A so-called 'health expert' from University College London has been suggesting that 'austerity' might be affecting life expectations.
Sir Michael Marmot claims to be 'deeply concerned' about this, citing data which shows that the rate of increase in life expectancy is slowing. Marmot makes the point, correctly, that there's been a consistent increase in life expectancy over the last 100 years or so, but fails to understand why this has been.
For generations, life expectation hardly changed but huge changes in health care over the last 100 years, including the discovery of antibiotics and major advances in all manner of treatments and surgeries, have allowed people to live a full lifespan, rather than having it cut short at a young age due to illness or injury. This has meant that we are now much more susceptible to the natural decay of our bodies and their natural end. A consequence has been a rapid increase in the incidence of cancers and dementia, essentially conditions of old age, while no treatment has yet extended any human life to beyond 120 years.
Marmot suggests that 'austerity' has denied funds to our health services and, therefore, denied life-prolonging treatments. He ignores the fact that simply prolonging life may not even be either desirable nor achievable beyond a certain point but instead makes vague suggestions intended to put pressure on the government to spend more to little purpose.
Until scientists discover a way to actually keep us all young, we all have a limited life expectancy. The Christian Bible set this at 'three score years and ten', or 70, which has remained a fair target for millennia. Today, we look at the possibility of reaching 80, 90 or even 100, but very often in poor health. Marmot complains that the rate of increase is 'levelling off', but is this not inevitable, even desirable ? Do we really want a world populated by centenarians ?
Life expectancy in the UK is lower than that in some other countries, largely due to differences in diet and lifestyle. We are a people addicted to unhealthy fast food and little physical activity and the consequence is that, on average, we have shorter lives than some others. So what ? Since when is living longer and longer lives of any use or purpose ?
Death is a necessity, otherwise populations stagnate. Interfering 'experts' with nothing sensible to say, like Marmot, should simply shut up.
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