by Natalie Valios
Sir Michael Parkinson kicked off the "Making Dignity a Reality" session at the national children and adult services conference. Sadly, the Department of Health's dignity ambassador didn't actually dignify us with his presence. Instead, we were treated to a pre-recorded video message.
And the reason for his absence? Unfortunately, the conference "coincided with writing my lifestory and promoting my book". That got a few raised eyebrows. Well, it's good to see he's got his priorities right.
He went on to tell us the now well-known story that his mother had had dementia and how we should treat older people with respect. And that was it. Oh, and he hoped the audience were inspired by the session. I'm guessing they were a lot more inspired by the showcase of the work taking place in Leeds than by his very uninspiring message.
He left us with the words "next time you have an event I hope to be there". Presumably, that's unless he's got another book/TV show/radio programme/money-making venture to promote. Come on, Parky, being an ambassador means doing a bit more than trotting out a few trite phrases - for a start, it means treating people with a little bit of respect.
Good point.