There are a surprising number of old men around who wore tin hats during the last war. Whilst the hats might fade into the past, old folk won't. The number of people aged 85+ is going to double over the next 20 years. It's a demographic time-bomb that threatens us all. We're all going to have to fund a massive increase in health and social care costs over the coming decades.

But that should not prevent you from treating your own dad on Father's Day, June 19^th. Why not treat him to a copy of 'The Life Plan'? It contains 700 ways to make life more enjoyable and will surely make him easier to live with.

Order a signed copy here during the next two weeks and it'll only cost you £5.00 + P&P. What's more if he's aged around 50, for an extra £2.00 we'll include 'Teach Yourself Life at 50 For Men' in the special Father's Day Bundle, which I wrote as I came to terms with reaching my half century.

The recent Giving White Paper misses the point. Making it easier for people to donate is OK, but it's hardly going to change human behaviour. In my view there are only two ways to grow charity income.

First, you divert part or all of the margins greedy people make towards good causes. My own social enterprise Ethecol Merchant Services does this by passing what would be the bank's profit on your chip & pin transactions to a cause you want to support. We can give retailers a better deal too, so they save money and raise money. And people can also round up their bill to increase what the charity gets.Download a simple chip & pin calculator from the bottom of this page here and find out how much your enterprise could be raising without any effort at all!

Secondly, fundraising today is all about shaking hands, not tins. Passing round the hat will only get you so far; better to develop products and services that people will buy, perhaps delivered by your service users or perhaps in ways that generate income for the charitable work you do. Much of my work today involves setting up win:win partnerships between charities and businesses. Ask if you'd like to know more.

We all know now that many Victorian hatters suffered from mercury poisoning. This condition, called Korsakoff's syndrome if you're interested, causes a loss of enthusiasm for life and general apathy, plus a few tremors.

I'm no hatter but I do live with depression. A chance conversation with a friend the other day reminded me it's now so long since I came out as depressive I've probably slipped in again. So here I am, out again.

My depression is rather like a tamagotchi. A small pet that has be looked after all the time. What's yours called?