On 15/01/12 14:39, Tony Kenyon wrote:

We all know that mortality rates increase when the weather is colder
(winter) and during the occasional heat waves. Being told to turn the
heating up because it is cold seems a rather poor way to protect the
vulnerable or do you think that vulnerable people are somehow unable to
work this out for themselves?

In some cases yes, they do seem unable to work it out for themselves and
need constant reminding. With all due respect some people seem to have
little in the way of initiative, partly, I suspect, due to our ever
increasing reliance on technology with an associated decrease in the
need (or desire) to think for oneself (think sat-nav incidents as a
prime example of this).


Also, as Dave pointed out, I fail to see how temperatures of plus 3 to
plus 4 degrees can be described as severe cold in January in the East of
England!


No I'm not sure how either. I would have thought 3-4C daytime maxes were
within two standard deviations of the mean at this time of year.