Manufacturers are making clear progress in reducing the amount of salt in food, but unclear labelling risks misleading customers who rely on the information on food labels to reduce their salt intake.

As the heady days of that wedding day become a distant memory, the children are now into adulthood and life begins to take its toll. Suddenly there is just the two of you, living a life that is so busy with work, and the daily chores. That life just seems to drift from one day to another.

One of the things that the Food Standards Agency is campaigning about is the reduction of salt per person in the UK. They say that 6 grams per day is the maximum for adults and 4 grams for children and that many people take up to 11 grams per day. The driving force for the campaign is the frequency of strokes and heart attacks. Too much salt can help to cause major illness. For babyboomers, and the young too, eating less salt is a good way to help reduce blood pressure or prevent high pressure from occurring.

Did you know your food can tell you how much salt it contains? Remember that we should all aim to eat a healthy balanced diet that is low in salt. Most people eat too much salt. This can raise blood pressure, which increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. We can all take steps to eat less salt by shopping wisely and being sparing with it at home.

If babyboomers are interested in things other than music and fashion, then food and drink are among them. The first generation able to subsist solely on ready meals and take-aways is becoming more aware of the need for home cooked meals and closer control of what goes into what we eat. Better off and with more choices, we have made good use of time by buying prepared meals and eating out.

Remember the styles for clothes and fashion in the 1960s? Some do because you can still see Babyboomers in drain pipe jeans and T shirts in most towns up and down the country. Sometimes the man’s hair style seems remarkably nostalgic too. Women of course can say that wearing drain pipes is up to date since they have come back into fashion.

If any babyboomer managed to get a peek at the newspaper read by their parents, one of the adverts they were likely to notice was the cartoon type drawing of a man at four different ages in his life, worrying (or not) about his pension. The message was that as time goes by, the need for a pension becomes more noticeable but that everybody should start a pension as young as possible. This is as true today as it ever was. The additional problem today is that we need more money invested for a pension than ever before

If you remember decimalisation in 1971, then you will also recall that on conversion, prices rose. Something that was priced at 3 old pence should have been converted to 1 new penny. Often the price was hiked to one and a half or even two new pence. Some people believe that this was one of the causes of high inflation in the 1970s.

Slowly and steadily over recent decades, sterling has become less important in the world. The Euro is becoming a leading currency despite forecasts that it would not last long. With Eastern European countries having joined the European Union, and some expectation that most of them will join the Euro when they can, Britain might follow. Babyboomers remember the inflationary conversion to decimal currency. They also fear that this will be repeated if and when Britain joins the Euro.

Money Problems If you or someone in your family is in debt the worst thing that you can do is nothing. If you are not sure what to do go to see one of the charitable organisations that give advice. For example you could try the Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Age Concern or the National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 or

The focus on the state of the NHS in recent years has tended to create demands for improvement, sometimes without stating what we want improvements on. Not often do we hear about how the service coped in other times. Yet ever since the Beveridge Report was implemented in 1948, there have been incessant arguments about how best to change the NHS.