Britain is a country where more and more old men are forced to work longer and longer

Analysis by the 'Office for National Statistics' for the Spectator Magazine has shown that there are 789,000 fewer working-age Britons in employment than there were ten years ago, but 358,000 more pension-age workers.

The report, published this week said that :

* the idea that  'over-65s are a burden on the young' does not stand up to scrutiny and many have been forced to take jobs which younger people refuse to do.

* ‘The only way that the economy expanded during the Labour years was through more debt, foreign-born workers and pensioners returning to, or staying in work.’

* ‘The changing nature of the British workforce has not just meant Polish plumbers, but also British pensioners, behind the tills at Tesco.'

*  'Many employers prefer to hire pensioners, because they can be relied upon to turn up on time and don’t turn their nose up at work and in many cases, the value of their pension has been shot to pieces,  so they need to keep earning.'

* In total, the number of British-born 16 to 64 year-olds in work fell between 2001 and 2011 from 25,093,000 to 24,304,000, the analysis suggests bUT the number of over-65s in a job almost doubled, from 418,000 to 776,000 with the number of old people aged 65 and over who are working rather than retiring is expected to double again in the next five years.

My earlier post in April 2011 :
Britain is a country where more and more old men, too poor to retire, are forced to work longer and longer
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/britain-is-country-where-more-and-more.html

and January 2011 :
Britain will soon be a country where old men can work longer and longer and not be forced to retire

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/britain-will-soon-be-country-where-old.html

Britain is still a country for an old Scottish actor, salsa dancer and streetdance mixer called Tom Conti

An article in 'The Guardian' today was entitled :

Tom Conti: 'I knew nothing at all about street dance … '

The veteran Scottish actor has always been a smoothie, and now he's showing off his moves in Streetdance 2.

Tom, who is 71 years old, said of the film :

"It really wasn't about dancing. It was about the connection between man and woman. The streetdancers don't connect with each other, they just do phenomenal acrobatics. There's no sex, really."

Things you might like to know about Tom, that he :

* doesn't like to dance, has trouble with the tango, spurns the quickstep, turned down place on tv in 'Strickly Come Dancing' saying "I'd make a total arse of myself".

* plays 'Manu', a curmudgeonly French club owner who helps a troupe of young breakdancers learn how to fuse the energy of street dance with the raw sexuality of Latin and still displays sexual tension with his twenty something street dance partner.

*  thinks that the dancers will " all have arthritis by the time they are 40. They do their bodies in. It's horrific. There's a thing at the end where we all stand in a big circle and everybody goes in and does a little bit. Like a curtain call. This guy jumped in and he did almost all of the dance on his head. On his head! He'll pay for it later."

* was classically trained as an actor and was irked by inexperienced cast who had a problem with mumbling their lines, saying : "Elocution! You feel such an old fool, but I'm afraid it's the first rule" and said that being the oldest person on set was sometimes "awful and weird".

* had George Sampson, on the left, who plays the crew manager, 'Eddie', say of him : "I hope when I'm his age I'm as smooth as Tom Conti. He's so graceful. And he was a soldier for trying that salsa."

The film trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBp1X5WYsJs

P.S. My posting on Tom's birthday last year :
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/britain-says-happy-birthday-to-old.html

Britain, already no country for old men today will be less of one for more and more very old men in the future

An article in the 'Guardian' yesterday announced :

More than a third of babies born in 2012 will live to 100, report predicts

Office for National Statistics says 35% of this year's 826,000 new babies could still be alive in 2112

Apparently, a baby boy born this year has a 32% chance of reaching the age of 100.

 

This, however, is not unalloyed good news. David Sinclair, 'Head of Policy and Research at the International Longevity Centre UK', warned that for many, the future may mean social isolation as they outlive friends and members of their families, physical isolation as they are trapped in unsuitable housing and poor health.

"It is of course good news that so many more people are living longer, but there is a big 'but'. In many ways today's centenarians are unrepresentative. They are people who have escaped cancer, heart attack and stroke and so they are actually healthier than many people younger than them. Now that we are getting so much better at keeping people alive, that will no longer be the case. We will be older, but in worse health, and at high risk of living alone in unsuitable accommodation.

"The other problem is that we are very poor at forward planning, as politicians and individuals. We deal with the problems that are under our noses, but even problems two or three years away seem quite distant enough to put off. When you're talking about forecasts for a time half a century away and more, I see no evidence that we are putting in place the measures to deal with it."

