33 years to go
The recent hot weather remined me how annoying much of the 21st Century is likely to be, what with climate change and everything. So I wondered how much of it I might have to endure. You can look up how long you are expected to live at the Government Actuary Department's life tables. I've got 33.5 years to go from my last birthday - meaning I'm anticipating a statistical death on 21st August 2039. A party is planned. (Data for England)
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Hi Clive,
I understand from Janet you've given up on answering my last question so thought I'd throw you an underarm one instead.
You might have noticed there's been a bit of a hoo-ha over sentencing in recent days. The latest intervention has come from Dyfed-Powys Chief Constable Terry Grange, who commented that the Government has effectively been "blackmailed" by the media and in particular that bastion of quality reporting, the News of the World, into U-turning on policy.
There seems to be an undercurrent to all of this that no one has had the guts to talk about in public and there's a good reason for that. It's because it is the public who should be the subject of the debate.
In a nutshell, the politicians and media say they are representing "the public", or at least a part of it, whilst the judges and police are harangued for being "out of touch". As with all things, criminal justice policy is not as simple as it first seems, thus we have ill-informed and ill-advised interjections from those with a loud and public voice, whilst those who know the subject area inside out are condemned to have their responses, if we even hear them, ridiculed as "out of touch".
It seems that by claiming to have "the public" on your side you can say pretty much anything, yet if you claim expert knowledge in an area and disagree with what is represented as the public view you cannot. But to actually have this debate someone would have to raise the outrageuous concept that the public might not have a clue what it's talking about.
Thinking back to Sir Ian Blair wondering why certain murder cases get more attention than others, you can see why nobody does.
Hi Matt
No. The age thing is a big one... I did the life expectancy post while looking up dependency ratios...
Like the public as ignorant consumer. If policy was food, we'd be on a diet of Pot Noodles and industrial strength lager.
Clive
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