National (and international) trends in the employment of older workers show a decline in the economic participation of older people, and especially older men, since the 1970s, and general evidence of age discrimination in the workplace. This case study of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) examines statistical patterns in the fortunes of staff aged 50 years and over in a company with good reason to buck the trends. The BBC is a large, publicly-funded, equal opportunities employer endeavouring to reflect a diverse nation in its staff composition. The research is in two parts. First, we carried out a comparison at five-year intervals of the age profile of the Corporation and observed trends in official retirement at age 60 and the employment of staff working beyond retirement age, from 1978 to 1993. Secondly, an age-related analysis of departures, recruitment and part-time working was undertaken for a 12-month period, from 1992 to 1993.

The research revealed the increasing marginalisation of older workers at the BBC. This accelerated during a period of substantial contraction in the latter part of the 15-year study period and led to an age profile far younger than in other public sectors such as Local Government. Pressures to become ‘lean and efficient’ appeared to have been at the expense of older workers, who were unprotected in the workplace.

Based on data from the Bangor Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this paper examines changes over 16 years (1979–1995) in the relationships of older people (aged 65 or over in 1979) with their children and siblings. The study uses latent class analysis to categorise the relationships into two types based on four components of intergenerational solidarity: structural, associational, affectional and functional. The two types of relationship identified are close knit and loose knit. Results show a change in relationship types over time. Overall, relationships with parents decreased in solidarity. Relationships with mothers showed a smaller decrease in close knit relationships than with fathers; sibling relationships of parents became more loose knit, but remained stable and closer for those who were childless. 71 per cent of those aged 80 or over had at least one close knit relationship with either a sibling or child. Gender differences exist in the development of relationships over time: fathers had more loose knit relationships with children than mothers, and male-male sibling dyads did not strengthen over time.

Analysing transcripts of survey interview episodes, this paper examines the ways in which older people in Finland talk about their use of alcohol. It also aims to shed light on the meaning of alcohol use in the context of social ageing.

The use of alcohol was described in forty structured interviews with people aged 60–89 years. They provided accounts of drinking situations or contexts, or juxtaposed their own drinking habits with that of ‘others’. Perceptions of these ‘others’ were constructed by interviewees from cultural stereotypes of Finnish drinking habits.

Descriptions of alcohol use were embedded in everyday life and cultural frames rather than in those of old age or ageing. In the context of social ageing, alcohol use appeared in these interviews as a cultural indicator, reflecting the cultural habits and norms attached to drinking. As a social indicator, it suggested that advanced age is losing its significance as an independent factor distinguishing lifestyles.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most widely known of the organic mental disorders described as dementias. It is apparent, in both the USA and the UK, that AD imposes a large economic burden in terms of both formal and informal costs. In the UK, one estimate is that annual costs are about £1,039 million at 1990/91 prices and another, even higher, at £4,684 million. There is an extremely heavy burden on informal caregivers, and on agencies providing social services and residential accommodation.

After the onset of AD, the progress of the illness results in declining levels of functioning and increased dependency for patients, factors linked to higher needs for care. Evidence from clinical trials indicates that some drugs may retard the effects of this decline. Economic evaluation of treatments has focused on drug therapies and their ability to alter this progress. One suggestion is that, through delaying the decline and consequent institutionalisation of the patient, effective drug therapy would have economic benefits and reduce health service costs, but this point has not been clearly demonstrated and is open to question.

This paper questions assumptions about reminiscence and looks at definitions of it. Functions of different types of reminiscence are examined and distinctions are drawn between these and autobiographical memories. Methodologies of eliciting reminiscences are critically considered. Finally, types and amounts of reminiscence are related to life style and age group.

My previous report on incomes in retirement (Hutton 1996) was written in June 1996. Almost a year later, the UK election in May 1997 led to a change in government and, in the following November, to a review of pension provision. The results of this review will be announced in a Green Paper due in the Autumn 1998. Prior to the election the political parties made statements and election pledges on pensions, so that it has been a time of some clarity of position but also, until the results of the review are published, of considerable uncertainty. The areas for debate, however, have been well set out.

Two years ago I concluded:

It will be interesting…to see what progress or otherwise has occurred in ensuring an adequate income in retirement, more equal provision for men and women, in the movement towards funded pensions, in the role of the state pension, and in the progress of the minimum pension guarantee. (Hutton 1996: 785)

In this report I will first discuss where the debate on these issues has gone. Policy developments will then be set out, and finally I will identify questions to be asked in evaluating the pensions' review when it is published.

Shaver, S. (1988) ‘Universality or selectivity in income support to older people? A comparative assessment of the issues’, Journal of Social Policy, 27 (2), 231–254.

Reynaud, E. (1998) ‘Pensions in the European Union: adapting to economic and social changes’. International Social Security Review, 51 (1), 31–47.

These two articles are highlighted as both offer the reader some insights into the ongoing debate on the level of income in later life from a cross-national and comparative perspective. Recently the focus of this attention, particularly within the European Union (EU), relates to one of the myths of modern times, the devastation that will result because of the demographic time-bomb. I was pleased to see another refutation of this in Reynaud's article (p. 34). Thus the framework for this European-wide discussion has been as much about ideological and political issues as about economic ones, such as level of public provision of support in old age.

These two articles approach the issue of income in later life from different angles. The Reynaud article is essentially a review of the current debate on public pensions within the EU. It focuses upon the manner in which pension policy has adapted to social and economic change in recent years. No statistical or quantitative analysis is presented and this limits the analysis somewhat. Shaver on the other hand adopts a classic quantitative approach, using a well-established dataset, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), to revisit the longstanding debate about the merits of universalism and selectivism within the context of income in later life.