LONG BLACK TRAINSPOTTING:

Scotland shrugs off 'sick man' label (LOUISE GRAY, 3/23/05, The Scotsman)

SCOTLAND may be shedding its reputation as the "sick man of Europe" but widening health inequalities and the problem of alcohol abuse is holding the country back from a full recovery, the chief medical officer warned yesterday.

Dr Mac Armstrong welcomed falling levels of heart disease and the impending ban on smoking in public places.

But he warned that the healthy-living message was not getting through to large sections of society and that more people than ever were dying of alcohol-related causes.

Dr Armstrong also said the "Scottish effect" - a sense of fatalism and pessimism - could be leading to higher mortality rates than England.

They've much to be fatalistic about.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2005 6:38 AM