Interim Life Tables? What the devil are they?
Well, since you’re asking, they are produced annually for the United Kingdom and its constituent countries, and give statistics on period life expectancy by age and sex. Each life table is based on the population estimates, births and deaths data for a period of three consecutive years. They are known as interim life tables since fully graduated life tables are also prepared every ten years, based on data around a census year. The current interim life tables are based on data from 2005-2007. Historic interim life tables going back to 1980-1982 are also available.
So there you are: life expectancy in the UK. Bet you’re glad you asked now.
(Can you tell that I just cut and pasted the paragraph above from the ONS website? No? Good.)
The Scottish Government issued this document today. The Leading to Deliver programme launched in October 2003. It was a major leadership development programme for first line and middle managers in social services, and was designed to build leadership skills and confidence, help manage change, promote working across boundaries, and create strengths in strategic planning, implementation and performance management.
“The general consensus is that Leading to Deliver is perceived as being ‘unique’ and a ‘ luxury’ by both participants and line managers. The LtD brand is perceived as having an excellent reputation associated with it and there is a real kudos attached to participation and the fact that it leads to a formal qualification. Both participants and line managers are favourably inclined towards the programme overall.”
This Bill has now reached the ping-pong stage (I kid you not) where the House of Commons and the House of Lords bat the debate back and forth to one another until everyone gets tired and goes home.
“The big debate is about whether it is right to extend the range of experiments involving the human embryo that may be carried out. The alleged goal is the extension of scientific and medical knowledge that could alleviate human suffering, especially, but not exclusively, that of a generic origin. For some hon. Members, no possible reduction in suffering, improvement in maternity or growth of knowledge can justify what they regard as the violation of human life and the interference with normal human development. Their position is unqualified. For many hon. Members in the Chamber, however, this is a case of balancing hope and fear. On the one hand, there is the hope that some day, terrible inheritable and cellular diseases will be conquered, and on the other hand, there is the fear that an increasingly casual approach to human life will denature our society and create possibilities that we would not wish. That balance is being played out in nearly every Member’s head.”
As you’d expect, the wider debate is a bit controversial.
The Scottish Government issued this publication recently. It is the Chief Fire Inspector’s annual report for Her Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland. It contains general information, strategic issues, and statistics regarding the Fire Service and fire safety in Scotland.
Notably, it contains statistics regarding attacks on Fire Service Personnel stretching back to 2003-04. Last year, for example, there were 228 attacks on operational personnel (see paras. 73-77).
What’s wrong with some people?
Another Monday off! What can I say? More days of than Santa Claus, me.
What happened over the weekend then? This economic crisis just won’t go away, but I’m not going to concentrate on the negative. Fluff is what interests me today: Andrew Sachs is famous again! Que? Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left naughty messages on his answering machine and got into bother. Is this news? Well, ITV ran with it as their headline story last night, so it must be important. Schadenfreude, anyone? Poor Manuel. Bet he wishes he never left Barcelona now. Also, AC/DC are top of the album charts for the first time since 1980! And if you follow this link here, AC/DC are also responsible for every global recession during the last 30 years (or something). Just remember folks: Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution!
Sport: the fitba teams are wobbling! Hamilton and St Mirren got beat and Ayr drew. The shining lights, though, are Queen of the South, who won and are top of their league. Good on yeez! And…Andy Murray won ANOTHER tournament. This is becoming a habit, young man.
Or, The Cludgie Report.
“Lavatory humour is rife in British culture, but the provision of public toilets is no laughing matter.”
I’m not kidding, folks: the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee issued this report this week.
“Public toilets matter, for a variety of reasons. Without them, in many areas local authorities and residents need to clean up every morning. The National Organisation of Residents’ Association (NORA) is a group that represents English and Welsh residents’ associations and its Chair, Alan Shrank, described street fouling as “appalling, it is disgusting and if you are a resident affected by it, it ruins your life if every morning, certainly four or five days a week, you have to go out and clean up the mess and it should not happen.”
Quite right! Just ask anyone who lives near Hampden Park when Scotland are playing. Marvel at the Golden River of Mount Florida.
W.C. Boggs…deary me. How puerile. Wouldn’t catch me doing that. And this blog is getting more like Film 2008 every day. I’ll have to type like Jonathan Woss soon (although I’m better at rolling my Rs).
Food, glorious food!
We’re anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day –
Our favourite diet!
So sang the gruel-fed cherubs in Lionel Bart’s Oliver! I was about to say that thankfully the days of Dickensian poverty and starvation are long gone, but in this recent report from the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition the point is made that we cannot afford to be so complacent:
“There are further improvements needed in the diet of the British population, especially in those groups of the population who are particularly vulnerable, i.e. children and those in low income groups. The current dietary patterns of older children and young adults are a cause for considerable concern.”
What can I say? Who’d have thought that a fluffy musical could be socially relevant. Can’t say that I’ve seen Harry Secombe selling boys in the street recently, right enough. Or ever, for that matter. Also:
Who will buy this wonderful morning?
Such a sky you never did see!
It’s bucketing down. It has been for months. A not a rose seller in sight neither.
“Guns! Why doesn’t someone take out a .45 and – bang! – settle it.”
There you have Bruce Lee’s solution to the Han problem in his seminal 1973 film Enter the Dragon. Of course, the reason why no-one can just shoot Han – a crime lord – is because part of Han’s island is British territory. If, as Braithwaite says, the Brits suspect that Han has any kind of arsenal on his island then they would have no hesitation in arresting him. Also, Han had a bad experience with guns once so doesn’t allow them on his island. So…a spy is required to go to the island to sus out Han’s outfit. Fortunately, he holds a martial arts tournament every 3 years and one is due to happen. But where can the Brits find a suitably trained spy to attend the tournament? In a Bruce Lee film? Your guess is as good as mine. Coincidentally, Lee is invited to the tournament. And Han’s men were responsible for the death of his sister. There’s a convoluted plot in there somewhere.
25 years on, us Brits still hate guns. This statistical publication from the Scottish Government covers those crimes and offences recorded by Scottish police during 2007-08 in which a firearm was alleged to have been used or where a firearm was stolen.
And this year’s Oscar for most tenuous link between a kung-fu movie and a government publication goes to…
Dontcha just love days off? I had a great one yesterday, thanks for asking.
So what happened in the world during my loooong weekend? I could go on about the banks again, but where’s the fun in that? I’ll follow BBC News’s attitude and try to accentuate the positive, as Dr John once put it: it’s autumn and the leaves are changing colour! And in the pop charts, one song did slightly better than another. Ignore the bad things, people; concentrate on the shiny things.
Speaking of which, the fitba: the first inter-campus-town game between Hamilton and St Mirren ended with victory for the Paisley Buddies. Hooray or Boo, depending on your standpoint. Queens and Ayr lost, so not the most successful of weekends for the campus-town mobs. On the plus side, elsewhere in the sporting world Andy Murray won another tennis title and Lewis Hamilton is one step nearer the F1 World Championship, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
Just remember that folks: it’s not all doom and gloom. Remember the shiny things.
The Healthcare Commission published their annual health check yesterday, which gives every NHS trust in England a rating that consists of two parts – a score for quality of services and a score for use of financial resources. Here you can find out how well the NHS performed in the year from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.
“For the second consecutive year, annual improvement is evident. In particular, we have again seen roughly a 10 percentage point increase in both the proportion of trusts scoring excellent for quality of services, and the proportion of trusts scoring excellent for use of resources. Indeed, it is a picture of general improvement, with more trusts scoring excellent and good, and fewer scoring fair and weak for both parts of the overall performance rating.”
