This time on The Big Middle, we’re homing in on the intersection of rapid population ageing and globalisation – the two biggest social transformations of our times.

How does the longevity revolution sit in the context of politics, economics and geography? It’s a big, almost impenetrable issue. But we’re in the capable hands of UK gerontologist Martin Hyde, a distinguished academic from Swansea University by way of the universities of Bristol, Manchester and others.

He co-wrote Ageing and Globalisation, the only book on this sweeping subject, in 2016.

When he’s not lecturing the gerontologists of the future from his home perch in Wales, he’s editing gerontology journals and whizzing round the world giving keynotes at conferences. I reached him at his home in Swansea.

Notes

• geo-contextual shifts of population ageing
• nation-states and how they fit into global matrix
• how older individuals and nations buffeted by globalisation can still influence agendas
• portable pensions?
• the future of retirement
• fears over ‘age capture’ are unfounded
• lifelong learning and the concept of time redistribution
• reasons to be cheerful?

Links

• Martin’s book Ageing and Globalisation
• Chapter 19: Ageing, Diversity + Equality of Martin’s book\
• Martin’s bio Swansea University
• Martin developed + curates Casp10.com, a website measuring quality of life in later life
• Martin on Twitter
• The Observer article mentioned: UK elderly suffer worst poverty rate in western Europe

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