Monthly Archives: February 2013
What happens when a lover becomes a carer?
Reviewed: It’s My Story: My Lover, My Carer on Radio 4
Sex in the afternoon.
By Antonia Quirke Published 14 February 2013
It’s My Story: My Lover, My Carer
Radio 4
A one-off programme talked about sex in a way never heard on Radio 4 – the channel usually being sweetly prudish, with the very occasional exception of Woman’s Hour when one can sometimes hear Jenni Murray rather fruitily adjusting her bifocals if the subject descends, like a brass bed quietly creaking in a distant room. Which happens far less than you’d think. I’ve heard whole come-into-my- brown-study Woman’s Hour shows devoted to the menopause or cystitis without sex really being mentioned at all, as though to allow more would be seriously unwise or overwhelming, like trying to drain the Serpentine through a straw. It can come over very weird, especially when moments later someone is always banging on about delphiniums, or Lady Jacintha’s curious devotion to Dick Francis, with intense and detailed passion. Priorities ladies, please!
More concern for the family carer!
Thousands of carers set to lose benefits
Thousands of carers in England, Wales and Scotland are set to lose benefits when new disability-claim rules start.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says 5,000 carers currently eligible for a £58.45 a week allowance will no longer be when personal independence payments replace the disability living allowance this April.
It says the changes are necessary and 20,000 additional carers should gain.
Charity Carers UK says this is “cold comfort” to those who will miss out.
Unpaid Family carers ‘at breaking point’
Family carers ‘at breaking point’
Mencap ambassador Jo Whiley called for help to provide short breaks for carers
The majority of people who care for disabled family members have reached “breaking point”, a charity has warned.
Mencap said that eight in 10 people who care for loved ones with a learning disability feel they do not get the respite or support they need.
Despite the Government allocating funds for carers to have short breaks from their caring responsibilities, the money was not ring-fenced and is being spent elsewhere, the learning disability charity said.
Half the councils across England have cut short break services so carers are not getting any time to themselves, the charity’s report Short Breaks states.
