There's a powerful conversation in your Heyday Friday newsletter
Strong views on an important topic, a slice of baking joy plus a related tip that will transform your own cooking, and a tear-jearkingly dedicated dog in this week's newsletter
Hello!
I’ve got something a bit different for you in this week’s newsletter. Rather than a blog, I want to point you in the direction of a conversation. Specifically, a conversation about ageing and ageism. And I’d really like to know what you make of it.
I write a lot about the business of ageing, for example how to do it well, the reasons we need to be more positive about it. I’ve even written a quiz about the realities of the second half of life. I’ve also laid down the gauntlet to everyone to challenge the prejudice of ageism. So I was intrigued when I was sent the link to a discussion titled ‘Women in the media against ageism’, chaired by the brilliant Dame Joan Bakewell (90).
Joan and the panel - from left to right, writer and broadcaster Sam Baker (58), who I know from her days as a successful magazine editor, Dr Radha Modlil (45), a GP and broadcaster, writer and beauty editor Anita Bagwandas (40) and Professor Dame Carol Black (85), advisor on health and work to the UK government and Chair of the Centre for Ageing Better - discuss a range of issues from older women being ‘managed out’ of their jobs, to the need for better representation of all the different ways of being older.
They talk about the difference between the way women and men are treated and regarded when it comes to age, the power of imagery and entrenched social attitudes and take on the notion of ‘letting yourself go’ when you get older. And they tackle the little discussed issue of internalised ageism - how we think and feel about ourselves and the influence that has over our own ageing.
Women, they all believe, often feel a loss of agency and entitlement as they get older whereas men tend to feel they’re gaining in stature and authority. And they’re equally unanimous about how the media courts younger people and shies away from showing us oldies, something they have a firm theory about (which I agree with wholeheartedly).
Listen to what their responses are to Joan’s question about what needs to be done to address the issues, and why ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ is such an important mantra for all of them.
The whole discussion can be found on You Tube HERE (it’s only 35 minutes long). I think it’s interesting and thought-provoking in equal measure Do you agree? And what do you think could and should be done to tackle ageism? I’d especially love to hear the thoughts of any of you male Heydayers.
You don’t get to ninety without witnessing a lot of changes - to the world and your experience of it - and that’s certainly true of Dame Joan, who is still very much in possession of the intellect and curiosity that have been the hallmarks of her stellar career as a journalist writer and broadcaster (if you haven’t read her book The Tick of Two Clocks about downsizing from her decade-long family home in her 80s and her accompanying reflections on ageing and end of life, I really recommend you do). I suspect her
WORDS OF WISDOM
will strike a chord with a lot of you. They certainly do for me.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……WATCHING
I mean, how could I not? In the 15 years since it was first aired, the new series of the impossibly irresistible cooking show has become as much of a rite of passage from summer into autumn as the start of the school year.
Age and ageism are entirely irrelevant in the tented world of GBBO - as as happily evidenced by 84 year old judge Pru Leith, and a brigade (did you know that’s the collective term for chefs? No, me neither until I just looked it up) of new contestants whose ages range from nineteen to seventy one, and include a delightfully emotional farmer, a hilariously straight-talking car mechanic from Essex, a midwife who’s one of eight siblings and a retired university lecturer originally from the Bronx.
The series kicked off with cakes and predictably there were helpings of near disasters and nail-biting will-they-won’t-they-finish-in-time moments, plus a slightly tweaked technical challenge in which the contestants had to make mini-Battenbergs with no recipe at all, only 5 minutes of examining the ideal to base their versions on. Equally predictably there were cakes that made you want to lick the screen and a number of jaw-droppingly good showstoppers (mechanic Andy’s was especially staggering).
More unexpected was the contestant who earned themselves a handshake from steely-eyed judge Paul (only VERY sparingly given to the bakers who concoct something close to perfection, for those of you who might not understand the significance), and the bitterly cold ‘summer’ weather which played havoc with some of the preparation stages and resulted in most of the increasingly freezing contestants putting on their coats in an attempt to stave off hypothermia.
In spite of the unseasonal temperatures, Bake Off kicked off with all the joy and culinary comfort that we’ve come expect. It’s a slice of unapologetic entertainment and escapism and I just love it for that. Don’t you?
The Great British Bake Off is on Channel 4 on Tuesdays at 8pm
See the trailer for the new series HERE
FRIDAY FUNNY
Clearly this would never apply to Bake Off, but it’s soooooo true otherwise!
As I’m clearly on something of a Bake Off roll now (possibly a Swiss one - boom, boom) you may recall that Nancy Birtwhistle is a past winner of the show. The former NHS practice manager was awarded the cake plate trophy in 2014 at the age of 60.
Since then she has become a champion of sustainable and eco-friendly living and as someone I quote and refer to a lot in this slot, something of a heroine to me. With the return of GBBO and the inspiration it might give you to try some baking yourself, I thought this would be a good moment to re-share the one of her
SMART SAVE TIPS OF THE WEEK
I’ve found most invaluable - her infallible lining paste, which has never failed to deliver a bake, of any kind, that hasn’t simply slid out of the tin.
Put equal quantities of Trex (vegetable shortening, but you can use butter as well) and plain flour (I usually do 50g of each) in a bowl and whisk together until you have a smooth, thick paste. Then gradually add the same quantity of oil and keep whisking until smooth.
Keep in the fridge where it will last for weeks, and brush onto your tins before adding the mix for your bake.
PS - I’ll have some exciting (for me anyway, I’m hoping you’ll feel the same) Nancy-related news to share in a couple of weeks time, so keep an eye out for that.
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
There’s nothing my eldest grand-girlie loves more than looking through the videos with me that I’ve saved to use in this slot, and this one is her current favourite. Hope you like it as much as she does.
That’s it for this week. If you are tempted to head into the kitchen to whip up your favourite cake, let me know what you make. I’m always on the lookout for new cake ideas. I’ll be slaving over a hot oven, batch cooking honey cakes for all my family for the Jewish New Year next week. Not the most exciting to look at - they’re very brown - but SO delicious!
See you next time.
