Browse content similar to 30/10/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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worrying. The most obvious solution Tonight on Newsnight Scotland, the | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
poorest women in this country will spend around a third of their lives | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
in bad health. Why does Scotland have the worst health inequalities | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
in Western Europe? And one of Scotland's most | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
successful businessmen, billionaire Sir Ian Wood, talks to us about oil, | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
Aberdeen and the independence debate. | :00:32. | :00:40. | |
A really would like it to focus away from the emotion. This has a | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
massive impact on our children and grandchildren. Good evening. The | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
figures are shocking, the poorest in our society can expect to live | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
shorter lives than their well-off neighbours and to spend many more | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
years in ill health. The difference between rich and poor is greater | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
here than in the rest of the UK, and among the worst in the | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
developed world. Successive Scottish governments have had | :00:59. | :01:06. | |
social justice as a stated aim, yet little progress has been made. | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
Jamie McIvor reports. This seems to be a really | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
persistent problem. It does, because for all the efforts we have | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
seen for many years to reduce inequality, the blunt fact remains | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
that people -- live in the most deprived parts of Scotland will | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
have shorter lights and so poor health for far longer. Let's take a | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
look at some figures. The poorest men in Scotland, typically Willmott | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
be in good health the 21 years before they die. -- will not be. | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
The most deprived women will not be in good health and 25 years before | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
they die. That is around a third of their lives. At least deprived men | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
and women not only live for far longer, but able least up a poor | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
health for about 12 years before they die. Some of the worst life | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
expectancy rates are in parts of the East End of Glasgow, where the | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
Commonwealth Games will be held. And also where the Chris Hoy | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
velodrome has just opened. The hope is that the Games will do a lot to | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
help the area in the Long Term, and part of that legacy could be higher | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
standards of health. Earlier today, I went to the velodrome and the | :02:19. | :02:29. | |
:02:29. | :02:32. | ||
surrounding area to sound out It is Scotland's newest world-class | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
sports facility. The Kris Boyd velodrome will be at the centre of | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
the action during the Commonwealth Games. But it is part of a bigger | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
sports complex that aims to be right at the centre of the local | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
community. Tries to get everyone involved in it as much as possible. | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
Anyone out there that is looking to get fit, get involved in it. | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
message here is that sport and exercise are for everyone, young | :02:57. | :03:04. | |
and old, rich or poor. Last month I came back from holiday, and a bit | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
of holiday we'd get put on so you need to go to the gym. I had a few | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
pals who just sat around all day. Do you think not exercising for | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
some people, is a thing to do with poverty or deprivation? No, I think | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
it is about convenience. I have started going to the gym a lot more. | :03:26. | :03:33. | |
It is just about having the facilities nearby. So, why our | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
overall standards of help solo in some deprived areas? As -- is | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
deprivation alone to blame or is it more complicated? Some easiest ways | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
of improving the health do not cost money and might save you cash. Pins | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
like giving up smoking, drinking less and of course, exercising more. | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
-- things like. It costs nothing but time and effort or stopped | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
growing parts of the East End of Glasgow, the life expectancy is | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
amongst the lowest in the Western world. Is this the lasting legacy | :04:06. | :04:13. | |
of industrial decline? Out think it is down to long term unemployment. | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
Most of the chaps have always worked in the shipyards, they had - | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
- they are not there any more. East End, they have nothing to look | :04:22. | :04:32. | |
:04:32. | :04:32. | ||
forward to. They are all decent people in the East End of Glasgow. | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
They try their best but there is nothing there for them. The jobs | :04:37. | :04:44. | |
they get are on minimum wage. because people cannot get jobs? | :04:44. | :04:54. | |
:04:54. | :04:56. | ||
should not let yourself. Tell me where all the firms are awaited. | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
But Glasgow is not Britain's on the post-industrial city. The gap of | :05:02. | :05:09. | |
life expectancy between rich and poor Fido is that the failure on | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
the part of the Government's past and present all have certain | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
factors been peculiar to Scotland and need to be tackled? | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
I am -- I'm joined now by Dr Andrew Fraser, who is Director of Public | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
Health Science at NHS Health Scotland, the body charged with | :05:25. | :05:31. | |
improving the country's health. Good evening. It is a sad reality, | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
health inequalities here are among the widest in Western Europe. We | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
face a huge long-term challenge. That is true and it has not got | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
their just slowly, it has got their over several generations. But we | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
were not always like this. Until the 1970s, statistics were much | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
more equally... Or the distribution of help was much more equally | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
spread. What is driving it? There is no one aspect to this which you | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
can put your finger round and say, that is the problem, then there is | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
a solution. I think culture, we live with inequalities of power and | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
influence and means. I think perhaps, past national politics in | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
the way local culture or local civic leadership has responded to | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
that, and that may in part explain why we differ in the west central | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
Scotland from Liverpool and Manchester. But I think from the | :06:35. | :06:40. | |
report on which this piece is based, the gradient is beginning to stop | :06:40. | :06:47. | |
rising. You will see in some areas, that the inequality gap is | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