Oh dear, that doesn't sound very appealing for old men in the future but better news for the Post Second World War Babyboomers born, like me, in 1947,. Only 10% of us will make it to 100, but we'll be healthier than those old men to come.

Peter Ustinov as an old man surviving into the future in the 1976 film, 'Logan's Run' :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sax6J8n1AiE

P.S.
An earlier post about old men in the future  :

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/britain-even-less-of-country-for-future.html

Britain is a country where old men say "Happy Anniversary" to Ziggy Stardust and remember when they and David Bowie were young men

An article in 'The Telegraph' today was entitled :

David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust commemorated on plaque

Forty years after being photographed for the album 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust', David Bowie’s alter ego is to have a plaque dedicated to him.

A plaque to mark the spot where 'Ziggy Stardust' was born has been unveiled by former Spandau Ballet star, Gary Kemp. Back in 1972 when David Bowie and I were both young men of 25, the late photographer, Brian Ward, was shooting pictures of David's band in a makeshift photographic studio above Heddon Street and persuaded him to step outside. The other band members thought it was too cold and declined to join him for the picture.

So it was here, that a jumpsuit-besuited, orange haired Bowie, with platform boots and a guitar slung over his shoulder was photographed outside on a wet January night with his foot resting on a step outside number 23.

Bowie's androgynous personae ,'Ziggy Stardust', was about to be at the forefront of a vibrant 1970's glam rock scene and the picture made both Bowie and Heddon Street famous.

What you possibly didn't know about David before he became Ziggy, that :

* he was born David Jones in Brixton, London, in January 1947 where his mother worked as a cinema usherette, while his father was a promotions officer for the childrens chaity 'Barnados'.

* at the age of 6, moved to the suburb of Bromley, where at junior school his voice was considered 'adequate', his recorder playing 'above-average' and his dancing, by the age of 9, strikingly imaginative, his interpretations 'vividly artistic' and his poise 'astonishing'.

* had his interest in music further stimulated when his father brought home a collection of American 45's by 'Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers',http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q96ylFiQK_I 'The Platters', Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and Little Richard.

* took up the ukele and tea chest base, started to play in skiffle sessions with friends, play the piano and make stage presentation of numbers by Elvis and Chuck Berry, complete with 'gyrations' at his local Wolf Club, described as "mesmerizing ... like someone from another planet."

* was introduced to modern jazz by his half brother and his enthusiasm for Charles Mingus and John Coltrane led his mother to give him a plastic saxophone when he was 14 in 1961, had lessons from a local musician, formed his first band, 'The Konrads' at the age of 15, who played at local youth gatherings and weddings.

*  left school at the age of 16 and despite the fact that, when he told his parents his intention to become a 'pop star' and his mother promptly arranged for him to work as an electrician's mate, stuck to his musical ambition and renamed himself 'Bowie' after the 19th century American frontiersman Jim Bowie.

* saw  his 1967 solo single, 'The Laughing Gnome' and his album debut, an amalgam of pop, psychedelia and music hall fail to achieve success then  met and came the influence dancer Lindsay Kemp, studied the dramatic arts from avant-garde theatre and mime to commedia dell'arte and worked on the creation of personae to present to the world.

* in the next 5 years, made his first commercial breakthrough with 'Space Oddity',
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssnxo4lNp8w released to coincide with the first moon landing, then his album, 'The Man Who Sold the World' in 1970, with heavy rock sound a marked departure from the acoustic guitar and folk rock style.

* dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth in  February 1972, hugely popular,  he toured Britain over the course of the next six months and was catapulted to stardom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8sdsW93ThQ&ob=av3n

P.S. 

 

What you possibly didn't know about Ziggy Stardust, that  :

*  he was created by David with the help of his wife Angela and the clothes, hair, and makeup were inspired by the Malcom McDowell character in 'A Clockwork Orange' and on William Burroughs book 'Wild Boys'.

 

* his posturing on stage was based on an imitation of the American singer Gene Vincent, who had injured his leg in a 1960 car accident which killed Eddie Cochran and in concert wore a leg brace and stood with his injured leg behind him.

 

*  he was David's way of dealing with the mental health issues which plagued his family and adopted so that he wouldn't go crazy : "One puts oneself through such psychological damage in trying to avoid the threat of insanity. As long as I could put those psychological excesses into my music and into my work, I could always be throwing it off."

