The UK in charts

The UK has a new Prime Minister so many newspapers have been showing graphs of how the country has changed in the last 14 years.

What do these graphs tell us?

This graph shows / indicates that…

The X axis represents … time (in years)
The Y axis represents … sales / productivity / the value of the pound

Health

“As you can see from this graph, almost 7.6 million people in the UK are waiting for treatment. Waiting times have significantly increased so now some people are waiting for over 52 weeks for treatment”

In Japan do you know if some people have to wait a long time for treatment?

ambulances
cancer

Is there a way to stop people calling ambulances for non-emergencies?

Matsusaka in Mie began to charge 7,700 yen to call an ambulance at the start of 2024. If you have to stay in hospital, the charge is free because it was a real emergency.

Should other cities use this system?

In the UK there has been a lack of investment in the NHS so many hospitals are too old and doctors’ and nurses’ salaries haven’t kept up with inflation.

Is this also true in Japan?

What does this graph show?

Why do you think the US is lower than the other countries?

Researchers say factors include:

unhealthy diets
high rates of teen pregnancy
gun deaths
opioid addiction
opioids = addictive drugs (including painkillers)
violent crimes
car crashes

Are any of these growing issues in Japan?

People voted to leave the EU (Brexit) partly because they worried about immigration. After leaving the EU, immigration from other countries increased rapidly.

Before Brexit, most long-term migrants came from the EU. Now, the majority of immigrants come from outside Europe. Can you guess which countries?

1) India, 2) Nigeria, 3) China, 4) Pakistan and 5) Zimbabwe.

Actually, publicly many politicians said they didn’t want more immigrants but secretly the government wanted more people to come to the UK. Why?

The government wants more

international students, who pay high fees to study at British universities
workers to fill low-wage jobs in nursing homes, farms, truck drivers

The pound fluctuates against the US dollar but over time it has been steadily falling in value.

fluctuate (verb)= rise and fall

How has the weak yen affected Japanese companies? Has your company been affected?

Are there any benefits of having a weak yen?

big companies have produce goods overseas so when profits are sent back to Japan, those profits are higher
more foreign tourists are visiting the country

On average the cost of living would rise at about 2% a year but the combination of pandemic, Brexit and Ukraine war meant that the cost of living rose by 10% in 2022.

Japan and the UK set a 2% inflation target each year.

Do you feel the cost of living has been rising in Japan?
What goods have gone up the most that affects you?

In the 14 years that the Tories were in government, the minimum wage (for over 21s) has increased from £5.93 to £11.44 however due to cuts in benefits, people aren’t better off.