Mav claimed that 25,000 people died in the UK last winter due to the extreme cold. Jackie countered that only 700 people died in the US from hypothermia each winter, and therefore, mav's stats must be in error. The problem is that mav's figures did not specify the proximate cause of death, merely that there were (approximately) 25,000 more deaths last winter than there were the winter before, a more normal winter. The assumtion is that they were due to the harshness of the winter. Jackie's figures were only from one particular cause of death, one that is predominantly occuring in winter, but not the only cause of severe winter deaths nor does hypothermia occur only in the winter. Heart attack while shoveling snow is just one example of other deaths that can be blamed on winter. If the severe winter brought with it greater amounts of snow and the number of heart attack deaths increased during the severe winter, then they too could be blamed on the severe winter.
I'll leave the subject of political truth to others more versed in the subject.
