In November 2009 I presented a paper on ethical aspects of using older people in medical research at the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice. Basically I was showing how the FAIR framework (developed in Working Ethics – how to be fair in a culturally complex world ) is able to highlight ethically significant aspects of this area of research and provide a useful analytic tool when issues are open to debate. The Forum is concerned with relating ethical practice to developments in medical science. For more information go to www.efgcp.be