Today is Older People's Day - a welcome celebration of the contribution that older people make to society. There will be much written, and still more done, to underline the importance of building bonds and relationships between people of all ages. Less, however, might be said about the issue of 'active ageing', what it means to older people and how we might achieve it.

If the government wants to realise its agenda of extending working lives, it must make working past retirement age a realistic option for people across the labour market. Too many older unemployed are not given the support and training they need to find re-employment - one out of two is long-tem unemployed, higher than for any other age group.

If your education system preaches success and attainment, what do you do when confronted with failure and loss? And, importantly, what do you do when the myth of hard work leading to success is exposed as false?