I was able to get out & about much more than I expected during the recent contretemps after I realised that it is very easy to move around in Stockport by bus: down to the end of the shopping centre for Borders, Asda or Sainsburys, up the hill to the library
I may probably never have thought of this if it were not for the bus pass. This is not just miserliness on my part. As a long term user of buses even when I had to pay I know that any short journey in town is almost always quicker on foot, & anyway I like walking. Stockport is just the right size of town for walking around, in normal circumstances
I felt a (very slight) twinge of guilt that some of this comfort was financed by the good council tax payers of Stockport. But then I remember that my council tax helps finance their days out in the country
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP
Lexus & Amber Conway are identical twins who are less than 2 weeks old
They were born 65 minutes apart
But Amber’s date of birth is 31st August; for Lexus it is 1st September
The midwives alerted the parents to the fact that the twins are therefore born a year apart, in school terms
The parents asked the doctors to ‘fudge’ the paperwork; they could not
It is intriguing that midwives are so alert to this ‘problem.’ Perhaps they just want to take their own holidays in August
Or is there just no flexibility in state education in these days of SATS & league tables?
I hope somebody will be allowed to use their common sense as the girls progress through the system or the problem will presumably recur at 7, 11, 14, 16 and 18
They were born 65 minutes apart
But Amber’s date of birth is 31st August; for Lexus it is 1st September
The midwives alerted the parents to the fact that the twins are therefore born a year apart, in school terms
The parents asked the doctors to ‘fudge’ the paperwork; they could not
It is intriguing that midwives are so alert to this ‘problem.’ Perhaps they just want to take their own holidays in August
Or is there just no flexibility in state education in these days of SATS & league tables?
I hope somebody will be allowed to use their common sense as the girls progress through the system or the problem will presumably recur at 7, 11, 14, 16 and 18
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Double duchess
Talking of political hostesses I should really like to see a modern biography of one of Georgiana’s successors - the wife of the 8th Duke of Devonshire
Countess Louise Friederike Auguste von Alten was born in 1832 in Hanover. A great beauty & wit, she married the Duke of Manchester & cut a swathe through English political society
I first came across her through a volume of her correspondence with Lord Clarendon, the great Liberal Foreign Secretary, with whom she had a close & gossipy relationship, though she was a convinced Tory
I came across her again in The Diaries of Lady Frederick Cavendish, though I did not realise it because her connection with the family was never mentioned
Lord & Lady Frederick were unable to have children. Their sadness was added to, in some small way, because any son of theirs would have been heir presumptive to the dukedom of Devonshire since Lord Frederick’s brother Spencer, the eldest son, showed no sign of marrying & settling down
Reading this at the turn of the 21st century I leaped to the obvious, but erroneous, conclusion of our age
Imagine my surprise therefore when one day, in the quietness of the library, I was checking for an obituary in The Illustrated London News for 1892 which also carried a major splash about the marriage of the Duchess of Manchester to the Duke of Devonshire. She had been widowed for just on 2 years, & Spencer had inherited the title just one year earlier
Although their long devoted liaison had been common knowledge, (hence Lady Frederick’s certainty that her brother-in-law would never produce an heir), there was no adverse press comment on their marriage except for the fact that neither had told family in advance. They simply slipped out one morning & got married in Hanover Square
Countess Louise Friederike Auguste von Alten was born in 1832 in Hanover. A great beauty & wit, she married the Duke of Manchester & cut a swathe through English political society
I first came across her through a volume of her correspondence with Lord Clarendon, the great Liberal Foreign Secretary, with whom she had a close & gossipy relationship, though she was a convinced Tory
I came across her again in The Diaries of Lady Frederick Cavendish, though I did not realise it because her connection with the family was never mentioned
Lord & Lady Frederick were unable to have children. Their sadness was added to, in some small way, because any son of theirs would have been heir presumptive to the dukedom of Devonshire since Lord Frederick’s brother Spencer, the eldest son, showed no sign of marrying & settling down
Reading this at the turn of the 21st century I leaped to the obvious, but erroneous, conclusion of our age
Imagine my surprise therefore when one day, in the quietness of the library, I was checking for an obituary in The Illustrated London News for 1892 which also carried a major splash about the marriage of the Duchess of Manchester to the Duke of Devonshire. She had been widowed for just on 2 years, & Spencer had inherited the title just one year earlier
Although their long devoted liaison had been common knowledge, (hence Lady Frederick’s certainty that her brother-in-law would never produce an heir), there was no adverse press comment on their marriage except for the fact that neither had told family in advance. They simply slipped out one morning & got married in Hanover Square
Related post: Lady Frederick Cavendish
Hero
I retain what may be a childish love of stories of heroism
So let’s hear it for Sergeant Mark Baxter of the RAF who rescued his 3 year old daughter Leona from the swollen River Wear into which she had been swept over 70 yards underground through a flooded storm drain
It is not just that he plunged in to the river, he had the nous & presence of mind to work out where to look for her & what to do to get all the water out of her while standing in the river unable to climb out because his wellies were full of water
But why on earth was a 6½ foot wide storm drain, near to a childrens play area, left uncovered? Had thieves been after the metal for scrap, thus making Leona indirectly a victim of the current global economic situation?
