Funding social care is a collective responsibility | Letters 19 October 2026 at 13:18

Funding social care is a collective responsibility | Letters

19 October 2026 at 13:18

Roger Steer says the solution is to adopt the NHS model, Janet Dubé suggests an audit, while Sally Byers says language that respects people living with dementia is crucial

Polly Toynbee asks a seemingly difficult question and discusses a knotty issue (In Liverpool I saw the tough choices Louise Casey faces on social care – starting with who will pay?, 13 October). Her question is framed as an issue of individual choice inviting the response: “Not me if I can avoid it.”

The responsible answer is, of course, all of us – collectively. It is an uninsurable risk that can only be solved equitably and efficiently as a collective solution. By entangling the issue of funding with provision of services, moral clarity is lost. Issues of matching funding distort and influence the level of care provided and ensure that progress toward resolving the question of who determines the need for care is delayed.

‘I want to do everything I can to head off dementia’: why demand for the shingles vaccine is soaring 11 October 2026 at 09:00

‘I want to do everything I can to head off dementia’: why demand for the shingles vaccine is soaring

The Guardian

By: Ian Sample Science editor

11 October 2026 at 09:00

Could a drug intended to prevent painful rashes also protect our brains as we get older? The signs are promising – but not conclusive. Yet that’s enough to be driving a boom in shingles jabs

When Jenny, a 50-year-old marketing and branding professional from Cambridge, went for her shingles vaccine last year, an entirely different disease was on her mind. Having witnessed three of her four grandparents succumb to dementia, with all the distress that brought, she wants to avoid the same fate. She hopes the shingles vaccine might help.

Jenny is far from alone. Britain’s high street chemists have reported a rise in demand for the shingles vaccine, at least some of which is driven by people more worried about dementia than shingles. And while the vaccine is free for some on the NHS, most under-65s pay around £450 for the full two doses.

Will We Ever Understand Dementia? 10 October 2026 at 10:28

Will We Ever Understand Dementia?

NYT: Science

By: Robert Kolker

10 October 2026 at 10:28

Since the days of Dr. Alzheimer himself, there has been a dream that severe senility might have an explanation — and a cure. The search for both has never been more urgent.