* he started to scare David who, engrossed in the persona, was afraid that the blurring of he and Ziggy would lead to madness and in July 1973, did his last show as Ziggy at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

 

 

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to a controversial old evolutionist and creator of the 'selfish gene' called Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and author of the 1976 book, 'The Selfish Gene' is 71 years old today.

What you possibly didn't know about Richard , that he :

* was born in Nairobi, Kenya during The Second World War in 1941 and his father was a civil servant in the British Colonial Service, in what is now Malawi, served in the King's African Rifles and returned to England when Richard was 8 in 1949, when he inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park, which he turned into a commercial farm.

* had what he called 'a normal Anglican upbringing', and embraced Christianity until his mid-teens and then the theory of evolution as a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a God saying later : 'the main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing.'

* attended Oundle Church of England School, in the 1950's then studied zoology at Oxford University and from 1967 to 1969, he was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, where at Berkeley he became heavily involved in anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and activities before returning to lecture at Oxford in 1970.

* became known for his popularisation of the gene-centred view of evolution set out in his books 'The Selfish Gene' in 1976, where he notes that : 'all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities', and 'The Extended Phenotype' in 1982, in which he advocated the idea that the gene is the principal unit of selection in evolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciFe8JmR-nY
.
* shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world and can be said to play the role of 'watchmaker' in nature, albeit as an automatic, non intelligent, 'blind watchmaker'.

* in his 2006 book, 'The God Delusion', contended that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion, a fixed false belief and saw it sell more than two million copies and translation into 31 languages.

 

Britain maybe no country 'for' old men but is a country 'with' happy old men

A recent article in the 'The Telegraph' highlighted a study by the University of Warwick Medical School led by Dr Saverio Stranges and Dr Kandala Ngianga-Bakwin, which has found that happiness may increase with age because old men and women develop 'better coping abilities' to deal with hardship compared to young people and backs up previous research showing that happiness levels form a U-curve, reaching their low point at around 45 but then increasing as we age.

Researchers analysed lifestyle and health patterns in more than 10,000 people in the U.S.A. and the UK and evaluated quality of life using eight different factors including perception of general health, pain, social functioning and mental health.

Dr Stranges said :

* "It's obvious that people's physical quality of life deteriorates as they age, but what is interesting is that their mental well-being doesn't also deteriorate - in fact it increases."

* "We suggest that this could be due to better coping abilities, an interpretation supported by previous research showing older people tend to have internal mechanisms to deal better with hardship or negative circumstances than those who are younger."

* " It could also be due to a lowering of expectations from life, with older people less likely to put pressure on themselves in the personal and professional spheres."

The study revealed differences between old men men in Britain and those in the U.S.A.
So American old men :
Your social background is more likely to affect your quality of life, with those of you in higher socio-economic groups likely to have better mental and physical quality of life.

British old men :
You all have a similar quality of life regardless of your group because of universal healthcare in Britain.

The article prompted the following responses :

* 95david :

'I'm a slightly irritable middle-aged man with aspirations to become steadily grumpier as I get older. I would like nothing better than to make it to my century and be acknowledged as the world's most miserable old bastard'.

* northumbriabomad :
'Researchers from the University of Warwick clearly visited neither the Telegraph comments boards nor my parents' house.'

* kkibber :
'Another foolish modern idea - now in my day - old people knew how to be grumpy.'

* Old Goat

' 'Grumpy old man is a myth'

Oh, no it's not...'

P.S. The study was : Cross-cultural Comparison of Correlates of Quality of Life and Health Status: The Whitehall II Study (UK) and the Western New York Health Study (US), published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

Britain is no country for old men today and China will be no country for old men tommorow

 

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A recent article in the Guardian was entitled :

China faces 'timebomb' of ageing population

Life expectancy in China is increasing but the number of young adults is plummeting due to strict birth control policies

It cited 84-year-old, He Daxing, huddled on the doorstep of his daughter's home in Chongqing who, while hundreds of millions of Chinese families toasted the New Year together, not one of his six grown children, born before the country's one-child policy was imposed, would take him in.

Filial piety is so embedded in China that officials offered to help him sue his children when he fell ill after four nights outside, since Chinese law requires adults to support their parents. Yet his case shows that traditional ideals are under growing pressure in a fast-changing, increasingly individualistic society.

