{"id":226170,"date":"2025-06-30T08:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T08:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226170\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T08:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T08:30:17","slug":"grandkids-are-the-best-medicine-for-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226170\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Grandkids are the best medicine for dementia\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broadcaster Alastair Stewart, 73, grew up in Hampshire, where he still lives. The longest-serving male newscaster in Britain, during 40 years at ITV he presented News at Ten, covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, royal weddings and the Iraq war. He moved to GB News in 2021, but stepped down when he was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2023. He met his wife of 47 years, Sally Ann Jung, at Southern Television. They have four children, two grandchildren and lots of rescue animals.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve given the <\/b>assisted dying bill<\/b><\/a> a great deal of thought. <\/b>Not because of my dementia. We know Esther Rantzen [who campaigns for assisted dying]; our children were at school together. It\u2019s a hugely difficult problem. I\u2019m a Roman Catholic so it makes it doubly tricky.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Esther Rantzen: \u2018The assisted dying bill will be too late for me\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very demeaning that I can\u2019t even do up my bloody shoelaces any more. <\/b>At first I was turning up at the GB News studios far too early and making silly mistakes. Then I couldn\u2019t set an analogue clock or do up my belt. There was a general sense of discombobulation.<\/p>\n

Too many people nowadays are appointed or promoted because of the diversity \u201cwoke\u201d agenda, <\/b>rather than on merit. Make sure you\u2019re appointing them because they\u2019re good at the job, not simply because they are female, black, gay or disabled.<\/p>\n

When I was done for drink-driving [in 2003], it was a clear shot across the bows that I was drinking too much.<\/b> I don\u2019t think I was an alcoholic. I never woke up thinking, where\u2019s the first drink coming from? Giving up drinking and smoking has saved a huge amount of money, so it\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n

\"Royal<\/p>\n

Stewart with the Queen at Buckingham Palace last year<\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the BBC handled the <\/b>Huw Edwards<\/b><\/a> situation brilliantly.<\/b> They still aren\u2019t. [The former broadcaster admitted making indecent images of children.] He wasn\u2019t a friend. I\u2019m not just saying that because of what he got up to. I thought it was tragic for the victim and the family.<\/p>\n

I dismissed <\/b>Nigel Farage<\/b><\/a> as a one-trick pony who only talked about Europe and Brexit.<\/b> I had the honour of getting to know him at GB News. He\u2019s a very able, very intelligent man. He has the common touch \u2014 Churchill had it, Thatcher had it. When people say, \u201cThe only thing Farage will do is keep Labour in for ever,\u201d I\u2019m not sure they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read expert advice on healthy living, fitness and wellbeing<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

My short-term memory is hopeless. <\/b>Where did I put my credit card? They say if you think you\u2019ve been scammed, change your passwords. But if you\u2019ve got dementia<\/a>, changing your password can be very complicated, so it makes you more vulnerable. I have to be extremely careful.<\/p>\n

If you wanted to get in with the \u201cin-crowd\u201d at ITN, you had to go to the bar straight after News at Ten. <\/b>And not just have one to steady you before you went home, but drink and drink. Alastair Burnet [the former News at Ten anchor] drank very heavily from dawn to dusk. I think it contributed to his death. I remember saying to a woman in the PR department, \u201cI\u2019m worried about developing a drink problem.\u201d She said, \u201cI don\u2019t think you have. I think ITN\u2019s got a corporate drink problem.\u201d She was right. It hasn\u2019t now, because the new building doesn\u2019t have a bar.<\/p>\n

\"UK's<\/p>\n

Moderating the first televised general election leaders\u2019 debate in 2010, featuring Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

My wife was then, and still is, a stunningly attractive woman.<\/b> But she was also very good at what she did. That appealed to me because I was on a learning curve and she was kind enough to show me how to take a count in my ear, and which camera to look at.<\/p>\n

If you think you or someone you love has dementia, don\u2019t bottle it up.<\/b> Don\u2019t try to put on a brave face. Go and talk to someone. Just because you forget somebody\u2019s birthday, it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve got dementia. But if there is a series of odd things, then you may have it.<\/p>\n

\"Alastair<\/p>\n

A portrait from 1992. \u201cIf I get down in the dumps, I look at our ducks or walk across the fields\u201d<\/p>\n

SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

The best BBC newsreaders are women.<\/b> Sophie Raworth is arguably the best newsreader in the business at the moment.<\/p>\n

If I get down in the dumps, I look at our ducks or walk across the fields.<\/b> We have horses, donkeys and chickens. Walking among them helps me. I always come back feeling better.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t prescribe grandchildren, but they are the best medicine I have for dementia. <\/b>You look at these lovely little puking children and think, there\u2019s a bit of me in that. They boost my spirits and give me something tangible to live for. <\/p>\n

Alzheimer\u2019s Society funds support and research. Donate at <\/b>alzheimers.org.uk\/thetimes<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broadcaster Alastair Stewart, 73, grew up in Hampshire, where he still lives. The longest-serving male newscaster in Britain,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[105,4326,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-226170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114771383048468404","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}