No one knows - and few in government care - how many people are killed each winter. In just the third week of December last year, an estimated 2,500 died because of the cold:

Estimated deaths, 15th to 22nd December 2003 (Source: Faculty of Public Health)
North East - 145
North West - 320
Yorkshire and Humberside - 252
East Midlands - 198
West Midlands - 272
East - 268
London - 302
South East - 410
South West - 245
Wales - 148

Professor Sian Griffiths, President of the Faculty of Public Health, said as many as 50,000 people could die ‘unnecessarily’ in the UK this winter. This is not only a disgrace, but also highlights the madness of capitalism. It is cheaper to let these thousands die than to provide them with the necessaries of life. The skewed priorities of our society see this as an acceptable level of death. Despite an annual outcry against these avoidable deaths, nothing is done and all the only government is a mouthing of pious platitudes about the regrettable nature of the mortality rate.

The numbers dying each year vary vastly. Winter 2000/01 saw ‘an excess’ 48,440 deaths; the following winter saw 27,230 die needlessly; and last winter an estimated 24,000 died avoidably. Any reasonably organised society would tackle this disgrace as a matter of urgency! Countries where winters are routinely colder than those in the UK - such as Finland and Russia - have fewer such deaths each year. Yet in Tony Blair’s brave new world we see these vast body counts year in, year out, without this scandal being ended.

Capitalism provides no solution to this annual catastrophe. A system which sees profit as more important than human life can’t remedy this appalling situation. Although other countries may see lower mortality rates than the British each year doesn’t mean they’ve any less of a problem: one pensioner dying from cold is one too many. A partial solution would be increasing the pension. A better society, though, would put its most vulnerable first, and see that those who have spent all their lives working can spend their twilight years without fear of freezing to death.

In today’s atomised, anomie-filled society, the safety net of community has all but disappeared in British urban society. Few today have more than a nodding acquaintance with their neighbours. The absence of any meaningful community spirit in many parts of the country is shown in its most distressing form at this time of year. Premature death in any form is intensely sad. Premature death which is easily avoidable is more than sad. It is a crime.

The danger of death elderly people face each winter is purely a danger to poor and working class people. There are sufficient resources to prevent every single one of these tragedies. The madness inherent in capitalism, though, is that these resources are not available to those who need them without payment. When the most vulnerable in society are allowed to die for want of a few pounds one may truly say that that society is insane.

(Statistics and quotes from BBC reports)

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