Two years ago, a study led by the University of Washington's Christopher Murray also looked at county-level death rates.

WSJ: Study Points to Declining Life Span for Some U.S. Women

The amount of waste from households in Somerset has fallen to its lowest level since the 1980s, the county's waste and recycling service has said.

BBC: Landfill site, Dimmer, Castle Cary

Mark Ramprakash is one of the most successful batsmen at county level, and he knows what it's like to face South Africa in a Test match.

BBC: Breakfast with Frost

At county level, he enjoyed his greatest moment in 2001 when, after missing that summer's Ashes series because of injury, he helped Yorkshire win the Championship for the first time since 1968.

BBC: Ashes hero Vaughan calls it quits

But we are talking about devolving the management function, so that rather than people sitting in the Town Hall or the County Hall, you actually do devolve down to neighbourhood or parish level, and I think that's a positive thing.

BBC: Politics Show, Sunday 23 October 2005