representative sample?
Jan. 2nd, 2007 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaWales top of Britain's sicklist
Hmm. When I saw the headline I immediately - and accurately - predicted which bits of Wales, specifically, it was that made this headline. Merthyr Tydfil comes out top, as it always does. The top ten most unhealthy areas in Britain, apparently, are as follows:
1. Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2. Easington, Co Durham
3. Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales
4. Neath Port Talbot, Wales
5. Blaenau Gwent, Wales
6. Caerphilly, Wales
7. Bolsover, Derbyshire
8. Torfaen, Wales
9. Bridgend, Wales
10. Carmarthenshire, Wales
Source: HealthAcorn report by CACI and TNS
The only one that surprises me is Carmarthenshire, and possibly Torfaen. The others, no surprise - they are all concentrated in the former industrial heartland of South Wales and are also, not coincidentally, among the most economically deprived areas in Britain. Now that the heavy industry has gone there's just nothing left - unemployment in those areas is crippling. The organisation I work for has funding to work in almost all those areas, specifically targeted for funding because of that social deprivation.
But what annoys me about this list is that the eight Welsh locations named are all counties - entire local authority areas - whereas the English locations given are towns within county boroughs. How is that equal representation? The judgement should either be made on a town-by-town basis across the whole of Britain, or on a county-by-county basis across the whole of Britain, otherwise it is unrepresentative. If entire counties within Wales are being judged against single towns in England there is never going to be an equable comparison, surely.
Bah.
Hmm. When I saw the headline I immediately - and accurately - predicted which bits of Wales, specifically, it was that made this headline. Merthyr Tydfil comes out top, as it always does. The top ten most unhealthy areas in Britain, apparently, are as follows:
1. Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2. Easington, Co Durham
3. Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales
4. Neath Port Talbot, Wales
5. Blaenau Gwent, Wales
6. Caerphilly, Wales
7. Bolsover, Derbyshire
8. Torfaen, Wales
9. Bridgend, Wales
10. Carmarthenshire, Wales
Source: HealthAcorn report by CACI and TNS
The only one that surprises me is Carmarthenshire, and possibly Torfaen. The others, no surprise - they are all concentrated in the former industrial heartland of South Wales and are also, not coincidentally, among the most economically deprived areas in Britain. Now that the heavy industry has gone there's just nothing left - unemployment in those areas is crippling. The organisation I work for has funding to work in almost all those areas, specifically targeted for funding because of that social deprivation.
But what annoys me about this list is that the eight Welsh locations named are all counties - entire local authority areas - whereas the English locations given are towns within county boroughs. How is that equal representation? The judgement should either be made on a town-by-town basis across the whole of Britain, or on a county-by-county basis across the whole of Britain, otherwise it is unrepresentative. If entire counties within Wales are being judged against single towns in England there is never going to be an equable comparison, surely.
Bah.