The article made the following points, that China  :

*  may soon have many more 'He Daxings' as it faces a soaring number of old men and women and a shrinking number of young adults, who are also less able – and sometimes less willing – to support their parents.

* is a country where life expectancy has soared while fertility has plummeted due to strict birth control policies.

* in 2009 had 167 million over-60s, about an eighth of the population but by 2050 will have 480 million, while at the same time the number of young people will have fallen.

* has an economic miracle fuelled by its 'demographic dividend': an unusually high proportion of working age citizens but that population bulge is becoming a problem as it ages and whereas in 2000 there were six workers for every over-60s, by 2030, there will be barely two.

* is the first country to face the issue before it has developed and one where Wang Dewen, of the World Bank's China Social Protection Team has said : "China is unique: she is getting older before she has got rich."

My earlier post on old men in China :

Sunday, 8 January 2012
Britain maybe no country for old men but is China still one ?
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/britain-maybe-no-country-for-old-men.html

The Guardian article and video clip :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/china-next-generation-ageing-population

Britain is a country with poor old men living on small pensions and a 'Chancellor of the Exchequer' called George Osborne who is going to make them smaller

This was the Conservative Minister and 'Chancellor of the Exchequer', George Osborne yesterday, holding a battered old case in which chancellors carry their taxation plans for the forthcoming year to Parliament. Inside was a document laying out the Government plans to, among other things :
 *  ensure, by a cut income tax for 300,000 of the richest households in Britain that they will get more a year
 * ensure, that 4.4 million pensioners with incomes between £10,500 and £28,000 in Britain will get less a year


The front page headline in the 'liberal' Gaurdian newspaper today :
 







The front page headline in the 'conservative' Daily Mail newspaper today :







Special tax allowances for the over 65's, which were first introduced in 1925 by then Chancellor, Winston Churchill, seen here is budget box, were given in recognition that pensioners had lower than average incomes and had already spent their lives paying tax and National Insurance.
Apparently, the Treasury was taken aback by the strength of the backlash against Mr Osborne’s decision and the tax raid, described privately by some Tory MPs as a serious political mistake, overshadowed other measures in the Chancellor’s widely trailed statement.

Ros Altmann, Director General of Saga, said:
 "This budget contains an enormous stealth tax for older people. Over the next five years, pensioners with an income of between £10,000 and £24,000 will be paying an extra £3billion in tax while richer pensioners are left unaffected."



George Osborne delivering his budget speech in the House of Commons with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, sitting behind him and here he is defending his treatment of old men :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/9159947/Budget-2012-George-Osborne-defends-granny-tax.html

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to an innovative old film and theatre director and French domicile called Peter Brook

Peter is 87 years old today and although he has lived in France since the 1970's is, nevertheless, remembered by old men for his films which they saw, like me, as young men in the 1960's.

What you possibly didn't know about Peter was that he was born in London, the son of Simon and his wife Ida, two Jewish immigrants from Latvia.


* was fascinated by theatre and films from an early age, directed a four-hour production of 'Hamlet' on a toy stage at the age of 7,  began a degree in English literature and foreign languages at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1942 where he founded the Oxford University Film Society. 

* had a meteoric rise in theatre and film and directed the following :

*   'Dr Faustus', his first production, at the age of 18 in 1943 at the Torch Theatre in London then went to Stratford-upon-Avon at the age of 20 as 'Assistant Director'. 

* 'Salome' by Stauss as Director of Productions at the Royal Opera House, Convent Garden, at the age of 20 in 1949 with sets by Salvadore Dali which was savaged by the critics and closed after only six performances with him saying : "The critics all decided that Dali and I were only out to annoy them. There, at least, I might claim that they underestimated us; if that have been our intention I think that between us we might have done much worse."


*  Laurence Olivier at the age of 23 in 'Titus Andronicus' in 1958.















*  the film adaption of William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' in 1961.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbhRssQtaT4


 *  Paul Scofield in 'King Lear' in 1962.


*  Peter Weiss’s sensational play, 'Marat/Sade' in 1964, with its unconventional style and staging which shocked the theatre world, won him international fame and then gained further renown directing the 1967 film version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1JQ0jc92sk














* 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' in 1970 at Stratford, which became one of the most famous Shakespeare productions of the twentieth century. With this impressive and original production, Brook bid his farewell not only to the RSC but also to Britain.

