Colin Angus
@VictimOfMaths
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Alcohol policy modeller in @sarg_scharr @sheffielduni | Health inequalities | COVID-19 | Data visualisation | RStats | Cake | Cycling | Pedantry | Birds
Sheffield, England
Joined November 2013
I've taken the various bits of analysis and visualisation I've done with #RStats in relation to COVID-19 data, tidied the code up a bit, updated it using the latest data and put it all in one place: https://t.co/SljY547LfO
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In our latest blog, Colin Angus (@VictimOfMaths) looks at why alcohol deaths continue to rise in England, despite plateauing in Scotland. He points to: ➡️ Increases in heavy drinking among over 55s ➡️ Minimum unit pricing ➡️ Access to treatment services https://t.co/Apu1aqAPRA
ias.org.uk
Alcohol deaths in England continue to rise, with the North East death rate overtaking Scotland's for the first time ever. Colin Angus looks at why this might be and which age groups are particularly...
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NEW: How baby boomers became the least healthy generation Until recently, bad habits were concentrated in the young. Now, people born in the 50s and 60s are drinking more than any other age group - and are driving up obesity rates too @thetimes 1/7
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New paper finds 1 in 8 adults (~7 million) in Great Britain in 2023 were finding it difficult to manage financially and 1 in 15 (~3.5m) had been in rent/mortgage arrears in the past yr. Odds of psychological distress were much higher among these groups. https://t.co/G2Z5jTM00E
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New research by @sheffielduni commissioned by PHS has found that minimum pricing policies for tobacco could help reduce smoking prevalence and improve health in Scotland, especially among disadvantaged groups where smoking related harms are highest. https://t.co/ubjHSAeODy
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Also, I'm not posting much here on this hellsite anymore. If you want more health policy/graph/cake/bird content, I'm over on the other channel.
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...we also find that it would increase tobacco industry profits. This could be at least partially recouped by government if the minimum price was introduced alongside an increase in tobacco duties. You can read the full report here: https://t.co/VDl52EosLO
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We've published a new report, commissioned by @P_H_S_Official, modelling the potential impact of a minimum price for tobacco in Scotland. We find that it would reduce smoking rates, save lives and narrow inequalities. But... https://t.co/uEijByYrQ5
sheffield.ac.uk
New research from the University of Sheffield has assessed the potential effectiveness of minimum pricing policies for tobacco that could help reduce smoking rates and improve health in Scotland.
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"The brew, which carries an abv of 5% in Europe, was relaunched in the UK by Asahi in 2020 at an abv of 4%. However, it has now been dialled down further to 3.4% to take advantage of new tax rules offering a discount on weaker brews." https://t.co/hJE9nWcfQh
thegrocer.co.uk
The move will save Asahi UK 23p in excise duty for every 440ml can of Grolsch sold
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*New paper* published in @ijdrugpolicy looking at trends in alcohol expenditure among risky drinkers in England 2014–2023. Led by @DrSarahEJackson with @MelissaOldham @VictimOfMaths @ClaireVGarnett @VoodooEcon @JHolmesSheff @jamiebrown10
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New paper documents changes in the amount adult risky drinkers spend on alcohol. ⬇️ around the start of the pandemic ⬆️ since restrictions were lifted and cost-of-living crisis led to high rates of inflation Pattern appears largely driven by changes in price paid per unit
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After adjusting for inflation, the prices of beer, wine and spirits have fallen during the cost-of-living crisis. Fruit and fish are the only other food and drink categories that haven't got more expensive in real terms since January 2021.
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And here's a (hopefully less broken) link to the paper: https://t.co/WP8fA6LdVl
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Huge credit to my @SARG_SCHARR colleague Damon Morris for leading this work, and all of our other colleagues who contributed their time and effort. If you think this sounds interesting, we've got a whole project to evaluate the alcohol duty reforms:
sarg-sheffield.ac.uk
Evaluating the impact of reforms to the UK alcohol tax system, increases to alcohol tax rates, and the current cost-of-living crisis on alcohol consumption, associated harms and health inequalities.
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There's also a nice commentary from @MarkRobinson_Oz and Jaithri Ananthapavan about the role that our modelling has played in alcohol policy debates. https://t.co/i6skxwNV1U
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...We find that this would have a substantial impact - averting almost 75,000 deaths over 20 years. This really highlights just how big the cost that we, as a society, pay for the exceptionalism that keeps cider taxes so much lower than all other alcohol...
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...(although the tax gap is so large that it would take 40 years of this before taxes on cider and other alcohol were equivalent). We also look at what would happen if we just closed the gap now - taxing all alcohol at the same rate within each strength band...
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...The biggest wrinkle in the new system (panel B below) is the continuing low tax on cider. We estimate that if we increased cider taxes by 2% above inflation each year we would save a further 8,257 lives over 20 years...
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...Our best estimate is that the reforms will reduce alcohol consumption by 0.3% and avert 2,300 deaths over 20 years. But we also look at further options to improve the new system from a public health perspective...
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We've got a cool new paper out today in @TheLancetPH modelling the impact of the reforms to alcohol taxes that happened in the UK last summer. We find that broadly the reforms are a step in the right direction, but only a small step... https://t.co/dzI8YyP3G2
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Some useful statistics on alcohol consumption and harm from Ireland here:
[New to the library] HRB alcohol statistics dashboard This dashboard provides up-to-date information by presenting data and evidence on alcohol-related health and social harms in Ireland across multiple themes https://t.co/D0Ha1HJLDu
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