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Please read as follows, from the Daily Mail, a right wing paper.

30 replies

ivanhoe · 21/08/2011 16:41

?Nine pensioners died from cold EVERY HOUR last winter as bill prices soar?
By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor

Nine elderly people died every hour from cold-related illnesses last winter against a background of soaring energy bills.

Official figures show the number of deaths linked to cold over the four-month period reached

25,400 in England and Wales, plus 2,760 in Scotland.

Charities and energy company critics claim the UK has the highest winter death rate in northern Europe, even worse than much colder countries such as Finland and Sweden.

Winter worries: More than 300,000 UK pensioners have died of cold related illnesses since 1997

There are fears the toll could rise this year following a recent barrage of price rises that may frighten elderly people into not turning on their heating.

Heated issue: Pensioners see rising fuel bills and worry about whether they can afford to warm the house

While the UK death rate is high, the total was down by around 30 per cent compared with 2008/9 because there were fewer flu outbreaks, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Dot Gibson, of the National Pensioners Convention, said: ?Since 1997 we have lost more than 300,000 pensioners during the winter months because of cold-related illnesses, yet the Government seems incapable of acting.

No other section of our society is so vulnerable and treated so badly.
?Pensioners see rising fuel bills and are constantly worried about whether or not they can afford to put their heating on.?

She added: ?Around 3.5million pensioner households are spending more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel bills and are living in fuel poverty.?

The Coalition government has kept the last administration?s Winter Fuel Allowance payments of £250 for pensioners and £400 for those over 80.

But the allowance should be raised, said Miss Gibson, adding: ?What these people need now is more money so they can avoid having to decide whether to heat or eat.?
DEADLY COLD SNAP

The death of 90-year-old Margaret Titchmarsh showed how cold weather can claim the lives of elderly people.

Former nurse Mrs Titchmarsh, who suffered from dementia, died from hypothermia after wandering away from her care home, in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

At the inquest into her death, Halifax coroner Roger Whittaker concluded her death was accidental but 'contributed to by neglect'.

She was wearing only a thin summer dress, cardigan and slippers when she was found dead - on one of the coldest nights of the year in January 2007

Maria Wardrobe, of the charity National Energy Action, said: ?Britain still has the highest number of excess winter deaths in northern Europe which is a national disgrace, and more needs to be done to tackle the problem of fuel poverty.

?Those most at risk to the effects of cold weather must not have to make a choice over whether to heat their homes or end up ill and in debt to their energy supplier.?

Dave Timms, from Friends of the Earth, said: ?Living in a cold, damp house can make heart disease and strokes more likely. It?s a disgrace that millions of vulnerable people in Britain live in homes lacking basic insulation.?

He said the Government?s Energy Bill, which is to be published next month, should include a programme to insulate all the nation?s homes.

ENERGY BILL RISES
Energy providers have announced big rises in prices this winter.
? Scottish Power is increasing electricity bills by 8.9 per cent.
? Scottish & Southern Electricity is putting up gas by almost 10 per cent.
? British Gas announced a 7 per cent rise on gas and electricity
Michelle Mitchell, director of the charity Age UK, said:'It?s still unacceptable that in this day and age tens of thousands more older people die in this country every winter from the effects of the cold weather.

'As another winter sets in, plummeting temperatures will once again spell misery, ill-health and, in some cases, even death for too many people in later life across the country.

'The simple fact that the UK has one of the highest winter mortality rates in Europe ? higher than even Sweden or Finland ? makes it clear this is very much a home-grown problem.

'These are avoidable deaths due not just to the cold weather in itself but to the country?s inability to meet the challenge of dropping temperatures.'

Public health minister Anne Milton said: ?Information to help vulnerable people keep warm and well will be made available to GP surgeries and local organisations.

'The elderly, and those who are ill, are particularly vulnerable during cold weather.

'We all have a role to play in remembering the needs of friends, relatives and neighbours who could be at risk especially at this time of year.? Unquote.

The coalition are blaming the Deficit left by the last Government. As far as pensioners are concerned, Steve Webb?s response was what I expected, the man has no integrity whatsoever, and I would say this to his face if I could.

Following the second World War Britain was made bankrupt, yet with America we helped build up Germany, we brought in the National Health Service, we brought in minimum wages, we built council houses, we brought in a Welfare State.

We achieved much, because Government?s of the day had the ?will? to do it.

Steve Webb?s response was based on a devisery policy regarding the elderly, and the myth that looking after our elderly people is expensive, in short our pensioners are a scapegoat for right wing ideoligy.

Factually, and in direct response to Steve Webb?s comments about the £150 State pension if it is introduced in the future, clearly this possible future State pension amount will not be paid to today?s pensioners, and it should be, again today?s pensioners are being ignored.

Means testing today?s pensioners via the Pensions Credit, is costing 15 times more of tax payers money than the restoration of the earnings link with cost ?. ie it costs £15 per person, per pensioner to means test, on a par with £5 per person per pensioner to restore the State pensions and earnings link.

We send tax payers money round the world in the name of ?Great Britain?, including £50 million a day to Europe, and we uphold foreign wars with never a question about expense, but when it comes to the elderly, and their dignity in old age, suddenly we cant afford it.

This right wing retorich began with Margaret Thatcher, and then was adopted by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and now this right wing lead coalition, so for 30 years our elderly people have and are being ignored.

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Corvax · 21/08/2011 16:46

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peeriebear · 21/08/2011 16:47

tl;dr