The stick

Where we all are now with the rise of knife crime and absolutely murderous, nutter gangs of various shades, inc. gammon, then various groups such as the elderly, women, children, have to look to their self-defence.  

Zeroing in on the elderly male here as our defender, this was a good[ish] video:

Methinks the stroke order is good and the feet stance - it would take a lot of practice.

Notes for the elderly or infirm

1.  The stick is your best bet for legal reasons.  I did have a bo staff, which does the job well but ... you cannot go outside, e.g. to the supermart, carrying that thing, pretending it's a walking stick.  So the criterion is that an elderly chap or infirm can get away with a walking stick because it's something he would have. However, there is an advantage you have and one commenter summed it up:

Beware the man who walks with a cane but no limp.

I believe that in itself has protected me a couple of times.  Plus body calm and a steady, silent look.

Now, it cannot be hand-carved cudgel with big knob on top because anything which could be remotely construed to be a weapon would be right out, even for an old fella.  Plod would arrest you immediately.  The solution then is an ordinary old stick, no more than an inch thick ... choose your wood carefully.

Length of stick is critical.   

My real walking stick is 33 inches but that's too short to use as a staff.  A Bo of six feet is too long, so was mine of five feet.  So we need something we can pass off as a walking stick, not as a weapon and yet it must be long enough to make the moves.  Plus your body language is always neutral, neither defensive nor offensive.  Friendly until there's danger.

My feeling is that 45 to 48 inches would just about pass muster, providing it had a padded T bar on top for you to lean on, justifying the height - it can't just be a straight Bo.  Keep it ordinary, not carved.

There is one other way I can see and that is crutches but they're almost always padded beneath and you want, if not spiked, something hard below.  Stick is the way to go IMHO.

2.  Your health determines how you'll use it, also how tall you are, overall mass etc. etc.  Also if you have a fighting past, even as a kid.

You're also going to have to make all your moves on one person within five seconds. Why five seconds?  Because that's all the stamina you have in one go.  For the others, pepper spray is illegal but babies' talcum powder or flour is not.  This is something you're just going to have to sort out.

He makes a good point in the video about what if the person tries to grab your staff?  Obvious solution there is kick to the goolies.

3.  Whichever way you look at it, you actually don't want to be in a position where anyone could get to you in the first place - so no corridors, no walkways alone.  Certain parts of town. Minimise your going out if you can. Start 270 degree vision training, head panning.

At home is different.  At strategic points, normal things you'd have at home are at hand, for example fly and wasp killer.  The governing rule is whatever it is must be legit. And control doorways - if they come through, they still must do that one by one.

4.  Finally, training, run throughs, repetition, getting it working.  And the last thing is it must be clearly proven to be self-defence, not offence in Plod's eyes.