Phil Hammond, MD of Private Eye, is more forensic in his examination of statistics than the government's media people:
the unemployment rate may be at its lowest for 50 years at 3.5 percent, but this is partly driven by a record high in the number of people not looking for work because they are suffering from long-term illness - currently 2.5m according to the Office for National Statistics. Much of the increase is likely to be due to long Covid. are now more Scots living with long Covid than there are residents of Aberdeen. And a study [...] concluded that there were 334,327 excess deaths beyond the expected number in England, Wales and Scotland over the period of austerity between 2012 and 2019 (i.e. before the pandemic). Cuts to social security and essential services are likely to shorten the lives of the poorest, who were also most likely to be harmed by Covid and the measures put in to control it. Something for the health secretary and the new chancellor to consider.
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