Some genuine tidings of joy for the elderly

I was standing at my sister's window helping her decorate her Christmas tree. Across the street, and just below us, another family was at the same task, circling their pine with tinsel. We began to feel competitive. 'Their star is bigger than our star,' I said. 'And they have more baubles.' My sister sniffed, replying that their red lights were less pretty than our pure white ones. 'And we have mulled wine,' she said. Which was true.

We watched for a moment and then simultaneously threw our hands up. We had been beaten - an unassailable weapon trundled into view. 'They have a granny,' we cried. Below, an old lady with a kindly smile settled into a seat.

We didn't have a granny - they both died long ago - but right then, for Christmas, we would have liked one. As for the rest of the year...

I recalled this last week as I happened to be interviewing an elderly lady in her home. She was heading elsewhere for Christmas, but her tree was beautifully decorated, the presents below perfectly wrapped, the Westie by the fire elegantly groomed and rolling over in the heat.It was the picture of perfect anticipation.

I am aware the next sentence may come across as a bummer, so let me precede it by saying this is a story with a happy ending. Families may come together for Christmas, but for too many of our elderly, the rest of the year offers little warmth. Come January, the weather outside will still be frightful, but the fire inside is too expensive to be delightful. There are those for whom this is true of Christmas itself.The way we treat our elderly - as a society - is less than edifying.

By proportion, three times as many old people die in Scotland than in Germany or Sweden. That's because the weather gets through the jerry-built walls and because of community breakdown. It is also because 'pre-pay' heating systems - the ones where you have to put a coin in the slot - are more expensive than those paid for by direct debit.

We are willing to live in a country that tolerates this, where the poor and vulnerable have to pay more for basic services than the rich.

These were my thoughts as I travelled south last week, looking out into a freezing fog that turned the usually green fields of England into a landscape where the eye searches for contrast in blurred, intense white.

Age Concern's strategies for saving the elderly from such chill vapours are startlingly basic. Its hot tips to keep people warm include encouraging them to have food in the house, the right clothes and convincing them to collect the money they are due from the government. It also suggests people stay in touch with their neighbours and relatives.

What has really cheered me this Christmas is news from Fife. The police in our most thrawn county have instigated a 'Nominated Neighbour Scheme'. It is a very simple idea. Like everywhere else, Fife has been suffering from 'bogus callers', criminals who turn up at the doors of the elderly and pretend to offer building work or, more commonly, say they are from one of the utility companies.

'They get in, turn on the taps and then ransack a room upstairs,' says Inspector Alex Harkness of Fife Constabulary. These thieves, the lowest form of the shabby profession, have each been taking an average of o100,000 a year in Fife alone.

Last summer, in a few specific areas, the police handed out cards to the vulnerable. When callers came to doors, the residents handed them a card which directed them to a neighbour who checked the visitors out. The money lost to bogus callers in these trial areas dropped from an average o40,000 to exactly nil.

They are rolling this programme out. Now that is a happy ending.

The Guardian