I've just seen an advert on BBC-1 for the government's digital switchover
help scheme. This is intended to help those over 75 make the switch from
analogue to digital TV. The advert showed a garulous old fool who seemed to
lack social awareness and common sense. The young relative and the young
engineer exchanged meaningful glances, as if to say, "She can't help being
daft; she's old." How incredibly patronising and insulting this is to the
very people they claim to be helping. It seems that in modern Britain,
whilst racism is almost a capital offence, ageism is officially condoned.

Incidentally, anyone with elderly friends or relatives who don't use the net
but might benefit from sensible non-patronising advice about analogue
switch-off should help them access the information on
www.paras.org.uk

Bill