narrowing. I would take for instance, low birth weight amongst | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
newborns. If that is narrowing, let's look at why it might be | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
successful. Better educated women, it is a clear link between young | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
women's educational levels and subsequent reproductive health. | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
Antenatal services may be more effective, reaching people most in | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
need of support while pregnant. Or the general health of young women, | :07:15. | :07:21. | |
which maybe a feature of their own decision-making, but also their | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
culture, the community, the family, their means. So there are areas | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
where we may be improving, and I think this report me Mark a | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
stalling of the generals like we have seen until now. One week | :07:36. | :07:44. | |
because on some of the symptoms of ill health, things like smoking, | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
obesity, bad diet, are these are a sideshow, are these irrelevant to | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
the debate? They are relevant but they have the end points of | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
decisions. There are decisions based not necessarily on | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
individuals -- individual conscious and rational decisions. There are | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
influences on them by the committee and the family, and particularly it | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
appears, especially young people are very influenced by what their | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
friends are doing. You come across people who have very few | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
opportunities who have never really understood that there are choices | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
to be made between going into unemployment, as almost a career, | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
or other options in their lives. That is a product of generations of | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
low aspiration at a local level. Not necessarily their inherent | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
inability, it is what they see around them. When we talk about ill | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
health in Scotland, we quite often get big ticket policy programmes | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
from government, we have at a ban on smoking in public places from a | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
previous Labour or Lib Dem coalition, now we have plans for | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
minimum pricing for alcohol, again, to focus on ill-health. Are those | :09:04. | :09:14. | |
:09:14. | :09:20. | ||
Those a relevant. Transport policies are also relevant. -- | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
those are relevant. How many people can get on to their bikes, for | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
instance, and cycle to work, which depends on their ability to get | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
hold of a bicycle. Or their confidence that work. Maybe | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
separation from road traffic, which puts them at risk. The separation | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
of bicycles from motorised traffic is an important instance. There is | :09:45. | :09:52. | |
evidence, if you separate that, you will get more people on bicycles. | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
That is persuading people to take more exercise. It is also designing | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
as City, the environment in which we are living. As far as changing | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
people's lifestyles, persuading people who do not have a healthier | :10:07. | :10:14. | |
lifestyle to adopt one, how do we persuade people? Is it possible on | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
a one-to-one basis? Yes, but you have to understand the culture and | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
context. It is one thing to say smoking is expensive and bad for | :10:24. | :10:30. | |
you. 50% of people who smoke will die of smoking-related diseases. It | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
is another thing to say you like to take a better half. And say this in | :10:36. | :10:42. | |
a way that attracts them to choose an alternative up. It is another | :10:42. | :10:49. | |
thing to put something in its place. On that basis, looking at obesity, | :10:49. | :10:56. | |
does attacks on sugar, for example, -- does placing taxes on sugar, one | :10:56. | :11:02. | |
example, have an impact? You have to include the knowledge that there | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
are other types of food that an enjoyable, nourishing, pleasant to | :11:06. | :11:14. | |
eat. The problem, I suppose, regarding that is persuading people | :11:14. | :11:20. | |
to save themselves from these sorts of things. That can be unpopular. | :11:20. | :11:22. | |
Is their political will to challenge people to change their | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
ways? I think there is a lot of discussion about the inequalities | :11:28. | :11:36. | |
issue. I think is. The policy we have run with for five years was | :11:36. | :11:43. | |
sailed internationally as ground- breaking -- was celebrated | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
internationally as ground-breaking and helping inequalities. Now we | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
know more. We know what works better. We know, with the passage | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
of time, it is probably not enough. We are coming forward to ministers | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
about what is next to do. I was going to ask about that. There | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
appears to be a shift in policy to an acid based approach, focusing on | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
empowerment of the individual. -- an approach based on assets. We | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
know that a top-down approach might not work. It is not the whole | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
solution. Health based policies you have mentioned already, such as | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
tobacco and alcohol, are crucial in turning the tide. One of the worst | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
statistics is inequality between Poole and rich of alcohol related | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
mortality. -- between poor people and rich people. Alcohol is a major | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
factor in driving down the health record. The need to reverse that. | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
That is a policy, but at individual and community level, there are | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
other things to do. We have to work at every level to make inroads on | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
the help record and our record of very steep gradients between the | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
worst off and best of in terms of health and inequalities. It sounds | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
like this is a generational battle, a struggle that will take literally | :13:06. | :13:14. | |
decades? Yes, but we cannot hang around and wait. It is slightly | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
encouraging to have a report that suggests we had halted the gradient | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
getting any steeper. But we need to act now to turn that story around | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
to narrow the gap, lessen the gradient, giving people | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
opportunities through policy and knowledge and personal experience | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
of better alternatives to improve the nation's record and narrow | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
these health inequalities. We shall leave it there. Dr Andrew Fraser, | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
thank you. One of Scotland's most successful | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
businessmen ever will step aside from his company tomorrow. Sir Ian | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
Wood is retiring as chairman of the Wood Group. He was Chief Executive | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