So let’s hear it for Sergeant Mark Baxter of the RAF who rescued his 3 year old daughter Leona from the swollen River Wear into which she had been swept over 70 yards underground through a flooded storm drain
It is not just that he plunged in to the river, he had the nous & presence of mind to work out where to look for her & what to do to get all the water out of her while standing in the river unable to climb out because his wellies were full of water
But why on earth was a 6½ foot wide storm drain, near to a childrens play area, left uncovered? Had thieves been after the metal for scrap, thus making Leona indirectly a victim of the current global economic situation?
Sick as a parrot
Fry’s English Delight on Radio 4 this week gave an origin for the phrase sick as a parrot. I have already forgotten what it was – something to do with Tottenham Hotspur & Arsenal I think
However it did remind me of one of those niggling questions to which I should l like to know the answer
It must have been in the late 1970s. I was reading a summary of items in the European media about environmental pollution. One was about an incident in a small town in Germany involving a leakage of something a bit nasty. A nearby resident was interviewed & quoted as saying I felt as sick as a parrot
The summary was a translation, I did not have the original & my German is nonexistent anyway. But I still wonder whether the phrase could possibly have German origin, or if the translator was just using a bit of colloquial licence, or if it was just an example of the universal language of football
However it did remind me of one of those niggling questions to which I should l like to know the answer
It must have been in the late 1970s. I was reading a summary of items in the European media about environmental pollution. One was about an incident in a small town in Germany involving a leakage of something a bit nasty. A nearby resident was interviewed & quoted as saying I felt as sick as a parrot
The summary was a translation, I did not have the original & my German is nonexistent anyway. But I still wonder whether the phrase could possibly have German origin, or if the translator was just using a bit of colloquial licence, or if it was just an example of the universal language of football
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Parallel universes
We do not need the Large Hadron Collider to prove whether or not there are parallel universes
Sarah Palin & Hilary Clinton have done the job all by themselves
Political society
One critic did not like the film about Georgiana because it does not do enough to show the important role of women as political hostesses in that age
The role of the political hostess remained important throughout the 19th century, & not just in the great houses of Westminster & Mayfair; played well, it gave a woman a great deal of influence
As ever, one gets some of the most intriguing insights from the works of the less famous, who perhaps have the advantage of being more observer than participant in high politics
One such was the 1st Earl Midleton who wrote his memoirs, Records & Reflections, in 1939:
Until the 1880s leading hostesses entertained political supporters on Wednesday & Saturday evenings at much-sought-after dinner-parties, & the ministry did not live in a ring-fence. I had seen so many budding difficulties checked in this way
The motor car changed political society:
The greater latitude of life has many advantages. Anyone who is bored in London can arrange his weekend a few hours in advance by telephone, & arrive by motor without troubling his host for conveyance. 50 years ago there were no such facilities & no one, unless a recluse by nature, would have cut himself off from all contact with the world outside politics by refusing a formal invitation 6 weeks ahead, & condemning himself to a horrid Sunday in London
But then:
Because of Ireland & Home Rule, for a long period after 1885 leaders of the Liberal Party were not welcomed at social gatherings in Conservative houses
You get the feeling that political socialising has never really been the same since. Of course life has changed completely, MPs are no longer drawn from the same narrow social group, &, not least, the role of women has changed
There may be all sorts of cross party groupings in the House of Commons & many good personal friendships, but somehow you cannot imagine Alistair Darling greeting George Osborne enthusiastically at some grand evening party
There seem to be some who object to even reading what the other side has to say for itself
This is madness, for the first rule of any battle is: Know thine enemy
The Bush years have accelerated another trend in Washington – the increasing polarisation of the city’s social life along partisan lines. Social contact between the two parties – a powerful political lubricant – has been reduced dramatically - Martin Fletcher Times 5/11/08
The role of the political hostess remained important throughout the 19th century, & not just in the great houses of Westminster & Mayfair; played well, it gave a woman a great deal of influence
As ever, one gets some of the most intriguing insights from the works of the less famous, who perhaps have the advantage of being more observer than participant in high politics
One such was the 1st Earl Midleton who wrote his memoirs, Records & Reflections, in 1939:
Until the 1880s leading hostesses entertained political supporters on Wednesday & Saturday evenings at much-sought-after dinner-parties, & the ministry did not live in a ring-fence. I had seen so many budding difficulties checked in this way
The motor car changed political society:
