Protest This...marksimons

[mr mahs]

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=8306085

UK cold snap kills 2,500 in a week

By Alexa Baracaia, Evening Standard

The cold spell has killed more than 2,500 people across England and Wales in the past week, experts today revealed.

New research shows that a higher proportion of the British population dies as a direct result of winter weather than in Russia or Finland.

Between 15 and 22 December there are estimated to have been more than 540 deaths in London and the South-East alone and it is predicted that the number of people dying " unnecessarily" from the cold could rise to 50,000 this season.

"The UK remains one of the worst countries in the world at coping with unseasonal temperatures," said Professor Sian Griffiths, President of the Faculty of Public Health which carried out the study along with the Met Office.

The findings come after it was revealed that an elderly couple in Tooting were found dead in their flat 13 weeks after their gas supply was cut off.

The bodies of George Bates, 89, and his wife Gertrude, 86, were found huddled in the living room of the home they had shared for 64 years.

British Gas, which was owed £140.62 by the couple, said the Data Protection Act had prevented them from passing information to social services.

But David Hinchcliffe, chairman of the Government's health select committee, said: "I don't think there are any excuses."

The new research, which calculates the number of deaths caused by the cold in England and Wales over the past week, claims that the victims will have died from treatable ailments.

Professor Griffiths warned: "All of us must be vigilant to look out for family, friends and neighbours who may be suffering. Often illnesses develop after a cold snap has finished."

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[marksimons]

yeah, well the Conservatives ruined the health system and fucked over the pension system as well - by breaking the links to earnings.

personally part of me says, well, yeah, in the cold people do die, just like the hot, a unavoidable fact of life perhaps...

I'll bitch moan and protest about the uk health system for sure, but as protesting goes, it's a hard one to make snappy, but sure at some point I'll give it a shot.

I am sure that this problem would be repeated in most places as well, as we saw in france with the heat, pretty sure the same thing happens, should go out and protest against those people who leave their old folks in a crappy cold place. Sad comment on state of society.

then I'll protest against God for making it cold...