before that. His company operates engineering support in the oil | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
industry, reading it from a moderately successful family | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
company in the 1960s to a multi- million-pound concern offering oil | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
industry services across the globe, but still lead from Aberdeen. | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
Douglas Fraser has been speaking to Sir Ian Wood, who began by | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
explaining that the North Sea industry still faces obstacles. | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
One of the few regrets I half from Mike involvement in oil and gas, | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
with many -- one of the few regrets I have from its involvement in oil | :14:33. | :14:41. | |
and gas, it is realising what a major impact this had. It is �48 | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
billion per year to balance of payments. From us far back as you | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
can remember, in terms of contribution to UK industrial | :14:50. | :14:57. | |
activity, oil and gas has been week ahead of any other industry. | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
400,000 jobs, staggering figures. We have produced 41 billion barrels. | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
Looking ahead, we could still produce another 25 billion. At $100 | :15:09. | :15:17. | |
per barrel, that is 2000 $500 billion. The figures are staggering. | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
If we do not get it right, we produce 50% of that. That is | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
staggering, losing billions of dollars of economic contribution to | :15:26. | :15:32. | |
the UK. The figures are huge. That says there is still a massive a | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
mind of contribution to come. A huge prospect. And we really have - | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
- really need UK Government focusing on maximising what is | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
still to come from the North Sea. That is the key factor, then | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
recognising that. They are beginning to recognise that, a step | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
change in the past few years. It is now focused on understanding how we | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
get the industry to invest in 5-10 years. If we do not, we lose | :16:01. | :16:08. | |
infrastructure. You remain rooted in Aberdeen. You are passionate | :16:08. | :16:14. | |
about that city. Is that because it is under rated by outsiders? | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
spend far too much time internalising in Scotland. We | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
produce all kinds of internal disagreements, spend lots of time | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
device that way, when we should find common ground. -- spent lots | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
of time divided against each other. My concern is what happens next. I | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
mean in the next 20-30 years' time. My roots in Aberdeen mean that my | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
father's father, his father, their father, fished in Aberdeen. The | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
last thing I would like to see his future generations looking back and | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
thinking, that was -- that generation did nicely, what was | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
left for us? There was a �15 million offer for a city centre | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
regeneration. That was mired in controversy. It seems to be now | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
defunct. What has that controversy told us about the mindset of the | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
city? I think what it says is it became political, it should never | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
have become political. There is a view that somehow this is business | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
imposing its bill on the city. That the Labour Party in the city | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
campaigned heavily against it. I do not know why it is a political | :17:33. | :17:40. | |
issue. You have become, by any standard, fabulously rich. You had | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
about �1.2 billion according to one report. How much have you been | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
motivated by money? People will be cynical that my answer is I was | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
never motivated by money. My prime interest is business development | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
and achievement. Absolutely prime interest. For example, I will spend | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
a lot of time in the next few years on philanthropic activities, giving | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
away money, getting every bit of satisfaction and achievement from | :18:09. | :18:18. | |
bat as I did -- from that as I did from my other work. My interest is | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
getting people and opportunities together, getting strategy right, | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
seeing its successful. We have a vote in Scotland on independence in | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
autumn 2014. Do you think that prospect of independence could help | :18:31. | :18:39. | |
or hinder Scotland? And business and the economy in Scotland? | :18:39. | :18:47. | |
views on independence, it is incredibly political and emotional. | :18:47. | :18:55. | |
I would like to see a lot more rational applied to it, genuine | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
attempts made to look at the benefits of continuing the union, | :18:58. | :19:05. | |
with all the benefits and none benefits, as well as those of an | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
independent Scotland. I have huge concern that part of the debate, | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
not a huge putt, maybe not the political but, but do we like | :19:15. | :19:23. | |
England? -- not a huge part. I am completely against that. If you ask | :19:23. | :19:33. | |
me how many people we employ an English or Scottish, I do not know. | :19:33. | :19:42. | |
We must finish up making this decision for the right reason. One | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
concern is we must ensure that, taking a business like oil or gas, | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
that the uncertainty caused by the debate over the next couple of | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
years does not cause problems with investment. We do not want that | :19:56. | :20:03. | |
night. If you start talking about how to divide up the oil and gas | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
reserves between England and Scotland, talking about what tax | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
regime we would have, complex discussions about decommissioning, | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
what would the Scottish Government do? Likely to bowl sides would be | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
too pleased up this debate in such a way that you do not cause a lot | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
of uncertainty or it will damage the industry. -- might lead to both | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
sides would be. I would like it focused as far as possible away | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
from emotions and focusing on the rational. This will have a massive | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
impact on our children or grandchildren. Well you see which | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
way you will vote? If I can make a right contribution, I will at the | :20:47. | :20:54. | |
time. But not yet? Sir Ian Wood with Douglas Fraser. | :20:54. | :21:02. | |
Now to have a look at tomorrow's front pages. Ambitious new targets | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
set for renewable energy. Under different take on that, left | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
swinging in the wind. The UK Energy Minister slammed the brakes on | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
endless expansion. And New York's devastation breaks | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
American hearts. That is all from me. If you want to see the | :21:26. | :21:31. |