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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Defence Chiefs Spent More Than ?200million of Taxpayers? Money on Travel and Luxury Stays ? While Tr... Sun May 25, 2025 19:00 | Richard Eldred
Defence chiefs have blown over ?200 million on luxury travel and five-star hotels for senior staff, while rank-and-file troops are left to languish in squalid, rat-infested housing.
The post Defence Chiefs Spent More Than ?200million of Taxpayers? Money on Travel and Luxury Stays ? While Troops Lived in Squalid Conditions appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Two Men a Day Given Trans Surgery on NHS at Taxpayers? Expense Sun May 25, 2025 17:00 | Richard Eldred
Every day, the NHS is putting two biological men ? some still in their teens ? through irreversible trans surgeries on the taxpayer's dime, despite warnings it's risky, unethical and unsupported by solid evidence.
The post Two Men a Day Given Trans Surgery on NHS at Taxpayers? Expense appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Labour Axe the Word ?Us? for Being Too ?Exclusionary? in Devolved Wales Sun May 25, 2025 15:00 | Richard Eldred
In the latest helping of woke gobbledegook, Labour bosses in Wales have binned the word 'us' from their national culture policy after a consultation group deemed it too "exclusionary".
The post Labour Axe the Word ?Us? for Being Too ?Exclusionary? in Devolved Wales appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Are Social Media Posts Investigated More Than Physical Crimes? Sun May 25, 2025 13:00 | Richard Eldred
In today's Britain, you're more likely to be arrested for an offensive tweet than a burglary ? even though barely anyone gets charged and the public want police focused on real crime.
The post Are Social Media Posts Investigated More Than Physical Crimes? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Trump Sends Free-Speech Squad to Interview UK Activists Arrested for ?Silently Praying? Sun May 25, 2025 11:00 | Richard Eldred
Shocked by arrests over silent prayer, the Trump administration has sent a team of free speech defenders to Britain to investigate what it sees as a troubling crackdown on free speech.
The post Trump Sends Free-Speech Squad to Interview UK Activists Arrested for ?Silently Praying? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

How Inequality Kills

category antrim | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis author Saturday September 10, 2005 00:12author by kup Report this post to the editors

Does inequality of wealth really matter?, Richard Wilkinson Professor of sociology, has been researching and gathering evidence of the damage done by extreme inequality between the rich and the poor. As in todays society as the rich get richer, whilst the poor get even poorer. Despite however rich a country is, that country will be more dysfunctional, violent, sick and depressed if the wealth gap between the social classes grows too wide.

In the UK, infant mortality rates for the poor are rising, as life expectancy rates of the poor fall.

So the people living in a relatively poor country such as Greece, have longer life expectancy than poor people living in the US, the richest and most unequal country with the lowest life expectancy in the developed world.

The people of Harlem live shorter lives than the people of Bangladesh. Taking violence and drugs out of the equation, 2/3 of the reason for the shorter lives of poor people in the US is due to heart disease. Not brought on by bad diet, as the people of Bangladesh, have a similar nutrition deficiencies, it is due to the stress of living on the lowest rung of society, the stress of disrespect and lack of esteem for the poor.
Bad nutrition does less harm than depression.

Professor Wilkinson found during research that subordinate, low status monkeys had high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which causes arteriosclerosis.

When high status monkeys were separated from the low status monkeys, the pecking order changed, as the some of the high rank monkeys found themselves the new subordinates and developed a five fold increase in arteriosclerosis. Meanwhile the low rank monkeys now freed from domination by high rank monkeys, had a sharp drop in levels of stress hormone cortisol.

Professor Wilkinson found that social status and respect matter beyond anything, and the psychological damage done by being at the bottom social rung was crippling.

Social environment can be more toxic than any pollutant, low status and lack of control over on'e life is a destroyer of human health and happiness.

An orphanage in hungry post war Germany, found that children on the same meagre diet, were found to have grown most under the kindest matron and least under the unkindest matron.

Poverty in rich nations is not a number or the lack of a particular necessity. Social respect is measured in money, low pay tells people that their labour and themselves are worth little.

Children on free school meals, with no holidays to talk about, unable to afford school trips, who never invite anyone back to a shabby home, painfully understand their place in the hierarchy from their first day at school.

Taken from 'The impact of inequality'. by Richard G Wilkinson

author by Johnpublication date Sat Sep 10, 2005 13:55author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Actually the United States doesn't have the lowest life expectancy in the developed world. Denmark holds that 'honour'. As Denmark is one of the most 'equal' countries in the world, it rather blows his theory. Perhaps Wilkinson could come up with some explanation for this. However, If the component countries of the United Kingdom were treated separately, Scotland would have the lowest life expectancy, even lower than in Denmark. Life expectancy in Ireland is now almost 2 years higher than in Scotland or Denmark. Since Ireland is more 'unequal' than either Scotland of Denmark (at least according to leftists' definition of the term), perhaps Wilkinson could come up with some explanation for this. The countries with the highest life expectancy in the Western world are Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden. Of these, only Sweden ranks high in the various 'equality' league tables. Only last week the UN Human Development Report found Italy to be among the three most 'unequal' countries in the developed world, yet it has one of the highest life expectancies, nearly 4 years higher than in Denmark, which the same UN Report found to be among the three most 'equal' countries. Perhaps Wilkinson could come up with some explanation for this. Before the demise of socialism in eastern Europe, life expectancy in the eastern bloc countries was staggeringly lower than in the capitalist counties of western Europe, almost 8 years lower on average in fact. This was true even where the countries were near neighbours with the same diet and climate, e.g in 1989 life expectancy in Bulgaria was 10 years lower than in Greece, life expectancy in Hungary was 8 years lower than in Austria. Perhaps Wilkinson could come up with some explanation for this.

 
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