Barometer | 14 June 2018

Mortal combat

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt promised more protection for medical staff accused of criminal malpractice after a doctor was struck off over a boy’s death from sepsis. How many people die as a result of inadequate healthcare?
— In 2016, the ONS listed 141,101 out of 597,206 UK deaths as ‘avoidable mortality’, which was 24 per cent of the total.
— The leading causes were neoplasms (cancer and non-cancerous growths), cardiovascular disease, injuries, respiratory diseases and drug use.
— Among children, 1,674 out of 4,995 deaths were judged avoidable.
— The highest rate was in Merthyr Tydfil (384.4 per 100,000 population) and the lowest in Monmouthshire (232.4).

Nation stats

Who has the best all-time match-winning record at the football World Cup?

	WON/DRAWN/LOST
Brazil	70/17/17
Germany	66/20/20
Italy	45/21/17
Argentina	42/14/21
Spain	29/12/18
England	26/20/16
France	28/12/19
Netherlands	27/12/11

Which team has most reason to fear the new VAR (Video Assistant Referee)?

	YELLOW CARDS/RED CARDS
Argentina	111/8
Germany	110/5
Brazil	97/10
Italy	90/7
Netherlands	90/3

And which World Cup was best-attended?

1994	USA 68,991
2014	Brazil 52,918
2006	Germany 52,491
1970	Mexico 50,124
1974	West Germany 49,098

Mortal combat

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to visit Fiji and Tonga as part of their first foreign trip as a married couple. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh made the same trip in 1953, six months after the Queen’s coronation. Tonga will have some challenge in keeping up to the standards set on that occasion, when a feast for the couple was laid out on four tables, each 100 yards long and laden with yams, lobsters and 2,000 suckling pigs. They could, however, improve on the range of drinks — in 1953 the only one on offer was coconut milk.