Peter said "farewell" to Britain in 1970 and moved to France where he set up the 'International Centre for Theatre Research' and put together a company of actors from different parts of the world with very different cultural backgrounds, methods of training and approaches to performance. As innovative as ever, in 1972 he took them on an 8500-mile trek around Africa, experimenting with different types of stories and methods of performance to groups of people in remote areas.

P.S. I met Paul Scofield's son, who taught at the Univesity of Kent, many years ago at a dinner party in Whitstable and he was the spitting image of his father.

Britain is no country for sick old men in hospital : confirmed

An article in the 'Daily Mail' today was based on a report by the 'Royal College of Nursing' from the findings of a survey of 1,700 nurses, including 240 working on National Health Service hospital wards for older people. It was entitled :

Nurses 'have no time to talk to older patients' because shortage of qualified staff is 'compromising care' on wards

Looked at from the point of view of this old man in a hospital ward we can say :
* 3 out of 4 nurses have no time to talk to you and many are so rushed they can’t help you to eat.
* typically, one nurse is expected to look after you and another 8 old patients, whereas if they worked on an 'adult general ward' it would be 6.7 patients and 4.2 on a children’s ward.
* you may be frail, acutely ill and have complex medical needs but are more likely than other hospital patients to be in the hands of 'healthcare assistants' rather than a qualified nurse.

* RCN Chief Executive Dr Peter Carter says that you are being " let down by systemic failings in our hospitals. It is acceptable that there are not enough nurses on older people’s wards."

* The RCN has said that to provide 'basic, safe care' for you need one registered nurse for you and six other old patients and ideally, one between five and seven of you.



To finish : some good news for all old men in hospital, the Government Care Services Minister, Paul Burstow,  has said:
"The ratio of nurses to beds is already improving. We know from Care Quality Commission inspections that good nurse leadership on the ward is essential to delivering high-quality care.Through the Nursing and Care Quality Forum, we are working with the RCN and others to make sure that more nurse time is freed up for front line care."

The old man in the bed says : "Thanks Paul. That is truly heartening news and thanks to the RCN for pointing out to Paul what a dire situation I am in."

P.S. My earlier posts about hospital care :

Monday, 5 March 2012
Britain is no country for old men in hospital with dementia
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/britain-is-no-country-for-old-men-in.html

Wednesday 29 February 2012
Britain is no country for old men in hospital expecting to be treated with dignity and compassion.
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/britain-is-country-with-hospitals-which.html 


Tuesday 25 January 2012
Britain, no country for those old men stuck in hospital wards, you have a champion in Professor Ian Philp
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/britain-no-country-for-those-old-men.html

Monday, 31 August 2009 :
Britain's hospital wards - no place for sick, old men
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/britains-hospital-wards-no-place-for.html

Britain is no country for old men expecting good quality 'care' in their own homes

The quality of care old people receive in 'care homes' is often poor so it comes as no surpise to find that the quality of care received by old peple in their own homes is also poor as revealed by an article in 'The Gaudian' on Friday s entitled :

Homecare for elderly 'disgraceful', report finds

Standard of care provided to elderly in their homes has been described as disgraceful in report by consumer group 'Which?'

Which? asked a group of 30 old people and their carers to keep diaries over the course of a week in January detailing their experiences of home care, also known as 'domiciliary care', by paid workers.

It found that :

* old people suffering disgraceful home care, including missed medication, confinement in soiled beds, missed visits and food left out of reach.

* One old woman was left alone in the dark for hours unable to find food or drink, another was left without a walking frame, leaving her unable to get to the bathroom and one old man whose son said: "There are times when Dad, who is diabetic, hasn't had his insulin on time and it's vital medication. When I voiced my concerns to the care agency I was just told to find another agency."

The  Executive Director of 'Which?', Richard Lloyd, said:
"The Government can no longer claim to be shocked as report after report highlights the pitiful state of care for older people. If they are serious about ensuring vulnerable people are treated with dignity, then we must see real action because every day they delay is another day older people risk being neglected."

The Chief Executive of the 'Care Quality Commission', Cynthia Bower, said:
"Homecare is one of the most difficult areas of care to monitor because it is delivered behind closed doors which is why, starting next month, CQC will be carrying out a themed inspection programme of 250 providers of domiciliary care services. We will be focusing on dignity and respect."

