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The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the themes identified by Wark et al.’s paper and to highlight commonalities and differences between the Australian and the UK social and health care regimes. It also points to evidence about other implications for policy and practice of the increasing numbers of people growing older who have learning disabilities.

The commentary analyses some policy and practice documents and identifies a range of other research and commentary on this topic.

Wark et al. have identified areas of importance for supporting older people with learning disabilities, particularly access to suitable and acceptable services and the importance of sufficient support worker time. They also identify gaps in the research on people’s needs and service responses. The commentary also highlights other factors for consideration in work with this group of people, particularly the implementation of personalisation policies in social care and integration between health and social care services.

There is a need for further research into developing policy and practice for health and social care for older people with learning disabilities. Some of the evidence supports the case for specialist involvement, particularly by nursing professionals.

The paper and this commentary highlight the challenges associated with the increasing number of older people with learning disabilities in contemporary debates about the role of the state and professional specialists.

While ageing with an intellectual (learning) disability has been subject to increased research in recent years, there remains little knowledge regarding the daily practice issues that disability workers struggle most to support in this cohort. The purpose of this paper is to gain feedback directly from staff regarding the problems they experience in daily work, and to evaluate whether any changes to legislation or practice could potentially alleviate identified areas of concern.

A Delphi project was conducted over three rounds with participants from rural areas of New South Wales (NSW). The panel was composed of support workers who assist people ageing with a learning disability. Participants were asked their perceptions of the main practice issues facing them while they provide support.

The panel identified 29 issues that were considered problematic in the provision of support to people ageing with a learning disability. A thematic analysis indicated three main themes of access to services; time constraints; and funding.

The participants in this study were all disability workers employed by non-government organisations in rural NSW, and as such, many of the issues identified may be specific to this population cohort and geographic setting. Any generalisation of these results to other locations or populations must be considered within these limitations.

Identification of the issues facing disability staff may facilitate government, health care providers and disability organisations to proactively plan to address current and future problem areas. The consequent effect of improving practices can assist individuals to receive better support and lead to a corresponding improvement in their quality of life. The current implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia is an ideal opportunity for cross-sectoral collaboration to change practice to facilitate better support for a highly vulnerable group of the community.

I suppose that most noticeable of all the changes in our profession since I came into it has been the multiplicity of the methods by which one can become a librarian. A. E. Standley says in a recent article in the L.A.R., in 1970: “The term librarian includes the Library Association chartered librarian, the graduate with a degree in librarianship, the scholar librarian, the information and intelligence officer, the translator, the abstracter, the non‐library‐qualified subject expert”.

Over the years we have reported prosecutions where the defence has alleged, and with circumstantial support that the presence of a harmful foreign body in food was deliberate through the action of a single disgruntled employee or where the labour relations climate generally has been bad. It makes no difference to the manufacturer's responsibility—the offence is an absolute one—but occasionally courts have allowed it in mitigation. Sometimes, it has been the nature of the extraneous material, e.g. fragments of glass or metal, the like of which did not exist in the factory premises or plant. This may be taken as a symptom of the vandalism of the age, but more recently, two incidents have drawn attention to its dangers and provided a glimpse of the criminal mind which can inflict such injury on employers, and expose innocent consumers, of all ages, to possible harm.

Explores recent expressions of support by employers for the importance of training in creating business success. Argues that this change in posture cannot be explained in terms of a growing recognition of the weaknesses of the labour force in intermediate‐level skills, because the new focus is on personal development, self‐management and “correct” attitudes rather than technical skills. Shows that while the changes in the valuation of training are consistent with Anglo‐Saxon notions of business management, they are more reflective of attempts to reshape the employer‐employee relationship. Observes that competitive pressures on organizations over the last 20 years have undermined traditional expectations of career opportunity and job security. This context has created the conditions under which this emphasis on normative training helps in the development of a new kind of psychological contract based on a rhetoric of partnership. Concludes that employers’ discovery of training is more about finding ways to secure employee commitment in uncertain times than about transforming skill levels.

I AM INDEBTED to Verbatim: the language quarterly, February 1977 issue, for the information that the measuring unit of female beauty is something called the milli‐helen, which is defined as the amount of beauty required to launch one ship.

The boatmen on the pleasure boats which ply between Westminster Pier, the Tower and Greenwich have of recent years taken to drawing attention, by megaphone, to the historic places the boats pass on the trip. One of the sights they point out is a warehouse on the south bank near Southwark Bridge which bears a large notice stating that it is the site of the Globe Playhouse. The notice, which is incorrect, is one of the survivals of the controversy which raged in the 1920's as to the position of the “Glory of the Bank”, the Globe Playhouse, where Shakespeare trod the boards and for which some of the world's greatest dramas were written.

A system which depends on a sequence of slow extensions and developments instead of on the sudden application of a thought‐out and comprehensive code is liable to present surprising lacunæ. Such a system we see in our laws and enactments relating to public health, and one of the most obvious of the lacunæ is in regard to the protection of certain of our food supplies from bacterial pollution. In some directions the safeguards are very efficient, in others they are inadequate or non‐existent. Dr. C. E. Goddard has recently drawn attention to the dangers of bacterial contamination from the sale of bread delivered without wrappers, of fruit—grapes, dates, and others—without any protection, while the numerous articles in grocers' shops which attract flies and which are not protected from them form other risks, the same being said of the fingering of meat in butchers shops. As Medical Officer of Health for the Wembley area, which includes the British Empire Exhibition, 1924, Dr. Goddard will be brought in contact with food problems of great importance. While many such sources of food pollution might be cited, it is perhaps easy to exaggerate their significance in respect of public health. They form serious defects in our methods of food distribution, but of considerably greater importance is the absence of adequate control over the preparation and of subsequent care in respect of what may be called “prepared meat foods” and the lack of supervision over those who handle foods destined for consumption by the public.