18 December 2005

The best small country in the world?

Maybe the fattest. From Scotland on Sunday (here):

"Last week, a new report revealed that the number of obese children in Scotland is running at double the UK average.
More than a third of 12-year-old children were classed as overweight in the 2004-05 school year, while 19.4% were obese and 11.2% were classed as severely obese.
Some 20% of those aged three-and-a-half were overweight, 8.6% were obese and 4% were severely obese.
Ministers, meanwhile, have been at the centre of controversy for failing to practise what they preach. Figures published in March showed that ministers and top civil servants made more than ten taxi or official car trips a week between the Scottish Executive headquarters at St Andrew's House and the nearby Scottish Parliament, even though the buildings are just a few minutes apart by foot.
Ministers were accused of adding to congestion in the capital and failing to live up to their healthy living message after making the short trip by car a total of 276 times in just six months. "
And, possibly, the thickest. From Scotland on Sunday (here):
Education figures published last week showed that, at the critical S2 level (of 13 to 14-year-olds), more than three in 10 pupils are failing to achieve the basic standards in reading, four in 10 are failing in maths and almost half are failing in writing. In Glasgow, nearly 60% of pupils failed the Level E assessment for writing in 2005.
And, probably, one of the most dangerous. From The Sunday Herald (here):
"Government statistics confirmed Scotland as one of the most violent countries in Western Europe. They highlighted a disturbing trend showing that the number of victims of murder and culpable homicide had soared by more than 25% in a year to 137. A knife or other sharp instrument was the most common murder weapon, accounting for 72 victims, the highest figure for a decade.
Although the number of murders represented the highest since 1995 to 1996 – the year of the Dunblane massacre, in which 16 schoolchildren and their teacher were killed – the figure has been steadily growing for years.
Through the 1970s the average number of homicides per year was 86. That figure rose to 96 per year in the 1980s and 110 through the 1990s – excluding Lockerbie and Dunblane. Since the turn of the millennium, killings in Scotland have averaged more than 111 each year."

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