Gransnet forums

News & politics

Katie Hopkins on dementia patients

(65 Posts)
CariGransnet (GNHQ) Tue 10-Jun-14 11:03:08

We've just spotted this doing the rounds on social media...

www.closeronline.co.uk/2014/06/katie-hopkins-insists-there-s-no-point-visiting-elderly-relatives-with-dementia-all-they-do-is-get-in-the-way

<lights blue touch paper and retires>

Maggiemaybe Tue 10-Jun-14 19:21:21

She's coming up to 40, elegran. Certainly old enough to know better than to fire off self-aggrandising soundbites without caring who she hurts in the process. Anybody remember Logan's Run? Once you hit your 30th birthday off you popped to be vaporised. Perhaps Katie would like to comment on 39 year olds "sucking the life from the young"?

Grannylin Tue 10-Jun-14 19:36:26

I saw her today!she was in H&M in Exeter with a hideous, loud woman, in a Hyacinth Bucket outfit...it could only have been her Mum.Wish I had read this beforehand..it could have been an interesting conversation. angry

merlotgran Tue 10-Jun-14 19:47:35

With a daughter like that I'd be worried I might not make it to Christmas.

#keepcheckingyourforhead

Maggiemaybe Tue 10-Jun-14 19:58:29

Love it, merlotgran! grin

Elegran Tue 10-Jun-14 20:00:45

*Maggiemaybe" I was going to mention Logan's Run - but I thought it was at 40 that you were vaporised. (a long time since I saw it) I found out on Google that she is 35, so I was about to say that she only has five more years but it seems she is already overdue for the chop.

Do you remember Soylent Green? The euthanased old were put to good use in that, turned into a nutritious food supply. I suspect Katie would be too tough and bitter-tasting to use, though.

Ana Tue 10-Jun-14 20:06:08

She's actually 39, Elegran, as others have said - so even more overdue for the chop!

rosequartz Tue 10-Jun-14 20:12:22

merlotgran grin

39 - really? shock. DD1 is older than her but looks 10 years younger!

Elegran Tue 10-Jun-14 20:20:52

The bit I read must have been out of date. she is rushing toward being geriatric, then, poor thing. How will she cope?

rosequartz Tue 10-Jun-14 20:22:06

39 and holding .....

goldengirl Tue 10-Jun-14 22:44:19

She's a right little madam. I saw her in a question time type programme and thought her a waste of time, her views were totally out of order and lent nothing to the debates in question except to raise hackles

nightowl Tue 10-Jun-14 23:09:49

As others have said, she makes her living by being controversial. She really isn't worth paying attention to. Starting off as a supposedly intelligent businesswoman ('the only woman who said no to Sir Alan!' hmm ) she has exploited her natural arrogance and rudeness which were apparent on The Apprentice and found a niche in the popular media. She is making a lot of money but is morally bankrupt.

Eloethan Tue 10-Jun-14 23:46:36

Lona On reflection, I think you're right because euthanasia (though some would say euthanasia is another word for murder) is intended to bring an end to intolerable pain and suffering. KH seemed to be saying that elderly people with dementia are basically a waste of space and a nuisance for their families and everybody else. So, yes, I suppose on that basis what she proposes can only be described as "murder".

Judthepud2 Tue 10-Jun-14 23:56:24

Flickety I have an aunt like yours. She is 88 and recently has been diagnosed with dementia. Delighted to see me but forgets I have been immediately I leave. Still love to visit her despite her reality being different. She enjoys a chat about the old days and is my last link with my beloved mother. Put her down? No way! Although she often cries and tells me she would like to go sad

Now that I am 64 I suppose I too am well overdue for extermination as I am sucking the younger generation dry. No........hang on......How would they cope without our (considerable) financial support and frequent childminding?

tiggypiro Wed 11-Jun-14 08:08:57

What a pity that we will probably not be around to see how she copes with her own old age !

FlicketyB Wed 11-Jun-14 08:12:43

Well, I am 70. DF made it to 92, still driving long distances and still working actively on the committee of three local organisations. Giving more to the community at 92 than she is at 39.

Personally, I had never heard of her before this thread.

Elegran Wed 11-Jun-14 08:31:10

I saw her on The Apprentice. That was the start of her show-biz career.

merlotgran Wed 11-Jun-14 10:28:13

I laughed out loud at her comment, 'Thanks to the D Day veterans, the elderly are now in fashion.'

So the next time you see somebody struggling to steer an elderly relative around Tesco, they're not gritting their teeth but proudly showing off their latest fashion accessory.

FlicketyB Wed 11-Jun-14 15:29:05

Well, I went down and visited my fashion accessory this morning. She seemed tired so said little but I reminisced and she did now and then say 'I do vaguely remember'. But, as one of the carers said, she was clearly listening and laughed when I told her a story about DGS.I enjoy my visits to her, even though it is a bit of a journey. I will miss them when they stop, which they will inevitably.

I worked as a volunteer Home Advisor with Age UK for 10 years and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the many people I met doing that work. Many had had such interesting lives. One I remember was in the navy during WW2, on an escort ship for the Arctic convoys, anotherat the siege of Mont Cassini, one lady told me about growing up on a farm I knew in the 1920s. I became close to several of them and remember them with affection. I only met one whom I actively disliked.

Flowerofthewest Wed 11-Jun-14 16:31:21

Yep maybe club together and send her to Switzerland with a one way ticket.

merlotgran Wed 11-Jun-14 17:11:59

When the unfortunate over sixties have shuffled off because no one will resuscitate them and you can't get round the garden centre without tripping over bodies, AgeUK will have to rebrand itself as MiddleAgeUK.

whenim64 Wed 11-Jun-14 17:17:08

grin merlot

petallus Wed 11-Jun-14 18:44:03

Forgive me for being serious on a thread which started off as an outrage fest and has now become a bit of a laugh but ....

Isn't there anybody else out there who hates the idea of spending years with dementia (a very distressing situation for some and who would not wish one's children to have to cope with such a situation (even if they would be willing to do so)?

I have known people who have been tested to the limit when one of their nearest and dearest was unfortunate enough to get alzheimers disease. Spouses can become suicidal.

And what is the point of hanging around for years if the dementia is severe?

I think many people do dread being kept alive under such circumstances.

Riverwalk Wed 11-Jun-14 18:57:08

petallus I'm sure that everyone hates the idea of spending years with dementia, but dementia patients are not 'being kept alive' ...... it's just that they're not killed-off.

petallus Wed 11-Jun-14 19:09:29

Well yes, Riverwalk, I suppose that is one of the problems with dementia, the body can go on and on long after the mind has 'gone'.

That's what I don't want to happen to me. I would like to be able to write something in my will about it with a view to being assisted to die when I got to a certain stage.

petallus Wed 11-Jun-14 19:14:46

I'm not sure exactly what Katie Hopkins said because I cannot access the original article but if, as seems likely from this thread, she said people over 60 are a nuisance to society and a drain on the young and should be eliminated, well, obviously I don't agree with that.