Illustration by Charlotte Trounce

The Health Foundation, an independent charity, recently published its report into healthy life expectancy (HLE). HLE is the average number of years a UK citizen can expect to spend in good health. Over the past decade it has fallen by around two years to just under 61 years. Comparison across 21 high-income countries is sobering: most saw gains in HLE. The UK slumped to 20th place, with only the US faring worse.

The decline in UK HLE is indicative of a condition we might call myopic policy sclerosis (MPS). MPS has become endemic in NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. Symptoms include a delusional belief that the prevention of disease depends on professionals and pills, and an overwhelming phobia of public health experts.

A good lens to examine the ravages of MPS is myocardial infarction (MI or heart attack), a major cause of death and disability. Two important risk factors for MI are hypertension (high blood pressure) and tobacco smoking.…