Everybody is living longer has been the cry for many years. Better healthcare, lifestyle and diet have all been contributory factors.
Some in the business and political sphere have used the statistic to justify the push for people to work longer and retire later.
The state retirement age now stands at 67, with proposals to push that age limit up to 70 - the same age, incidentally, that applied when pensions were first introduced in 1911.
Now, a report from the National Office of Statistics (ONS) has turned the analysis about living longer on its head.
The ONS has found that life expectancy is no longer increasing and in some areas of the country is in decline.
The statistics show that life expectancy remains at 82.9 years for women and 79.2 for men. It is the first time that the indices has not increased since 1982.
And life expectancy for men and women in Scotland and Wales has declined by a month, with a similar drop for men in Northern Ireland.
A number of academics and commentators claim that the austerity policies pursued over recent years, with cuts to health provision and social care, are helping reduce life expectancy. Bad diets and more sedentary lifestyles may also be contributory factors.
What this report does show is that people living longer is by no means an inevitability. So the time has certainly come to stop slashing people's pensions and extending the retirement age.
People are not all living longer, the prosperous and well off do continue to do so but as inequality continues to grow - often along geographic lines -so life expectancy reduces for many people.
It's certainly time for policy makers to take a serious look at inequality across the country, as well as the increasingly unhealthy lifestyles that some people pursue.
* published Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 4 & 6/10/2018
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