Subscribe to The Spectator

Friday 10 February 2012

Latest issue

Buy the current issue

Jobs at Telegraph

Thursday, 10th April 2008

Status and Longevity

2:09pm

I can't say that I'm all that surprised by this finding today:

Cricketers who play more Test matches can expect to enjoy a longer innings in life, according to research.

A study of England players found that those who represented their country more than 25 times had an average life expectancy of almost 80, compared with 73 for those who played fewer than 25 times.

There's a number of factors we could consider (the more sporty you are the longer you live for example?) but this backs up innumerable studies from other areas of life. As mentioned in the piece, Oscar winners live longer than nominees who don't win.

But the granddaddy of such studies is the Whitehall Study, starting off in 1967. And sadly, the consideration of such studies has been, at least at times, grossly misleading. For example, we've had Polly T's oft repeated assertion that inequality kills: and indeed it does, as all these studies show.

But the proferred solution is that we should equalise economic inequality, and that isn't the thing which is causing the difference in health outcomes. It's status inequality: those at the top of the heirarchy, almost any heirarchy, have better health than those lower down it. Thus an equalising of economic outcomes does nothing to change the health outcome, because we don't in fact (and the truth of this can be seen in the fact that Polly herself earns a fraction of a Hedgie's income, but has much higher status) measure status (purely) by economic income.

So while the situation as described, that inequality kills, may be true, the solution offered isn't going to change that.

Blogs: Martin Bright | Susan Hill | Alex Massie | Melanie Phillips | Faith Based | Cappuccino Culture

Actions: Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comment | Subscribe

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Comments Post comment

Be the first to comment on this article!

Back to top

Cartoons

Tag Cloud

Coffee House archive

sponsored links

Spectator recommends

Spectator classifieds

THE PRESENT FINDER

1,700 Unusual Christmas Presents Request Catalogue 01935 815 195 Quote SPEC10 for 10% discount www.presentfinder.co.uk

OLIVE BRANCH FLORISTS

Pimilco based Florist with online ordering Web: www.olivebranch.net Tel: 020 7630 1868 Fax: 020 7233 8844

RUFFS Bespoke Signet rings

62 Shore Road, Warsash, Southampton, SO31 9FT Telephone: 01489 578867 Web site: www.ruffs.co.uk