Edwina Currie live webchat 23 July, 7pm

LaraGransnet

Thanks very much to Edwina for coming on tonight and answering all our questions!

Thanks, this was fun!! you can folow me on Twitter too - Edwina_Currie

minimo

Is there anything in your life you regret? And how do/did you come to terms with it?

Oh, loads. If you don't have regrets, you haven't dreamed, and you haven't lived. But I got most of what I aimed for, so I'm content

(typical politician's answer...!)

neptune

What is the longest you've ever lived in one house? My daughter (and her beautiful family) and have asked me to go with them. I'm only a year away from retiring but have never lived anywhere else in my whole life. This is only the 3rd house I've called home. I can't imagine upping sticks... Like you said earlier what if they then move?

Imagine. It will happen sooner or later.. probably when you least want it. McC &S research showed 90% of their residents come in after a crisis, eg a bereavement or serious illness. Better to move, to choose your retirement place, before you HAVE to. best, disscuss with family, all of them, properly, seriously, think of the pros and cons, research it thoroughly.
We lived in Birmingham 10 years, Derbys 14, Surrey 10 years, and moved twice since 2011. I do not like moving house!

Sunhat

Michael Gove? Interesting. As the wife of a recently retired secondary school teacher, more or less everything I hear about him is negative - what do you admire?

He's pushing for higher standards for all children in the state school system, and I'm yelling, "About time!"
I went to a great school, the Liverpool Insititute High School for Girls (Paul and George of the Beatles went to the boys' school over the road). It doesn't exist any more. I don't like selection, as it tendede to ignore the needs of the other 80% of kids, but I had hoped the comprehensive system would give the best chances to every child. And it hasn't. Tony Blair started the academies - one good thing he did - and that's on the right track; I've been to Bede Academy in Northumberland, awesome. And free schools are exciting.
The teacher unions hate him because he's pushing their members for higher standards. But the public get what he's doing, I think

coffeefortwo

Hello Edwina. What made you want to become the face of McCarthy and Stone?

Two years ago Mc&S put an ad in the paper asking for anyone interested in joining a small advisory group to apply. Over 700 people did and 6 were invited to become the Greater Life Advisory group. We meet regularly and toss around blue sky ideas, including tough criticism of some of their (then) approach - and to do them justice, they listen. It's about more than building nice retirement flats for owner occupiers; it's got to be about life planning, covering a much wider range of services, looking after older people rather better than perhaps in previous generations.

highfive

Talking of childcare, do you ever help out and look after your grandchildren while your children work?

Not on a regular basis (but then I often take her dog...!).
My sister-in-law is the main carer for her grandchildren, but then she is very tied. Not sure that's a good thing, but it suits her. Every family has to find their own way of tacking this. I'd rather be a Gangsta granny and totally subversive with my grandchildren, taking them places their parents maybe wouldn't ...

grapefruit

What did you do with all your things when you downsized?! I have mountains and mountains of things that I simply can't bear to part with. Seems strange and quite sad to graduate to slightly bigger and slightly better houses. And then go backwards. Or it least it feels like it.

Got rid of loads - rest still stacked in the garage!
Many arguments with hubby about this. But I pointed out that when we get really old, we'll be using only a couple of rooms anyway..!
We moved north 2011 and took a lease on a big house. Fine in summer. In winter, a NIGHTMARE. When the final gas bill came in, it was £1790 for the quarter - on top of monthly £250 payments. That settled it.
Things.. they matter so much? More than comfort? More than friends? More than family?
Choose your favourites, and let the rest go. If you have good stuff, send it to auction, and spend the proceeds on something really mad.

feminista

What would you say is your most redeeming feature and made you a success? And what do you think holds woman back in the work place?

1. Being a Scouser - youleanr to be quick with the lip, and one of our local MPs was a woman, Bessie Braddock. Formidable.
2. Having gone to an old fashioned state grammar school (closed by Derek Hatton, grrr..)
3. Coming from an argumentative family, where my Dad treated me like any other dult, and would discuss news stories with me from an early age. By the age of 14 I was taking part in school debates about joining the Commons Market!
So it never occurred to me that anything would hold me back, provided I worked hard and tired my best.
What holds most women back is fear - of failure, of embarrassment, of criticism. You do need the hide of a rhinoceros in the political world, but perhaps less so elsewhere.