Wednesday, 21 July 2021
Oh I don't like to be beside the seaside
Seaside poor health overlooked, warns Whitty
A national strategy is needed to tackle poor health and lower life expectancy in seaside towns, a report from England's chief medical officer says.
Chris Whitty says these places might have natural beauty but suffer from high rates of serious illnesses.
Don't retire to the seaside seems to be the message. But wait...
Asthma was one of the few health problems less common on the coast - and Prof Whitty pointed to the "paradox" of ill health in seaside towns when there were so many natural advantages - such as lower pollution and better access to healthy outside spaces.
So when pollution is used as a convenient scapegoat for poor health, we should take it with a pinch of salt substitute. These issues are complex of course and cause and effect do seem to be peculiarly elusive. And yet...
It is telling how often are the bastards lying again? is a good preliminary question whenever we are lectured by officialdom.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Tee hee, well spotted.
Isn't Whitty working day and night to defeat covid? Where did he get the time to conduct research on regional health variations?
Imagine, if you will, that you are an unemployed sufferer of substance abuse - say alcohol, or any of the other popular chemicals.
Do you stay in the inner city with limited lifestyle choices, or do you move to the seaside, where, out of season or perhaps all year round in a resort long abandoned by those headed for Benidorm or the like, the landlords and hoteliers are glad to take your benefits. Fresh sea air. Fishing off the pier. Cheaper booze than in the big city. Where the only exercise is pulling down the handle on the pokies. What is not to like?
You soon learn to ignore the bleating about white privilege.
Shitty should go and visit these places. He might get a life.
And I am not a robot. Hooray.
In earlier days, our retail and leisure clients always claimed that 'fish don't buy tickets', a reference to there only being half of a circle/radius of customers.
What Doonhammer said. You need to know the health history of the seaside residents. Do people who have poor health preferentially move, or retire, to the seaside? Do 'healthy' people move away? I don't know.
I've read that the lifespan of Glaswegians is lower than the national average because those capable of moving away do so, leaving a rump of less healthy behind.
There is a cognitive mistake in judging individuals (or the effect of individual choices) by the 'average values' of the population they live in.
Plus, as an datapoint, I was really surprised a few years ago when I visited Brighton. Despite my expectations of somewhat decayed imperial splendour and right-on Green planet saving there were surprising numbers of homeless sleeping rough or begging in the street. I don't suppose their health was top notch.
Mark - thanks.
Sam - I imagine he is a similar position to Boris, he mostly has to accept what minions tell him.
Doonhamer - hmm - sounds strangely appealing to me too.
Scrobs - new arrivals in inflatables don't buy tickets either.
DJ - it probably depends on the resort. If people generally go there to retire they may bump up numbers such as average age at death because they are the survivors leaving behind those who did not survive. Other resorts may attract the homeless and rough sleepers so they depress the same number.
It's been said above, but I'll say it anyway…
Nice place on south coast eg Sidmouth, full of elderly retired, active, affluent, but nevertheless not it perfect health.
Decayed place on northerly coast eg Morecombe, a place where dossers take their early retirement.
djc - we like Sidmouth too, we've been going there for years. We're off there again in a few weeks.
Post a Comment