It would be easy to get the distinct impression that the health of Britons in the 21st century was on a dangerous downward spiral. We’re fatter than ever, drink more than is good for us and take only a fraction of the exercise that our parents and grandparents did. The list of risk factors for contracting cancer seems to lengthen by the day – although the alleged “triggers” for the disease sometimes change – while the over-prescribing of antibiotics and a rise in hospital acquired illness means deadly infections, once thought virtually eradicated, are making an alarming comeback.

Read or hear about that little lot – as it is perfectly possible to do over the course of a week’s perusal of the national news – and you would be forgiven for thinking life in the western world is likely to come to a premature end for millions of us. Thankfully, however, that is not the case. All of the above, from our expanding waistlines to the threat from super bugs, may be true but, in spite of it all, we are generally living longer, healthier lives. Further proof of this comes today with the news that deaths from heart attacks across the South West have fallen by more than half, helped by state of the art treatment in NHS hospitals and faster response times from emergency responders when trouble strikes. The statistics are welcome, not only because they point to a big improvement in reducing deaths from the single biggest cause of premature death in the western world but also because they help us all to put into context the true state of the nation’s well being.

The media – and the Western Morning News cannot be excluded from this criticism, we freely admit – has a fascination with bad news when it relates to health. While incremental improvements in longevity, better treatments for common illnesses and other positive developments get scant attention, warnings, scare stories and bad news get top billing. It is human nature to revel in the negative, we suppose. But it is good to remind ourselves, once in a while, that in truth so far as our health is concerned, things have got a whole lot better in recent years. Thanks are due to the medical practitioners who have helped to make it happen. Long may it continue.

The war of words over sovereignty of the Falklands intensified yesterday with the Argentinean President reporting Britain to the United Nations for “militarising” the dispute. The complaint – and the decision to take it to the UN – smacks of the school playground. If it weren’t so serious it would be comical.

Yet there is clearly method in the Argentinean action. Argentina desperately wants to characterise its claim on the Falklands as “a dispute” because that implies there is something to negotiate. In truth, there is not. Thirty years ago 255 British servicemen, several from the Westcountry, lost their lives re-gaining the Falklands for Britain. British they must stay.