Coeliac Videos
This interesting set of videosfrom the Celiac Disease Centre in the USA is well worth watching.
The Celiac Disease Centerat Columbia University was established within the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in 2001 under the guidance of Peter Green, MD, one of a few recognised experts on coeliac disease in the United States.
The Center’s mission is to redefine the future of coeliac disease and treatment through continuing advances in patient care, research, education and patient advocacy.
This is the way that information from specialist centres will be distributed in the future.
How to Choose a Hotel
Choosing a hotel on the Internet is a bit of a minefield.
I use a two web site approach in parallel; Late Rooms and Trip Advisor.
- With Late Rooms you enter the town or city you want and then you choose the hotel according to star ratings, position and your other requirements. They also have quite a few B&Bs.
- You then check user reviews in Trip Advisor.
When you are happy, book the hotel with Late Rooms and usually you will get a good discount. I found two very good hotels this way; Terra Mia, a B&B in Naples and the Relais Piazza San Marco, a spaceous room-only hotel close to St. Mark’s Square in Venice.
Black Humour
I have just had a letter addressed to my late wife. I thought it was junk mail, but it was something to do with a system that she used to secure her credit cards.
It had the following on the envelope.
You’re only one step away from total peace of mind – Activate your benefits today!
They ought to be more careful what they put on envelopes.
National Panic Flu Service
I joked about this yesterday. But!
I also heard two stories on the radio.
In the first, a pathologist said that of the samples he’d tested for swine flu, only one in ten were actually the flu and that a lot were all of the various viruses that hang around at this time of year.
In the second, Peter Allen on Radio 5 asked Professor Hugh Pennington, the respected health expert, what he would do if he caught the dreaded swine flu. The Professor said he’d go to bed with paracetamol and a hot toddy. Peter Allen laughed at the good advice.
So are we panicing too much?
Yes! But what do I know.
I have my paracetamol and whisky ready. And the freezer is getting stocked up with home-made reday meals.
By the way, I’ve just noticed that http://www.panicflu.com and http://www.panicflu.co.uk are available.
One story that automatically linked to this post, was this one from the Washington Post. It is entitled, A Fierce Outbreak of Swine Flu Coverage.
Update – Jul 24, 2009 16:03 – If you type the title into Google this post is fourth! That’s not bad for five and a half hours.
Update – JUl 24, 2009 22:50 – Waitrose have run out of paracetamol. This post is now under the News in the Google search.
Celebrities
The case of Steven Gerrard is in all the newspapers at the moment. It raises a lot of issues, including the case of celebrities behaving properly.
After all, we’ve had a lot lately, who have got into trouble. Read something like Popbitch and you’ll get all the dirt on many who have overstepped the mark.
I go racing a lot, mainly at Newmarket. You see quite a few people there, who are in the news and they are rarely bothered and I’ve never seen anyone behaving less than impeccably. So perhaps, what happens occasionally and gets in the papers is just an aberration.
One tale I remember, is when we were flying to Greece I think and Susan Hampshire was on the plane. It must have been some time in the 1980s and the plane only had one class. She just said hello to everyone, signed a few autographs and just was extremely pleasant. We all left that plane, saying that she such a nice lady. I’ve had a soft spot for her ever since.
It must have been about 1973 or so, when I travelled to Middlesborough on a train. I had breakfast on the train and sat in a set of four seats in the dining car, with two gentlemen from Evans, who ran the shops for larger ladies, and their guest, Janet Webb. If you remember her from her closing the Morecambe and Wise Show, you will remember that she wasn’t a small lady. She entertained the whole carriage. What a trouper!
I also shared a similar four going to Liverpool on a train with two railway engineers and Virginia Wadeat about the same time. I think she was tired as she slept most of the way. Or was it that we talked about trains all the way up! If I remember, she got off at Crewe to take the train to the tournament at Hoylake. How lives have changed for tennis players since.
These are just three instances, where celebrities have enlightened the everyday lives of others. I could add more.
You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!
