When the Rolling Stones announced their 26th studio album Hackneyed Diamonds it sent a message to their generation to rock on and not go gentle into that good night. All in their 80s, traditionally a time for quiet contemplation, they put the rock into rocking chair and unapologetically signaled their intention to rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas would have approved.  

But when Mick Jagger turned 80 years old this year, he’d have no inkling how he’d become the poster boy for policy discussions about how to fix aged care for his rock ‘n’ roll generation. His milestone birthday marked that his peer group, first described in 1963 as ‘Baby Boomers’, were hitting life’s home straight.  

We call it straight

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