Have you ever gone through phases when you can’t remember people’s names? I have, and I’m in a bad one of these phases at the moment. I was talking to a friend recently and told her I’d suddenly stopped being able to remember names when my mum died. “Oh that’s just old age,” she said, “everyone gets like that”. Yes, undoubtedly, it happens more as people get older – but what also happens as we get older? We get bad news more often Our friends and family become unwell and die