Hello and welcome to Fridays Levy Letter. Its the end of another week, and I hope youve had a good one. Its been busy as usual in the Look North offices, and if you got in touch with your comments or stories, then thank you very much. Weve had some very big responses to our programmes this week, we look at them all, and keep them coming in. If you want to let us know about anything, or if you want to have your say on any of the stories we feature, you can email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keep sending in your interesting, unusual photographs as well, and you might just see it on the television before the weather forecast.
America A lot of people dream about visiting, or even living in America. Its a land of plenty, opportunity, and prosperity or is it? According to a new report compiled by several American charities, America is now ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy, despite spending more on health care per person than any country in the world. Life expectancy in the US is 78, which sounds quite healthy, but Japan tops the list with an average life span of 82.1, which is even healthier! According to the report, Americans relatively poor life expectancy is due to lack of health insurance and obesity. It is, of course, a huge country, and this was reflected in huge gaps between different places. People in last-ranked Mississippi are living 30 years behind those in first-ranked Connecticut in standards of living. Its surprising to hear such a rich and powerful country being criticised for its living standards. The US also has the highest percentage children living in poverty of any other developed nation, with 15%. Those are some surprising statistics for the richest country in the world, coming in at a not-too-impressive 42nd in terms of life expectancy. Older workers Now finally some good news for the more mature working person. According to new research, older employees are the happiest employees in the work place. Seven out of 10 workers aged over 50 said they felt fulfilled compared with half of 25 to 31-year-olds. And 97% of those working beyond 65 said they felt "enabled" in their work against 61% of 31 to 35-year-olds.People in their 30s were the most negative about work, apparently because of the pressures of starting a family. However, once workers got through the stresses of family life, many reported a new burst of happiness. The research also claims that people born since 1980 are more ambitious, expect to succeed quicker than ever before, and are going to face inevitable disillusionment in their careers. I wonder if you have any thoughts on this. I suppose as you get older, people often have more powerful positions in work due to their experience and achievements. Or maybe its nothing to do with work at all and we just get happier as we get older. Let me know what you think, but its some very interesting research. Well thats about it from me for today, and for this week. I hope you have a very good weekend if you have anything planned. Lets hope weve got some nice weather in store. Dont forget well have the weekend weather forecast on the programme tonight, along with all the days news and stories from our part of the world. If for some very good reason you have to miss an edition of Look North, you can now watch the programme on our Look North website at www.bbc.co.uk/looknorth. Youll be able to view the full bulletin, or some of our top stories individually, so theres no excuse for missing any of your local news, even if youre on holiday. And of course you can direct people to the web page to sign up for the Levy Letter. They can click on the link and sign up straight away for their free daily email. Have a very good day, take care, and bye for now. Peter Your email address will be held by the BBC and kept confidential, and will only be used in relation to this newsletter. You will be given the option to unsubscribe from this newsletter each time you receive it. Please visit the BBC's Privacy & Cookies Policy (www.bbc.co.uk/privacy) for more information And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
