Tackling wealth gap over life expectancy
A MAN has appeared in court accused of attacking two people with a nunchuck outside a Newcastle city centre bar.
It is alleged Kyle Morrow repeatedly hit the two men with the martial arts weapon near to the Mushroom Bar, on Grainger Street, during a night out on Friday.
The 18-year-old appeared at South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court yesterday morning.
He faced one charge each of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to one of the males, assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the other male and possession of an offensive weapon.
Because of the seriousness of the GBH charge, no pleas were taken during the hearing and Morrow spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, address and nationality.
James Long, prosecuting, said: “The offences are linked, so I would invite you to send all matters to the crown court, with the defendant to appear there on a date to be advised by the legal advisor in due course.”
The court was told the alleged offences happened at around 10pm on Friday, March 9 this year.
One male suffered serious injuries to his face and eye during the suspected attack and needed hospital treatment, while the other suffered minor injuries to his face.
Magistrates heard that a nunchuck is a martial arts weapon consisting of two lengths of wood attached by a chain. Political Editor AN astonishing 10 million people in Britain today will live to be more than 100 years old, experts say.
And that’s “a radical change” from the world we’re used to, according to Thomas Scharf, of the Institute for Aging at Newcastle University.
In particular, he says, it raises questions about fairness because people living in London’s wealthy West End are far more likely to enjoy a long life than those from less privileged areas, such as the West End of Newcastle.
Prof Scharf was speaking after the government announced it was distributing funding of £300m to help the country prepare for a world in which there are more old people who are living for far longer.
Cash will be used to develop improvements in medical care, such as funding for research into dementia.
Some of the money will also develop products and services designed to help people enjoy their longer lives. For example, this includes ways of tackling loneliness among older people.
Announcing the funding, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Society highlighted predictions that 10 million of us will live to be 100 or more.
Prof Scharf is a professor of Professor of Social Gerontology, which means the science of aging and how it affects society. He said: “There is a fundamental challenge, which is around inequalities.
“Not everybody will have the same chance of reaching 100.
“Some people will struggle to reach 60 or 70.
“Others will live into what you might call the high hundreds, to 110 or 120.”
People who live in wealthier areas, often in the south of England, are likely to live longer lives than those in Newcastle estates such as Byker or parts of Manchester or Liverpool, he said.
“We have to consider how to make sure those people have the same opportunities to reach 100 as those who are born into more favourable economic circumstances.
“The question really arises, when we talk about ten million people in their hundreds, who are these people? Should the right to long life not be shared?”
The gap in life expectancy is highlighted in figures produced by the Office for National Statistics.
They show that a Sunderland man celebrating his 65th birthday this year can expect to live another 17.2 years, on average, while in the wealthy London borough of Kensington and Chelsea the figure is 22.1 years.
But there are also likely to be major variations within a city such as Sunderland, based on income.
The government money includes more than £70m to create regional centres to offer UK patients better diagnoses using new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).
The idea is to bring industry and the NHS together to lead the world in digital pathology and radiology, including using AI to analyse medical images, according to the government.
Business Secretary Greg Clark said: “By 2020 we want to be the best country in the world for dementia care and research and today’s announcement of £40m for the Dementia Research Institute is a vitally important step on that journey.”