 The 'Age UK' Charity Director General, Michelle Mitchell, said:
"While many careworkers work hard to provide compassionate care, the underfunding of the social care system is resulting in a serious reduction of domiciliary care, which can put both the health and dignity of older people at risk. Good homecare must begin and end with the needs of individuals rather than focusing on a tick box of tasks to be completed within a set time."

A spokesman for the UK Homecare Association, Colin Angel, said the report highlighted :
"the disturbing consequences of the commissioning of homecare by local councils. To meet the current stringent public sector spending cuts councils are making significant attempts to reduce the price they pay for care. Homecare agencies repeatedly tell us that councils also allow less time for care to increasingly frail and elderly people. This raises serious questions about the ability of people to receive dignified, effective care, a situation which must be addressed nationally."

The Minister for Care  Services, Paul Burstow, has said:
"We are funding work to put in place the first ever training standards for care assistants to raise the bar on quality.The best councils are arranging care that concentrates on delivering the outcomes people have a right to expect. Kindness, compassion, dignity and respect must be central to care, whoever provides it and wherever it is provided."


Old men of Britain say : " Thanks Paul. Those of us receiving care at home, like this old chap, can rest easy now, knowing that all will be well".

.

Is Britain still a country for two old rockers called Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and a band called 'The Rolling Stones' ?

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are both 69 this year, Ronnie Wood is 65, Charlie Watts is 71 and Bill Whyman 76, which gives them a collective age of 350 years. That being the case, I was interested to read an article in 'The Daily Mail' this week was entitled :

Why Mick Jagger still can't forgive Keith Richards for that (very personal) little insult in his biography

It made the following points, that :
* the 'Rolling Stones' have their 50th anniversary this year but will not be ready to tour,  Keith hopes that they might manage it in 2013 and there are 'tentative plans' to get together in New York to work on new material , however, nobody is sure whether Mick will show up.

* some claim that a money-spinning world tour is on hold because of fears that Keith’s health is too poor to withstand the rigours of touring after he almost died in 2006 after falling out of a tree and suffering a brain haemorrhage.

In addition, Mick and Keith :

*  now have relations which are 'positively arctic' and sources say that the animosity between them could finish the 'Stones' for good with one source saying : ‘They are trying very hard to put across the image that they are all pals and that it is forgotten, but it is still a completely dysfunctional and broken relationship.’

*   apparently, can only just bear to share a room, don’t speak and have barely done so in 20 years with one source saying : ‘They are incredibly petty with each other, and gripe over small things continuously. Keith gets really annoyed that Mick always goes on stage last for instance. It winds him up terribly, and has done for years and calls Mick, ‘Miss Jagger,’ and ‘Her Ladyship’ and for years has mocked his distinctive dancing and prancing.'

* have an 'elephant in the room', in the shape of what Keith said about Mick’s 'membrum virile'' in his autobiography,'Life' in 2010, accusing his old friend of having a ‘tiny todger’ and going on to claim he had enjoyed an affair with Mick’s girlfriend Marianne Faithfull in 1960.

*  met at primary school in Dartford in 1951, have weathered drugs busts, scandals and band members coming and going, but their relationship has always been tense and in the 70's, obvious cracks began to appear when Keith felt Mick had sold out on rock music and Mick, felt that Keith, deeply addicted to heroin, was out of control.

* had a truce, effected by Ronnie Wood in 1987 but Keith just couldn’t resist winding up Mick, said he was vain and belonged in panto, criticised his womanising and last year, dismissed his solo album 'Goddess In The Doorway' as ‘Dog s**t In The Doorway’.

So where does all this leave them?
Ronnie Wood hopes it will all come good.
Charlie Watts has long been the peacemaker in the group but now refuses to intervene in the bickering.

Someone who has spoken to the band in the past few weeks said : "Mick likes to make money, and Keith likes to play. And they do both believe they are the greatest band on earth and should go out with a bang."

Keith said in 2010: "We’ve had our beefs but, hey, who hasn’t?"

P.S. 'Independent.ie' suggesting that they will get together :
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/the-rolling-stones-mick-jagger-and-keith-richards-bury-the-hatchet-3052856.html
P.P.S.
The boys and 'Satisfaction', 47 years ago in 1965 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyM-j_49nk0

and my posting for Mick's birthday in 2010 :
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/britain-is-country-which-says-happy_26.html