That we might not agree with The Guardian often enough is obvious. But an actual descent into stupidity at that august institution does none of us any good. And yet we seem to have evidence that it is happening. Commenting upon the variance of female lifespan in England:

Life expectancy for women in the poorest parts of England is less than the overall life expectancy for women in every OECD country in the world besides Mexico. Let that sink in for a second. Lower than every other country in that club, bar one.

The first level of stupidity is to be taken in by the original research. Comparing the within England variance to the average of other countries doesn’t work as a logical exercise. Perfectly fine to compare national averages with national averages, equally to compare variance within nations with variance within nations.

But, for example - and this is just the result of 2 minutes with our friend, Mr. Google - the variance within Norway looks pretty similar:

There is up to 10-12 years difference between men who live in the municipalities with the highest and lowest life expectancy. For women, there is 8-10 years difference.

The variance within just Alabama looks pretty similar. Variance in lifespans among women of about a decade across local geographies looks pretty normal in fact. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, perhaps it’s a crime calling to the very heavens for vengeance but something where England is unique? Nope, not in the slightest.

But there’s more stupidity here. Gross and abject:

Women who speak out about gender inequality are often dismissed, especially in England. After all, women here are lucky – we are much better off than in other countries. Aren’t we?

The short answer is, only some of us. Devastating new data analysis from the Health Foundation has revealed – on the starkest measure – that for many women in England, that is far from being the case.

Eh? inequality within the gender is now to be taken as inequality against that gender? This is not some mistyping at The Guardian, they repeat it in another piece on the same subject:

Ministers have repeatedly promised to tackle decades of gender inequality and pledged to “reset the dial” on women’s health as part of their levelling-up agenda.

But experts say the findings show the government has a “mountain to climb”, with a “fundamental shift” in policy urgently needed to enable women to enjoy longer, healthier lives.

That’s from the Health Editor who we might expect to have at least a basic grasp of such matters.

Firstly, male life expectancy varies over those local geographies by just as much - so it’s not a gender related issue. Secondly, of course, there is this:

Life expectancy at birth in the UK in 2018 to 2020 was 79.0 years for males and 82.9 years for females

That women live longer than men is being used as evidence of the monstrous effects that gender inequality has upon women?

So what do we do when a national institution descends into gibbering senescence? What can we do?

In fact, should we even bother?