Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Tories’ shadow health secretary, said the figures were a ‘damning indictment’ of SNP failures Credit: Ken Jack/Getty Images Europe Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, said the SNP had questions to answer about the state of the nation’s health Credit: Pool/Getty Images Europe

By Professor John Robertson

Despite later, actually, almost telling the truth, with:

Since 2017 to 2019, life expectancy began to fall, dropping by 18.2 weeks for females and 19.4 weeks for males. The NRS said this was mainly because of Covid, but there were also increases in other causes of death, particularly circulatory conditions. Its report also said life expectancy was “strongly linked” to wealth, with females in Scotland’s poorest communities living 10.5 years less than those in the richest. The gap for men was 13.2 years. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/23/life-expectancy-scotland-worst-western-europe-snp-rule-uk/

the Telegraph conveniently forgets Tory austerity policies in recent times and, of course, the legacy of three centuries of colonialism for Scotland. I’ll come back to the colonialism.

First, Tory austerity:

Research on the impact of austerity measures on life expectancy in the UK suggests that these policies reduced life expectancy and increased health inequalities

_{https://www.lse.ac.uk/News/Latest-news-from-LSE/2024/f-June-2024/Austerity-spending-cuts-cost-average-person-nearly-half-year-in-life-expectancy#:~:text=The%20government’s%20austerity%20spending%20cuts,LSE%20and%20King’s%20College%20London.}

Scotland’s colonial legacy?

Yes, I know ‘we’ have some lovely big hooses to visit now but that legacy from exploitation of India, the Caribbean and elsewhere across the globe was only enjoy by a tiny elite. I wrote about this a few days ago, to little attention, perhaps because of the title?

Latest – paracetamol deaths twice as high in Scotland, suicide, alcohol deaths, cancer deaths, shorter lives – clues that colonial subservience is killing us?

This shocking fact popped up in my alerts this morning, from research published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology:

The Scottish paracetamol-related death rate was twice as high as in England and Wales.¹

TWICE as high? That’s astonishing. This is despite more GPs, faster ambulance and A&E times in Scotland.

Overdosing with other drugs, is even worse.

In Scotland they are 2.7 times as high as the 2022 rates for England and Northern Ireland, and 2.1 times as high as the 2022 rate in Wales.²

This is, again, despite better emergency services, 95% drug treatment within 3 weeks and the world-first opioid overdose scheme, Naloxone, roll-out.

Alcohol? improving but still worse:

The difference between Scotland and the other UK countries has narrowed over the last two decades. In 2001, the alcohol-specific mortality rate for Scotland was between 2.1 and 2.9 times as high as other UK countries. In 2022, the rate for Scotland was between 1.2 and 1.6 times as high.³

Cancer? Much higher incidence and a higher death rate.

Scotland had the highest overall incidence (446 for men and 379 for women per 100 000), and Wales had the second highest rate (450 and 366 per 100 000), compared with 394 and 338 per 100 000 in England and 394 and 345 per 100 000 in Northern Ireland. Scotland also had the highest overall mortality for cancer in the UK (262 and 182 per 100 000), followed by Wales, with 233 for men and 165 for women per 100 000. In Scotland, mortality from cancer for both sexes was about 15% higher than in the UK as a whole, and the incidence of cancer was 10% higher.⁴

This, again, despite far shorter treatment waiting times.⁵

Downstream and downwind of the most toxic nuclear site in Europe (Sellafield) host the nuclear subs and missiles?

Overall life expectancy? Around 2 years shorter than in England.⁶

Even suicide:

However, based on 2022 data, Scotland had the highest rate of suicide deaths of all countries in the UK at 14.0 deaths per 100,000 people. This was followed by Wales with 12.5 deaths per 100,000, Northern Ireland with 12.3 deaths per 100,000, then England with 10.5 deaths per 100,000.⁷

What’s going on here? The old narrative still spoken is that’s self-harming, weak, easy habit-forming, fecklessness – bad diet, smoking, drinking, not exercising, stupidly ignoring symptoms, mental weakness, low IQ……what all imperial nations say of those they conquer.

Regardless of the myth that it was a voluntary union, with England’s troops on the border, direct threats of invasion and bribing of the few who could vote, it was a hostile takeover –

An English member of parliament on the day after the signing of the Act of Union stated

“Good. We have Scotland on the rack now.”

John Smith – Speaker joined in the chorus, 

“We have catch’d Scotland and will bind her fast.” ⁸

We were and are in a colony. That a tiny elite benefited from the union, just as they did in India, Ireland and everywhere else, is irrelevant. That we cannot have another referendum on leaving the union is proof, today, that Scotland is still a colony.

Here’s a better tale – food and other resources stolen or bought cheap to be taken south, over centuries, a disproportionate contribution to imperial wars and adventures in terms of being cannon fodder and in heavy industrial, polluting, arms production. More subtly, being told every day by ‘English’ superiors in the armed forces, in education and across the media, to this day by ‘comedians’ and politicians (even supposed Scots), that we’re just not up to it, has an insidious and deep effect in lowering self-esteem and in driving addiction.

It’s a common story, across the globe. The research is clear:

The practice of colonization is directly linked to the burden of disease, poverty, and disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Peoples, who were displaced from their land, culture, and resources.⁹

Footnote: Also missed out by the Telegraph:

Life expectancy in Scotland was 80.9 years for females and 76.9 years for males in 2021-2023. It has increased by almost 7 weeks for females and 14 weeks for males since 2020-2022 although it is still lower than before the pandemic.¹⁰

Sources:

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1874442/
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y5ll3ler7o#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20drug%20deaths%20has%20risen%20in%20Scotland&text=They%20are%202.7%20times%20as,aged%2015%2D64%20in%202023.
3. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2024/alcohol-specific-deaths-remain-high#:~:text=Data%20for%20the%20rest%20of,times%20as%20high%20in%202022.&text=The%20National%20Records%20of%20Scotland,Code%20of%20Practice%20for%20Statistics.
4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1939786/#:~:text=Scotland%20also%20had%20the%20highest,of%20cancer%20was%2010%25%20higher.https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/09/01/official-figures-reveal-cancer-waiting-times-far-longer-in-other-3-nations-than-in-scotland/
5. https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/09/01/official-figures-reveal-cancer-waiting-times-far-longer-in-other-3-nations-than-in-scotland/
6. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/life-expectancy-areas-in-scotland/2010-2012/html/life-expectancy-for-areas-within-scotland-2010-2012-scotland-uk-europe.html
7. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2024/increase-in-deaths-by-suicide#:~:text=However%2C%20based%20on%202022%20data,with%2010.5%20deaths%20per%20100%2C000.
8. https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2023/09/27/some-english-views-on-the-union/
9. https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/GCUUCBZSM3RNNYCUW3AD/full#:~:text=The%20practice%20of%20colonization%20is,resources%20(Sinclair%2C%201969).
10. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/life-expectancy/life-expectancy-in-scotland/2021-2023