Don’t Have Your Operation On A Friday
This report on the BBC, about research by Paul Aylin at Imperial College, says that you are more likely to die, if you have your operation towards the end of the week.
Some years ago, my software Daisy, was used to examine the outcomes of surgery in a Regional Health Authority. They found, that the longer a patient was in hospital, the more likely there would be complications.
This data needs a lot more analysis.
Burning US Trees In UK Power Stations
This story talks about a crazy idea of cutting down trees in the US and burning them in UK power stations.
I haven’t seen the numbers, but it does strike me as an extremely wasteful process, with all of the transport across the Atlantic. We would be much better off, using the subsidies promoting the use of this fuel, in insulating buildings and replacing those, that can never be made energy efficient.
A Very Bad Meal!
Today, I had lunch with a friend. Perhaps, though to say I had lunch is a bit much, as although my friend had s0me very tasty-looking crab cakes, I had nothing to go with my glass of wine.
C and I used to eat in All Bar One about four or five times a year and although, what I ate was generally a bit plain, it filled a hole.
My friend and I tried one of their bars today and the recipe has been totally glutenised, with things like salsa everywhere. All I was offered was a plain burger or a plain gammon with egg. The chips are now covered in wheat to make them crisper, whereas six or seven years ago they were fine. Or at least, I never had a reaction!
Perhaps the waitress got it all wrong and there was something else I could have had, but I doubt I’ll be going to All Bar One again, except perhaps for a drink. After all with Pizza Express being very gluten-free-friendly, I won’t need to go to All Bar One again.
So I went home hungry and made myself a delicious sandwich.
Is This How To Deal With The EDL?
This story tells what happened when EDL protesters turned up at a mosque in York.
The mosque offered the protesters tea and biscuits, they all had a chat, and then everything ended peacefully.
Let’s hope this episode sets a precedent.
Sorting Out My Energy
Every so often, I check up to see if I’ve got the best energy deal. As some companies are now offering smart meters, I wondered if I could get one of these thrown in.
So I checked one of the comparison sites and found, that I could save four hundred or so a year, by swapping to nPower.
As my current supplier is nPower, I found that strange, as I thought, I was supposed to be on the lowest tariff, according to new government legislation.
So I phoned them up and got changed onto the new tariff. The only downside is that there is now a £60 cancellation fee!
I can’t help thinking, that all of this has a touch of professional theft about it.
I think the moral of this story, is that you should check your energy bills against the rest of the industry probably twice a year.
You might be surprised, as I was, that one short phone call, saves you a few hundred pounds.
I still haven’t got my smart meter though! But then the big companies are reluctant to bring those in, as it will both cost them money for the meter and because savvy customers will cut their energy use.
I Know How Kevin Phillips Feels
It is being reported that Kevin Phillips penalty kick in the Championship Play-Off Final was worth £120,000,000.
I know to a certain amount how he feels today.
I was part of the team that sold Metier Management Systems to Lockheed for a similar sum in 1985., although with inflation it’s probably worth a lot more today.
As we went about the pre-sales process, we realised we had good methods and software, but everything was rather boring. So I was asked if I could create a version of Artemis with style and charisma. I did nothing else for six weeks, except write software, eat and sleep occasionally, but the result was that we received a lot more money, than we had decided we would accept.
It was the software and business equivalent of Kevin Phillips’s spot kick.
I also have two other characteristics that I share with Kevin. We’re both about the same height of 1.70 metres and we both performed our most important feats at just under forty years of age. He also is a man from North Hertfordshire, whereas I was brought up in that part of London, that used to have a Barnet, Herts postal address.
A Case That Stinks From Florida
This case reported in the Miami Herald is rather bizarre. And as one of the lawyers involved says, it stinks. Here’s the first three paragraphs.
Ten years ago, killer Robert Burkell bludgeoned to death his 81-year-old tenant Charles Bertheas, cracking open his skull like an eggshell, according to police. The motive: money.
Today, Burkell is in prison for life. But his wife Susan, a Lauderhill resident who authorities say did not participate in the slaying but knew what was happening, is set to inherit more than $214,000 of the victim’s money.
Bertheas’ eight elderly brothers and sisters, who live in France, won’t see a dime: Charles Bertheas designated the Burkells as co-beneficiaries on his accounts at the Bank of America.
Google, Amazon, Starbucks Etc. And Tax
Google’s Eric Schmidt says he is perplexed in this article about the debate on his company’s tax status.
I’m not, as what these companies do is fraud.
Not necessarily on Corporation Tax, but with respect to VAT.
If say I go into John Lewis and buy say a television, I will pay VAT on the purchase. If I buy it from Amazon, I’ll probably pay some fiddled VAT rate, which will make it cheaper.
My belief is that by doing transfers like this, companies like Amazon are hurting genuine UK businesses. Andy Street of John Lewis is saying just that here.
So it should be that if you buy a television and it’s delivered in the UK, then the VAT rate should be 20%.
But Eric Schmidt is against this and is quoted in the BBC article.
The Google chairman has previously argued that corporate taxes should be paid on a company’s profits, not revenues, and should be levied in the country where it conducts economic activity and takes risks, rather than where products are consumed.
The trouble with Google, is there is no alternative, to some of the things they do.
On the other hand, I don’t use Amazon, Apple, Starbucks and quite a few other companies.
A A Gill On Harrods
When the boys were young, C and I used to occasionally take them for lunch on Saturdays in Harrods. It was enjoyable and we used to like to browse and sometimes we’d even buy something. For example, the Gieves and Hawkes jacket I’m wearing in this post, was bought nearly twenty years ago in the store. It’s still perfect, and has perhaps only been cleaned once, if that.
A A Gill in the Sunday Times describes the shop in some amazing words, of which the pick is probably this.
The shop is now as sophisticated as a Malibu enema.
He reserves his greatest prose for the reason for his visit; the Disney Cafe, giving it one star out of five for atmosphere and no stars for the food.
The article was well worth the price I paid for the newspaper.
Closing A Hospital Is A Hanging Offence
We have an awful lot of bad NHS hospitals in this country. My son was in one in Manchester that was terrible and should have been closed years ago. I also grew up in Southgate, where there was a ring of bad hospitals and from reports recently, one is not much better, fifty years later. But protestors still fight to keep it open.
Now we have the story of Julie Bailey and the backlash against her campaign against malpractice at Stafford Hospital. It looks like her cafe business is now going bust and I suspect lots of people will be pleased, when she leaves town.
For many years, I lived in the Suffolk countryside, miles from any hospital. But on the whole healthcare was good, as we were always taken to Addenbrookes at Cambridge, which is a large well-equipped hospital supported by a very good ambulance service.
There was a tremendous fuss, when Newmarket Hospital was downgraded, but a few years later, no-one felt the system was worse, than when it was a General Hospital.
Healthcare is moving on and more and more things are being done in the community, by GPs and even like in my INR testing, by patients themselves.
but those evil people in Stafford don’t seem to have seen this reality, hence the title of this post.
Interestingly, at Stafford in an unrelated piece in the Sunday Times, it is stated that recent data shows that those choosing Stafford Hospital has dropped by two-thirds.
The Anonymous Widower 