Ambivalent atheism; Neoliberalism and old age

Thinking Allowed

BBC

Society & Culture, Science

4.4 • 997 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ambivalent atheism: Laurie Taylor talks to Lois Lee, Research Associate with the Institute of Advanced Studies at University College, London, and author of a study of non religious people. In the UK today a variety of identity labels exist which articulate non belief -atheist, agnostic, humanist, secular, rationalist, free thinker and sceptic. Most of these terms are associated with organised and activist forms of non religion. But what of the ambivalent atheist, whose beliefs may be fuzzier, less clear cut? They're joined by the philosopher, Julian Baggini.

Also, old age and neoliberalism. John Macnicol, Visiting Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics, & one of Europe's leading academic analysts of old age and ageing, asks if the idea of retirement is being replaced by the belief that citizens should (or be forced to) work later in life. In a harsher economy is the notion of old age, as a protected stage of life, becoming increasingly anachronistic?

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a Thinking Aloud Podcast from the BBC and for more details in our terms of use and much,
0:06.2	much more about thinking aloud. Go to our website at BBC.co.uk.
0:11.6	Hello. At my recent big birthday party I came up with some
0:16.2	predictable tropes in my thank you for coming speech. The wonderful if
0:20.9	apocryphal declaration by blues singer Yubi Williams on his 92nd birthday.
0:25.0	If I know I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.
0:29.0	Ronnie Scott's admirable advice that the only way to stay looking young is to hang around with older people and of course
0:33.8	Agathathristy is well-known pleasure at being married to an archaeologist.
0:37.7	The older you get, the more interested in you they become.
0:41.5	Well I needed the jokes to ward off any of the guests who might be inclined to offer me
0:45.2	congratulations on having survived so long. People like those members of the audience on that Wilfred Pickles
0:51.3	have a go program who always gave a big hand to any
0:54.7	contestant over the age of 60 who could still walk unaided across the stage.
0:58.8	But as I realized when I was reading a new book called Neoliberalizing Old Age, my wish to downplay the significance of aging
1:06.1	was very much a product of my belonging to a group of privileged people who not only enjoyed
1:10.3	relatively good health, but also the chance to keep working in fulfilling jobs. enjoyed relatively
1:20.4	look forward to retirement in a decent state pension are already finding that
1:24.9	prospect reselling.
1:27.5	But we also have to guarantee that the basic state pension is affordable in the future even as people live longer and our society
1:35.1	grows older. The only way to do that is to ensure the pension age keeps track with life expectancy. Now the pensions bill currently going
1:45.2	through Parliament puts in place reviews of the pension age every five years. Now we
1:50.2	set the principle that will underpin those reviews.
	...

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