I followed a real Mini yesterday, with this classic line across the rear window. It made me smile.
It comes from The Italian Job.
Cambridge Guided Busway
It’s not long now before the Cambridge Guided Busway comes into operation. It will be the longest guided busway in the world and will have six services an hour between Huntingdon and Cambridge.
Cambridge Guided Busway
I took this picture where the busway goes under the A14. Note the track at the side, which will be a cycleway.
The cycleway will definitely be a success, but can that be said for the busway. After all, when it was planned, it was thought that there would be a lot more housing on the route to generate revenue, but the recession has put that into touch. So will it be a financial disaster.
But overall, I think that the busway is typical of lets-get-something-cheaper British thinking.
As an example, if you want to go to Manchester on a train from Cambridge, the route meanders through Ely and March, when the disused Huntingdon-Cambridge railway line used for the busway could have been reinstated to provide both short and long distance travel from and to Cambridge. One could argue, that this was one of the lines that should never have been removed in the first place.
I wish the busway well, but I have a feeling it could be a rather expensive and underused white elephant.
Is It Art?
There was a discussion as to whether some of the high-profile art in the UK recently, like Anthony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth, is actually art. Perhaps, it is, but perhaps it is not.
In the 1960s, the Engineering Department at Liverpool University bought a set of modern prints. Some wag put a beautifully typed and framed note beside one, which said “We would have liked to buy a painting by this artist, but unfortunately we could afford it. So he was gracious enough to sell us the rag on which he wiped his brushes.”
Seriously though, I went to the University recently to see the Stuart Sutcliffe retrospective. I don’t like modern art generally, but when it is good like some Warhol, I relate to it. Now, the Sutcliffe paintings showed a certain talent. I wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t died at 22.
Libel
I have been rather amused when yet another high-profile figure loses a libel case over something in a book, that I would consider trivial and ignore. I would hope I have better things to do than go to court over something like that.
What is interesting about this case, is that I have not heard or seen it being reported on the BBC. Are they frightened that they might get sued for repeating a libel? At least the case is fully reported in the Guardian and there is some wonderful reporting, which may be quite fanciful, scurrilous and made up, in the blogosphere.
Increasingly, as I read my papers and watch the television, I get the impression, that libel is used more and more, by the rich, famous and the powerful to stop adverse or unwelcome views being distributed. Now, I don’t mind if the law is used to protect privacy and keep the secrets that we all would prefer to keep secret, but when it comes to suing those who say Company X is an environmental disgrace, then I’m of the opinion that you turn the other cheek. In my opinion you look an idiot by suing, as you certainly make many more people aware of what was said, whether it is true or not.
My late wife did her first pupilage in libel chambers in Inner Temple. The tales she heard about what people were thinking of suing on were quite hilarious. Unfortunately, most never came to court, as the libel was in fact just an opinion and no-one would care anyway. But it was obviously a very nice earner for the barristers. Interestingly, she told me that regularly members of chambers would go down the road to Fleet Street to read the next day’s papers before printing.
One story, I’ve heard a couple of times, is of the abrasive city tycoon, who was frequently misrepresented in the press. He kept all his cuttings for the visitors to his office to see and actually liked the more outrageous ones. But he never sued. His attitude was right! I don’t think he suffered the Curse of Gnome either. This is a misfortune that occurs if you issue a writ against Private Eye.
So my late wife’s advice to anybody who is thinking about suing for libel was don’t. You’ll make it worse and you’ll only end up with a large bill from lawyers. Even if you win! I agree entirely.
Sometimes in this blog, I might offend someone. I intend not to, but then I might unintentionally. At a first instance, I’d remove the offending post, but then if I knew I was right, I’d fight. But then, I’d go to court as a litigant in person. That would really upset everybody and get maximum publicity.
Incidentally, I shall be buying Private Eye today, to see what they say about yesterday’s case. I probably wouldn’t if the case hadn’t occurred. It will be interesting to see if their sales are up!
The Anonymous Widower 