Week Two: Living With Dementia By Alastair Stewart - If you’ve got dementia remember, you've pretty much always got friends

Sad news came during the week as we heard that the gentleman who owns and runs our village garage and filling station had died. He was universally liked and trusted in the village, which is rare among many in the motor trade. Speaking of cars, as a result of dementia I no longer drive.

It is a drag but wise because the side effects of dementia can include impaired spatial awareness and reaction times. It isn’t worth the risk. Also, not telling your insurers of your diagnosis, probably invalidates your cover. Fortunately, Sally still drives, but a while ago her car developed a knocking sound in the engine compartment and the extended warranty provider has now rejected the claim.

The booking to see what was wrong was cancelled at two days' notice, and the dealer couldn’t find another slot for two months. They'll know I have dementia, so our daughter has been handling it for us, but it is impossible to talk to the warranty people and manufacturer when they won’t respond or reply. It is all a case study in appalling customer service relations . So, some advice: if you or your partner are buying a car, check out the vehicle and dealership on TrustPilot etc and get a trustworthy engineer. Oh, and a lawyer to check out terms and conditions.

Among the old friends who have generously kept in touch since my diagnosis, is one from the National Union of Students days, Ruari McCallion. He has twice contacted Sally and arranged a date to take me out for tea…. He was a regular guest when I did the Alastair Stewart and Friends shows on GB News.

He writes about British industry, innovation, and investment, and he said since the election things had gone a bit quiet. Inevitably we talked about the forthcoming Budget ...we both sense serious concerns in the business world, about higher taxes especially on innovation and wealth creation including capital gains tax and inheritance tax. We also both felt that any rise in employers' national insurance would be a negative.

Another thing we agreed on was while Labour won on a mantra of change, you can’t change the fundamental rules of economics. Achieving higher growth with a reduction in aggregate demand via higher taxes and lower public spending is unlikely to succeed.

Over the last couple of months, I’d noticed my contracted monthly payments to my mobile phone network ‘3’ were coming with high additional costs on mobile phone use so I phoned them. They suggested I set limits on additional usage, and they said I could monitor and vary this online.

But with dementia, setting up an online account with them is complex and changing the password nigh-on impossible. “Come into a branch” - they said - which is not easy if you don’t drive….

I was sad to hear on Wednesday of the death of General Sir Mike Jackson the former head of the British Army. Sally and I had attended a dinner with him and the Dutch ambassador at the home of general Sir Evelyn Webb Carter, head of the London Division. and subsequently commanding officer of the Household Division.

Mike Jackson had famously told NATO’s supreme commander American General Wesley Clark to send forces into Kosovo to pre-empt a surprise Russian advance heading for the airport at Pristina: "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you.”

He also said on my programme that the Russia/Ukraine situation, if not handled skilfully, risked escalation to a third world war. My strongest memories of Jackson at dinner were him arriving, smoking a cheroot and, with our host’s permission, smoking through the evening.

He took a scotch on arrival and continued with whisky as others took white wine with fish, and claret with beef. He remained sober as a judge from start to finish.

What a great man…