The news that our greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, has not been seen by members of his family and close friends for two years – and the concerning circumstances surrounding his sudden isolation – has sent a chill through many who admire him.

Before finally being tracked down by the Daily Mail yesterday, ‘Ran’, as he is affectionately known by his friends, has reportedly been placed in a succession of care homes under a false name by his wife, Louise Millington-Cotes – who has lasting power of attorney – with strict instructions governing his care.

These are said to have included preventing visits from friends and family and keeping his whereabouts secret.

This string of moves between care homes is deeply disturbing to me. Anyone with experience of caring for the elderly knows how detrimental a sudden change of environment and routine can be.

At a home in Wales earlier this year, a care watchdog said Sir Ranulph, who has Parkinson’s disease, was being ‘unlawfully deprived of his liberty’.

Such was the concern that the home’s manager wrote to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), which oversees guardianship arrangements, to report Millington-Cotes’s behaviour and question the validity of a ‘do not resuscitate’ order.

It has now emerged the care watchdog refused nine times to investigate his plight.

And although police insisted yesterday they have no immediate safeguarding concerns, Ran’s stepson, Alex Millington-Cotes, who appears to have enjoyed a close relationship with his stepfather but is now estranged from his mother, has launched a crowdfunding appeal to pay the legal fees of challenging the arrangements surrounding the power of attorney granted by Ran to his wife.

Sir Ranulph’s close friends, including Dame Joanna Lumley, Bear Grylls and Ben Fogle, have made public their anxiety. Bear has gone so far as to declare: ‘Ran, we are coming.’

Even the King has allegedly been prevented from checking on Ran’s wellbeing after being alerted to his declining health and isolation. It is difficult not to imagine what effect being cut off from so many of the people who know and love him may be having.

This awful saga has resonated with me because I have recently been through the process of granting a lasting power of attorney myself. I have given my three daughters joint legal responsibilities over my property and financial affairs and my health and welfare, knowing that one day it may make their lives easier at a time when they will already be consumed by grief.

I paid £194 because I shared the responsibility between the three of them, but registering can cost as little as £92 and is easily done online. The system is designed to be a bastion of security, a way of ensuring that, should we lose the ability to make decisions for ourselves, somebody we trust can make them on our behalf.

I would far rather my family make decisions about my welfare than leave them to the state or local authorities. But my concern now is that people who need this protection may be deterred by Sir Ranulph’s case.

It has highlighted how sluggish the response from the police and authorities can be when concerns are raised about how a power of attorney is being used.

Sadly, as a former MP and government minister, I dealt with more cases involving such disputes than I would have liked.

Frequently, constituents would complain to me that they were concerned about the behaviour of a sibling who had been granted power of attorney by an elderly parent. And, depressingly, at the root of almost every complaint was money and greed: arguments about the cost of care, eagerness to sell a property or raid a bank account.

That is precisely why the safeguards surrounding power of attorney have to work quickly.

As things stand, official complaints – like the one submitted in the case of Sir Ranulph – can take six months to investigate. That’s far too long when a vulnerable person’s health and finances are at stake. Frankly, the system needs a rocket up a proverbial backside.

I would say to civil servants at the OPG: make investigating abuses a priority. The case of Sir Ranulph has shone a light on how the process could be abused. Investigate the concerns with urgency, establish the facts and learn from whatever may have gone wrong.

Sir Ranulph has spent a lifetime pushing himself to the limits in some of the Earth’s most inhospitable places. Let his legacy include a strengthened power of attorney system that works when we most need it.

On the train you should just be quiet

On Sunday evening, I almost cheered out loud when Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis tweeted about a packed train journey with his family.

A couple sitting across the aisle were watching social media videos on their phones at full volume. When they started playing a clip about serial killers, inappropriate for his daughter to hear, he asked them to turn the volume down.

After an uncomfortable exchange, he got his way.

I had my own experience last week when a man sitting opposite me on a train answered his phone and proceeded, very loudly, to tear a strip off an employee.

After 20 minutes, I plucked up the courage to ask him: ‘Excuse me, are you working?’

He looked confused and said into the phone: ‘Hang on, mate.’

After a moment, he replied: ‘Yes.’

My heart was pounding, but I challenged him. ‘So am I,’ I said. ‘Only I am working quietly and with respect for the other passengers in this carriage. You are not, and the volume at which you are conducting your business is stopping me – and, I suspect, others in this carriage – from doing ours. Could you take your call outside the door, perhaps?’

Behind me, a lone male voice cried: ‘Hear, hear.’

Still staring at me, the loud man slowly closed his laptop, stood up and remained outside the carriage for the rest of the journey.

In our digital age, where manners seem to have flown out of the train window, it’s time for rail companies to step up and address this new and pervasive noise menace.

All coaches should become ‘quiet coaches’, with clear signage. Remove the ambiguity – and the responsibility for policing bad behaviour – from commuters.

Making trains safe and pleasant places to travel is your job.

• Taylor Swift released a new, extended version of her latest album on Friday last week. It was much anticipated chez Dorries: my kitchen frequently doubles as a disco dance floor when my five-year-old granddaughter is around and shouts: ‘Alexa, play Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.’ Everyone must dance – and how can we not? Taylor’s music is infectious. However, the critics have finally turned their pens on the bestselling singer-songwriter, claiming that since marrying American football player Travis Kelce, Taylor’s haunting lyricism has disappeared. Really? Her words were never exactly Shakespearean and, after all, isn’t the point of pop to make people sing, dance and be happy? Taylor has brought joyful moments into my life that I shall remember for ever and, for that, I will always be a diehard Swiftie. She can do no wrong in my eyes.

Get down to the gym, Madge

Madonna is only a year younger than me, so I’m not going to pretend I haven’t scrutinised every wrinkle on her face over the years.

She was the Taylor Swift of my generation. But the photos from her appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards left me open-mouthed. I wasn’t looking at a face – surely, it was a mask? But how is it that she has suddenly become so frail when I have never been fitter in my life?

I have some advice for Madonna, a formidable woman and has achieved so much: if you want to stay looking young, spend more time in the gym than you do on the operating table having facelifts and fillers.

Less really is more.