It's hard to describe how long six-and-a-half minutes feels when you are listening to a vulnerable person begging for a little human kindness. I (Simon Murphy, left) imagine that when you are the one doing the begging, a 96-year-old, once a woman of substance but now a confused and hungry nonagenarian, it feels far longer. 'Hello?' she called, not just once or twice, but 25 times to the trio of care staff nearby at Avonpark Village (bottom right), Wiltshire. I stood with my two colleagues as they chortled over a cup of tea. 'Hello...' one of them replied, mocking the elderly resident with a snatch of the old Lionel Richie love song (top right). I was eventually told to take her some food.
