From deep-fried Mars bars to neoliberal political attacks: explaining the Scottish mortality disadvantage

When I saw the title of this issue’s ‘editor’s choice’ paper, ‘Has Scotland always been the “sick man” of Europe?’,1 the first thing that came to my mind was the deep-fried Mars bar. Readers in other countries may be unaware of this rather bizarre aspect of Scottish culture, which consists of dumping Mars bars in hot oil and eating them as a snack. According to one survey held in 2004, a fifth of Scottish fish and chips shops sell them to customers, at the affordable price of around UK £0.60.2It is easy to imagine that dietary habits, and other aspects of lifestyle such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, explain part of the Scottish mortality disadvantage. Scotland has a lower life expectancy than other parts of the UK, and indeed than other Western European countries, and the higher prevalence of these behavioural …