Intergenerational bonding.

T he increasing number of older people and decrease in the birth rate means that the future is going to be a very different place in terms of population profile than today. And our response to the future older citizen will be different too. For one thing, people of today's generation, who have lived through the post-war years, are likely to be better informed, educated and wealthier than previous generations. They will work until they are older, and industries such as the media and retail will have to respond to quite a different readership and purchaser. Gracie Fields will not be playing as background music in care homes, but Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones will. As for attire: forget the traditional image of old women wearing drip-dry polyester dresses, they are more likely to be in jeans and designer clothes. And bingo will come a poor second to a tournament of Wii boxing, baseball or tennis.