balance BBC and ITV?

Sunday 2 December 2012

We Are All One-Offs

When somebody dies, one of the most frequently meaningless statements uttered is "He was a one-off" or "We will never see his like again". When I have heard that, I have thought to myself "I can't think of a more ordinary individual" or "Did this person invent a cure for Cancer or come up with a great invention or innovation? Did he live in an igloo in the Arctic for a year or did he dig his front garden dressed in a blue woolly hat, Y-fronts and Wellington Boots?".. if not.. then he wasn't a one-off. Maybe this is a glib or shallow way of saying that they will miss this person, but looking at it a different way, I have thought "Of course we will never see his like again.. we will never see most people's like again because all of us differ from each other in some way or another, and in that regard, most of us are one-offs".