The report is undoubtedly more relevant in policy terms because of their input. Thanks also to the support workers from the Belfast Commercial Sex Workers Service who provided information on the on-street sector in Belfast and to the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland and UglyMugs.ie who provided advice on the project as well as assisting in the distribution of the questionnaire and dealing with queries from sex workers about it. Special thanks also to Uglymugs.ie for providing data in relation to violence and abuse directed towards sex workers. Professor Robin Hickey from the School of Law at Queen's provided time for Graham Ellison to undertake the research. Thanks to Colette Farrell and Susan Burton from the School of Law who administered the financial aspects of the grant and to Richard Summerville who designed the cover graphic. The Information Compliance Unit at Queen's was also extremely helpful in advising us of issues in relation to data protection under GDPR.

This research considers how people come to understand their changing sense of identity as they reach older age in two different geographical areas: Northern Ireland and Zambia. Employing an identity theory frame, it considers how perceptions of ageing, based largely on memories of older relatives, inform how strongly people identify with – and internalise – a sense of being ‘old’. The comparative framework allows exploration of the role of cultural expectations of ageing in the construction of an ageing identity. The different areas produced contrasting results. Ageing was perceived as a negative life-stage in Northern Ireland, but the lived experience was found to be positive, where the perception of ageing was largely positive in Zambia, with the lived experience being extremely negative.

Due to an increase in life expectancy and other demographic factors, there is now a larger number of older men and women in our society. At the same time, loneliness and social isolation are increasing. This article draws upon a research project undertaken in 2014 to explore existing services for socially isolated older men in Belfast, and outlines key messages. Firstly, the paper highlights some of the experiences of isolated older men in one region of the UK. Secondly, it provides a review of service provision, providing ‘expert’ knowledge about how these services can affect men’s lives in different ways. Finally, the paper offers recommendations for enhancing the provision of services for socially isolated older men, based on the information gathered throughout the project.

This chapter compares two different initiatives to tackle the social exclusion of the elderly in rural and urban areas in Northern Ireland, and highlights the importance of work as part of older men's identity after retirement. The chapter demonstrates how men are often more vulnerable to loneliness when they lose work and how difficult it is for initiatives to involve men if there is no room for a post-work masculine space that allows men to reconfirm their masculine identity, for instance through do-it-yourself, wood carving and metal work.