According to a recent report by the insurer Aviva, the average couple in the UK are (depending upon where you live I guess), called David and Susan. However with variations on the name Mohammed frequently topping the new born boys names lists every year, I guess that the name David will soon be supplanted.
Anyway's, names aside, they seemingly live in a 3 bedroom 1930's semi-detached house, worth about £177,790, located somewhere in Surbiton ... well in the suburbs anyway, and most likely numbered, or if named called 'The Cottage'. They generally don't have en-suite bathrooms for their master bedrooms, but share with the rest of the house.
Their total worth (excluding their house, and their Ford Focus shared car, which they use to transport themselves and their 0.7 of a child - again, depending upon whether you are in an ethnic ghetto or not) .... in terms of worldly goods and chattels is £35,486, which ain't that much when you think on it. The bulk of that value being, a couple of big screen TV's, and sundry furniture or household appliances.
Apparently, their greatest wish is to replace their kitchen (which tells you much about either who wears the trousers, or at least who answers the pollsters), and there were other little suggests that tell us about modern Britain. The couple spend on average 8.1 waking hours in their nest during the working week but more at weekends, where 8% of them lounge about smoking.
What's strange about this, is how these real figures differ from the figures regularly reported by the press. For instance its reported regularly by ASH, that smokers make up 22% of men and 17% of women in the UK ... which doesn't really tally with the 8% figure in the Aviva survey. Similarly their average house values (based upon what they insured it to rebuild / replace), was £177,790, yet we are told that the average house in the UK now costs £272,000.
Now two things strike me, which is either that;
Maybe its about time that we should start treating London as another country, and have all 'National Statistics' based on results excluding London, and another set for London only. This way we can possibly set national policies that reflect what the majority of us experience, and another set of policies for London only.
London may be a world capital, but its a false capital for the rest of us in the UK.
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| The Average Joe and Jane ... USA |
Anyway's, names aside, they seemingly live in a 3 bedroom 1930's semi-detached house, worth about £177,790, located somewhere in Surbiton ... well in the suburbs anyway, and most likely numbered, or if named called 'The Cottage'. They generally don't have en-suite bathrooms for their master bedrooms, but share with the rest of the house.
Their total worth (excluding their house, and their Ford Focus shared car, which they use to transport themselves and their 0.7 of a child - again, depending upon whether you are in an ethnic ghetto or not) .... in terms of worldly goods and chattels is £35,486, which ain't that much when you think on it. The bulk of that value being, a couple of big screen TV's, and sundry furniture or household appliances.
Apparently, their greatest wish is to replace their kitchen (which tells you much about either who wears the trousers, or at least who answers the pollsters), and there were other little suggests that tell us about modern Britain. The couple spend on average 8.1 waking hours in their nest during the working week but more at weekends, where 8% of them lounge about smoking.
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| David and Susan ... well nearly |
What's strange about this, is how these real figures differ from the figures regularly reported by the press. For instance its reported regularly by ASH, that smokers make up 22% of men and 17% of women in the UK ... which doesn't really tally with the 8% figure in the Aviva survey. Similarly their average house values (based upon what they insured it to rebuild / replace), was £177,790, yet we are told that the average house in the UK now costs £272,000.
Now two things strike me, which is either that;
- Individual groups over report issues or facts, for reasons other than absolute accuracy, or
- London so distorts the figures, that when the survey is based upon a more balanced set of results, then the averages drop considerably.
Maybe its about time that we should start treating London as another country, and have all 'National Statistics' based on results excluding London, and another set for London only. This way we can possibly set national policies that reflect what the majority of us experience, and another set of policies for London only.
London may be a world capital, but its a false capital for the rest of us in the UK.
It's not surprising that two surveys differ so much; if they were repeated they probably wouldn't even agree with themselves.
ReplyDeleteGood choice of photo.
Still I think that the point that London skews the results of statistics in the UK is a valid one and something that impacts all the rest us.
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