Is the government offing oldies by allowing thousands to die from increased energy bills (ooh those evil energy companies)? No. Of course, let's do what we have to do to reduce the number of winter excess deaths: we can and are getting this number down but let's not get
carried away with
silly headlines about the estimated 30,000 + excess winter deaths occurring in England and Wales in 2012/13 and that it is a '29% increase'. The figure may be accurate but the context isn't given the graph (click to enlarge or see all figures
HERE [pdf]). The ONS summary states: "
In common with other countries, in England and Wales more people die in the winter than in the summer. This statistical bulletin presents provisional figures of excess winter deaths... Historical trends from 1950/51 onwards are also presented for comparison. Figures are presented by sex, age, area and cause of death. Figures on temperature and influenza incidence are also provided to add context to the mortality figures."
2 comments:
Ah, so it's all okay then?
It's ONLY 30,000 a year now.
The ONS can spin anything, can't they?
CR.
Hi CR. As I say on that Spectator thread, it is still a lot but also a LOT less than before.
Post a Comment