I don’t claim to know a lot about it. Men do commit suicide much more than women, including here. The problem seems to be getting them to talk about their problems. A problem group here is farmers who are even more isolated than other men. Federated Farmers has been doing an enormous amount of work in recent years to support farmers’ mental health, and it looks like the figures are showing an improvement in that area at least.

Yes, I saw the NZ stats. I think it is the NZ data that are a bit odd, note that the age group 15 to 25 only recently became the ‘top-group’ in NZ.
Some decades ago, the stats in the EU showed a small peak at puberty, and a large ‘hill’ for males, peaking at around 40 (IIRC).
Except for some Muslim countries and China, suicide rates are consistently higher for males than females. The opposite appears,to be true for failed attempt (though less data).
The US has not a particularly high suicide rate, but half of the suicides are carried out with guns (the other half mostly by poisoning/pesticides and suffocation/hanging)

Yeah, I was wrong about that. It shows just how fit and determined the Boks.

I haven’t watched it yet, but I saw the score live scoring. It looked like an exciting and nerve-wracking game. Close games are better, and this is a better indication of the rivalry. I agree that the Boks are the most likely team to beat the ABs on skill, and it will happen. The French are a bit of a bogey team for us though. They somehow get to the ABs mentally.

Your prediction about the last 20 minutes was not borne out though (note, I predicted the same). It really was a ‘sneaky’ (or clever) kind of try, that last one.

24-25,very close, in score as well as in actual play. It is clear that if there is going to be any team to beat the All Blacks, it is going to be the Bokke, something we started to doubt after that 57-0. I’m not convinced about the first try tough, my conclusion was ‘no control’, but the TV umpire decided differently, hence it is, that’s the game. A great game and a pleasure to watch.

I didn’t mean that sort of vets. I meant military vets. The civilian occupation that kills itself most is dentists.

In NZ it’s young men that kill themselves, not older ones. I think the US profile of older white men doing it is quite unusual.

You’re right about it being spontaneous. That’s why access to a gun is such a problem. It’s pretty easy to be successful with a gun, especially a hand gun. Even running a bath or hanging yourself are things that take a lot more preparation and are therefore less likely to be gone through with.

I find the suicide point a bit moot. Admittedly, suicide by gun is effective, but so is soft (or hard) hanging. How many suicides are just on impulse? I think guns might be instrumental there.
I thought it was common knowledge most suicides are committed by middle aged white males. Didn’t know about veterinarians though 🙂

I think it will be much closer too. The Boks will wan to prove themselves after last time. Also the score last time was not a fair reflection of the game – it was closer than 57-0 looks. They’re still a tough opposition. The ABs won’t be taking the game lightly. They’ll want to prove it wasn’t a fluke as well.

I think the ABs will still win though. My prediction: The Boks will hold the ABs scoreless for at least 20 minutes at the start, the middle 30-40 will be fairly even, but in the last 20 minutes the ABs will score at least twice.

Fully automatic weapons were made illegal by Reagan. At the same time conversion kits to make semis into autos were made illegal. Then bump stocks were invented, and they don’t actually convert the semi, they just make a semi fire like an auto by using the recoil to “bump” the trigger to fire again without having to pull the trigger again. So the legal ruling was that they were legal. That happened when Obama was president, and I’ve heard Fox saying it’s therefore the fault of Dems. But the GOP has had control since 2010. Nancy Pelosi, Dem minority leader, tried to get them made illegal but the Bill didn’t come up for a vote and that’s on Mitch McConnell.

Most citizens support a lot of of the regulations, but the NRA has enormous power. They can stop politicians getting elected, and that means they get listened to even though their opinion is the minority one in many cases.

Also, most gun killings are suicides and the US is very backward on mental health despite the everyone seeming to have an analyst of some kind. People don’t seem to care about suicide. Perhaps if they focused on the fact that most of the suicides are white men they might take notice, and vets are several times more likely to kill themselves too.