Our survival is governed by the "force of mortality" - the wonderfully archaic expression for the chance of dying each year.

BBC: Will I live longer than my cat?

But as the UK has got safer and healthier, the force-of-mortality has been decreasing for decades, so that life expectancy has been rising at about three months a year - it's odd to think we have been essentially ageing only nine months for each year that passes.

BBC: Will I live longer than my cat?

According to recent press reports, the task force claims that for men older than 70, there would be no mortality effect of no early detection.

FORBES: Head-In-The-Sand Medicine: To Test Or Not To Test