The Oldham Solution to Binge Drinking
Oldham has brought in fairly draconian proposals to stop binge drinking.
You have to queue “Post Office” style for your drinks, there seem to be masses of extra staff and even police paid for by the bars. Panorama is doing a program tonight. But one landlord feels he is being tarred with same brush and has successfully appealed against the council.
I am all for cutting down the binge drinking, but feel that if only Oldham does this, then those that just want to drink to oblivion will go elsewhere. This may put the problem into other towns and also cause problems on the roads and public transport.
I always remember in the 1960s, that Ipswich closed the pubs at 10:30 and Suffolk at 11:00, so there was always problems as drinkers finished in Ipswich and continued in Suffolk. When the two authorities brought things into line, everything was much calmer and there was a lot less drinking and driving.
We actually need a law, which says that alcohol must be sold at a minimum price per unit in every outlet. But even this needs to be applied very carefully, as otherwise alcohol will be bootlegged and organised crime will get involved. Perhaps, the value per unit would not be fixed in law, but applied so as to minimise illegal alcohol sales.
But we will only get a solution to the binge drinking problem, when people wake up to the fact that there are better things to do.
I also think of “Education, education, education!”
Where have I heard that before?
Will I be visiting Olham for a drink? I don’t think so, as it would appear that the town is not to my liking. I’ve also checked the guides and there isn’t a decent restaurant in the place! And I suspect no-one has heard of gluten! After all, if you can’t drink beer, you can’t be a real man!
Female Fertility and Coeliac Disease
BBC Breakfast this morning is carrying a report saying that all women at thirty should have a fertility test. I sent them this e-mail.
I am a coeliac, which means I have low B12 and folate levels unless I’m on a gluten-free diet. In a man this does not matter with regards fertility, but with some women undiagnosed low B12 levels means that they don’t conceive or carry to full term. I know personally of three women diagnosed at coeliacs in their earlier thirties, who cut out gluten and then very easily had the children they wanted.
I doubt they’ll read it out.
But if I trace my family back a couple of generations to where I think I’ve enherited my coeliac gene, I can’t find any woman who has given birth. Was that due to low B12, due to that gene.
Urine Cures Athlete’s Foot
As I drove back from Dover last night, someone brought this up on Radio 5.
It might be even be true! But I suspect, it’s one you don’t try at home!
I think though that late night radio is sometimes very weird. But then how many listeners at that time are both sane and fully awake?
There’s Always Hope
I just had to post a link to this heartwarming tale.
A professional footballer, Robert Hughes, was left paralysed after an attack in Crete in June 2008. It was felt he was unlikely to walk again and he had no recollection of the last ten years. But now, he is playing football again and has just signed a contract with Welling United.
Well done to all concerned. And of course best wishes to Robert and his friends and family.
The Corby Scandal
The word scandal is rather mild for the issues surrounding the cleaning up of the steelworks in Corby.
With echoes of Thalidomide and the toxin problems in California exposed by Erin Brockovich, the Borough Council has fought every inch of the way and they have now lost a battle in the Court of Appeal. Incidentally, the News page on the Corby web site is blank. Could this be because they are still in denial over their role in the scandal.
I’ll now put my statistical hat on.
The geographic cluster of the birth defects would appear to be obvious. So why did the council try and find what the problem is, rather than bring up a whole battery of legal defences?
If I lived in the town, I’d make sure that all the councillors responsible would be voted out.
I’ve also worked on chemical works for a company, ICI, that cared a lot about health and safety. From what I’ve read, the precautions taken as the works was dismantled were not of the highest standard. Why? And have the workers suffered any ill effects?
I suspect that we will hear a lot more in all sorts of directions about this scandal.
Organic Food?
There has been a report that says that organic food is no better than non-organic. I probably agree, but then I use it in most of my cooking.
So why?
Take my chilli con carne, that I cooked last night. I use lean organic beef as that is better for me because of its leanness. I also feel strongly that animals should be kept well and that some sort of mark like Organic, means that higher levels of husbandry are used. In fact, I think that near-organic beef is better, as farmers who grow quality beef say that the organic rules are not always to the animals best health and make the product too expensive.
Anyway, the chilli con carne was great!
Is Publishing Statistics a Good Idea?
Statistics published today about heart operations show a very strong increase in success. This is despite warnings from the medical profession, that publishing statistics on success rates, would lead to conservative procedures.
This is a real result for openness.
I believe strongly that publishing information responsibly is always for the better. I think too that politicians are finally getting round to this belief, with David Cameron wanting all government and political expenses to be published on the Internet. He’s right, but he doesn’t go far enough.
What would I do?
The Health and Safety Executive has set a small precedent by publishing reasonably detailed lists of fatal incidents on their web site. But they don’t go far enough and the data is not published in a form that can easily be downloaded from the web site. This would enable analyses to be made to see if there are ways of increasing safety.
Obviously, databases of this type should be desensitised before they are put on line. For instance, I might be described as male, white, between 55 and 65 and living in St. Edmundsbury.
But suppose the following databases were available on-line and in a form such as Excel that was easily downloaded.
- Births by sex, post code, multiple birth etc.
- Deaths by sex, age, cause, smoker etc.
- Serious road accident by vehicle involved, post code, road type etc.
- Crime by type, post code, victim, clear up, sentence etc.
- Prisoner by sex, offence, age, prison etc.
- Illegal immigrant by country, sex etc.
This would remove much of the speculation beloved of the tabloid newspapers, who publish a statistic that proves their bigoted point of view.
The government and industry might like to try to keep hold of this data. They will cite confidentiality, security and other spurious reasons. However, as precedents are set, it will be extremely difficult to keep things confidential.
We will all benefit through access to these databases.
Have I Got Flu?
I don’t think so, but I’ve got a dry throat this morning, I’m a bit bunged up and I’ve got a slight cough.
Trinny Relaunches Herself
Trinny Woodall relaunches herself more than the space shuttle.
I first came across Trinny and her business partner, Susannah Constantine, at a presentation given by First Tuesday at the height of the Dot Com boom. They were launching a website for women and like many others launched at the time, I think it failed. Interestingly, I liked the idea and in common with others at the time, did they launch before the punters were ready for it?
Few sites have survived from those heady days, and most of the ones that have, have either have backers with deep pockets or no backers at all. It probably says that if you want a successful business, make sure you have control of the finances.
Perhaps, her latest relaunch is the most spectacular, as she has turned the clock back with her body.
There is a lot of truth in the old motto.
If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try, try again.
Or perhaps in Trinny’s case.
If you’ve succeeded once, you can always do it again.
I wish her the best of luck.
Especially, as at the age of nearly 62, I’m trying to get really fit. But perhaps more importantly, I’m creating a whole new suite of software, which is the successor to all of the stuff I wrote in the 1970s.
It’s hard, but it’s fun!
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.
The Anonymous Widower 