The Golden Rule

A wise, compassionate and helpful guide to ageing happily

'The Golden Rule is part manifesto for better integration and appreciation between generations, and part reflection on a career spent looking after our elders, [. . .] with good humour, sanity, wisdom and quite a few jokes' The Times

'From the first pages, the impression you have is how much you’d want Pollock as your medical practitioner. . . this warm and compassionate book is part reflection, part rallying cry to set in place a better society for older people' Daily Mail

'Beautiful and wise, filled with characters I know living through situations I recognise, filtered through the kindness of thoughtful storytelling' Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind

In a society obsessed with staying young, how can we age with confidence?

Today, we are living longer lives, and have choices now as never before about how we will age.

What will make us happy?

What are we frightened of, and what might allay those fears?

What changes, made right now, will help us to flourish as we age?

This book contains lessons Lucy Pollock has learned from thirty years of working with older people and those close to them. It looks at problems that can be fixed with tests and tablets, and problems that require a different sort of medicine. Lucy explains what she has been taught about loss, about impossible families, about becoming older without children, and the important things she has learned about sexuality, race, love and living with uncertainty.

The Golden Rule sets out guiding principles we can all try to live by, in the hope that together we can bring about positive change, and all benefit from a kinder, more compassionate society.

Here is how we may meet our futures with optimism and confidence.