RACHEL JOHNSON: My mum was fooled by cruel conmen - it could be yours next

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When I asked why two plainclothes policemen had come to interview my mother for two hours on Friday, she was too embarrassed to tell me at first.

But I got the story out of her.

She’d spotted the 広告s in the 支援する of The Lady magazine (which I used to edit ? another 推論する／理由 she didn’t want to let on, she thought I’d be cross. I am.).

One said: ‘CASH PAID for fountain pens, メダルs, jewellery, silver. Will travel.’ Underneath that another said: ‘WANTED ? old broken clocks and watches, cash paid.’

'People like my mother are 存在 ripped off left, 権利 and centre, and it 要求するs constant vigilance from everyone to stop it'

Now my mother had an old, broken watch and some time on her 手渡すs, so she called the second number.

A few weeks ago, two men (she was only 推定する／予想するing one, but it turns out they work in pairs) pitched up at her flat, where she lives with her carer, the sainted Yamuna whom God 保存する.

They weren’t 利益／興味d in the watch, but enquired whether she had any other things for sale, so Mama took out a little trove of cufflinks, studs and a broken gold bracelet, for which they paid her £200 in cash.

She also showed them a miniature Faberge-style egg, 含む／封じ込めるing a lock of hair, but said it was not for sale as i t was a precious family item.

One roamed the flat, taking photographs, while the ‘静める one in a 控訴’ chatted to her. My mother is a painter and they were 利益／興味d in her pictures. ‘Do you have any cheap ones?’ they asked.

When they left, my mother realised the little egg had also gone. She called the police, gave 詳細（に述べる）s. To her surprise the pair were 敏速に 逮捕（する）d and questioned under 警告を与える. When the two plainclothes 巡査s （機の）カム to interview my mother and Yamuna, as a 証言，証人／目撃する, last Friday, she discovered more.

After the pair had left her, they went on to a 96-year-old woman.

While the one made polite conversation, the other went through her drawers and pilfered a 価値のある brooch.

In fact it had happened many, many times, and their defence was always the same in each and every 事例／患者. The 年輩の lady or gentlemen who’d 報告（する）／憶測d them was a bit ‘vague’ and must have forgotten that they’d sold the item in question to them.

‘They thought I was an old bird too and I wouldn’t twig,’ my mother 報告（する）／憶測d (she’s only 74).

At this point, as you might imagine, I politely called the publisher of The Lady and gave him a piece of my mind about the 広告 in the 支援する scamming Lady readers, but the sad fact is, this ‘broken watches’ scam is only one of many ways the 年輩の are fleeced, all the time.

My mother’s in a 車椅子, and a sitting duck for telephone scams. She has an iPad and could do things online, but prefers to buy things over the phone, though I beg her not to and never to give out her bank 詳細（に述べる）s or PIN number to anyone ever again (yes, she fell for that one too).

When I asked about her gas and electricity 法案s, she said she had no idea whether she was 支払う／賃金ing too much but, the truth is, she probably is. If you don’t go through endless hoops online or over the phone to make very sure you’re on the lowest 関税, most providers will pop you on a ‘基準’ i.e. high one, because they know they’ll get away with it and can gouge away.

The 政府’s not helping either. It’s just 申し込む／申し出d its first new 社債 online only (so you can’t 適用する by 地位，任命する or phone) which means millions of 年輩の savers won’t be able to avail themselves of it ? which a former 年金s 大臣 has called ‘a very out-of-touch 決定／判定勝ち（する）’.

People like my mother are 存在 ripped off left, 権利 and centre, and it 要求するs constant vigilance from everyone to stop it (and those cash-paid 広告s, at last ちらりと見ること, were still in the 支援する of The Lady ? I must have another word).

‘I’m very worried,’ my mother told me. ‘There are so many ways one can be tricked at my age, as one doesn’t know how things work any more.’

It’s not all bad news though. The police have got Mum’s egg 支援する.

Oh for the days when pregnancy meant weeks in a baggy smock...

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley pictured on Thursday

Isn’t she lovely in her pink, scalloped, 急落（する），激減（する）ing slip of a frock? Isn’t she wonderful??

But this picture of 妊娠している supermodel Rosie H-W makes me glad I ha d my babies 100 years ago.

Then, there were only three evening 選択s when bigger than springtime: 1. Smock. 2. Kaftan. 3. Sofa.

Now expectant mums have red carpet, designer and high street maternity wear, there is no excuse どれでも for nesting at home.

Sexism, even in the 中央 of 悲劇の grief

Former footballer Rio Ferdinand, a father of three, lost his young wife to breast 癌. 悲劇の.

But I can’t conceive of a prime-time 文書の about a 最高の，を越す 女性（の） sportswoman, say, whose husband died of prostate 癌 and who had to take care of her children (with the help of a live-in nanny, I might 広告 d), receiving such pre-publicity and 一面に覆う／毛布 ニュース報道.?

There are 2.9 million one-parent families in the UK: 86 per cent of them are 長，率いるd by 孤独な women. Only 400,000 are 長，率いるd by fathers like Ferdinand ? or Thomas Cohen, the widower of Peaches Geldof, who has also received reverent attention for 存在 a 孤独な parent.

The 期待 that women will be ‘both mum and dad’ is still so engrained that the BBC would never （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 a doc about a 未亡人d mother.