The greater latitude of life has many advantages. Anyone who is bored in London can arrange his weekend a few hours in advance by telephone, & arrive by motor without troubling his host for conveyance. 50 years ago there were no such facilities & no one, unless a recluse by nature, would have cut himself off from all contact with the world outside politics by refusing a formal invitation 6 weeks ahead, & condemning himself to a horrid Sunday in London
But then:
Because of Ireland & Home Rule, for a long period after 1885 leaders of the Liberal Party were not welcomed at social gatherings in Conservative houses
You get the feeling that political socialising has never really been the same since. Of course life has changed completely, MPs are no longer drawn from the same narrow social group, &, not least, the role of women has changed
There may be all sorts of cross party groupings in the House of Commons & many good personal friendships, but somehow you cannot imagine Alistair Darling greeting George Osborne enthusiastically at some grand evening party
There seem to be some who object to even reading what the other side has to say for itself
This is madness, for the first rule of any battle is: Know thine enemy
Link
Cross-party social whirl evokes life a century ago
The Bush years have accelerated another trend in Washington – the increasing polarisation of the city’s social life along partisan lines. Social contact between the two parties – a powerful political lubricant – has been reduced dramatically - Martin Fletcher Times 5/11/08
Orissa Christians
Another great photograph form The Times (Bishwaranjan/AP)
I hope it is not insulting to the photographer (or to photography) to say that it could be a painting
You imagine you can see the brush strokes of an Old Master in its composition & subject
Or a modern abstract in its rectangular blocks of colour
And like so many great paintings, it tells of tragedy. In this case, religious conflict in Orissa
Monday, September 08, 2008
Team sports
Much discussion about school sports again: not enough/too much. Inculcates the habit of life-long exercise/just puts people off for life. Competition good/bad for children
Although I am definitely not a sporty person & going to the gym is my idea of hell, I look back to school sports & PE with a fair degree of affection
We had 2 sessions (30 or 40 minutes) in the gym plus one afternoon of outdoor sport each week. One of the gym sessions was given over to dancing – either ballroom, Scottish or English country.
I loathed the winter games of hockey with a passion. But summer term – athletics or tennis – were enjoyable enough
We still had a house system at school. This seems to me like a pretty good way of letting children mix with those outside their own year group, valuable even in what was by today’s standards an unfeasibly small school, & still more reassuring for children in today’s monster institutions
We had all sorts of house competitions – music, drama etc. But the way it operated for Sports Day seems to me to be a good model even for today
We had a system called standards – a bit like Olympic qualifying but less onerous. They were not so easy that even the worst duffer could pass the standard in everything, but those who could not run might have a chance at the long jump or throwing the discus.
The top 2 in each discipline represented the house on Sports Day, but if you passed the standard you earned a point for your house, & so everybody could make some contribution to the overall result
Although I am definitely not a sporty person & going to the gym is my idea of hell, I look back to school sports & PE with a fair degree of affection
We had 2 sessions (30 or 40 minutes) in the gym plus one afternoon of outdoor sport each week. One of the gym sessions was given over to dancing – either ballroom, Scottish or English country.
I loathed the winter games of hockey with a passion. But summer term – athletics or tennis – were enjoyable enough
We still had a house system at school. This seems to me like a pretty good way of letting children mix with those outside their own year group, valuable even in what was by today’s standards an unfeasibly small school, & still more reassuring for children in today’s monster institutions
We had all sorts of house competitions – music, drama etc. But the way it operated for Sports Day seems to me to be a good model even for today
We had a system called standards – a bit like Olympic qualifying but less onerous. They were not so easy that even the worst duffer could pass the standard in everything, but those who could not run might have a chance at the long jump or throwing the discus.
The top 2 in each discipline represented the house on Sports Day, but if you passed the standard you earned a point for your house, & so everybody could make some contribution to the overall result
Boys games
It was, I suppose, inevitable that some should make comparisons between Palin & Thatcher. Both after all came to their position somewhat unexpectedly, & both are seen as heroines of the right
The comparison pretty much ends there, though it is interesting to see how a new generation of liberal or leftish women cope with their feelings of wanting to support, in some sense, someone whose politics they do not share, just because she is a woman
Mrs Thatcher was however anything but an instant heroine. The main reactions, as I remember them, were an unpleasant mixture of sexism & snobbishness, combined with a sense that by calling others bluff she had won election as leader of the Conservatives in a way that was somehow not quite cricket. And that was just from those in her own party
It was not until after the Falklands that she achieved her heroine status – until then it was widely believed that the Conservatives could not possibly win the next election
When Parliament was recalled to sit on a Saturday morning to discuss the reaction to the invasion of South Georgia Enoch Powell said (I quote from memory)
The Prime Minister relishes the sobriquet of the Iron Lady
But I warn her that
By her actions on this day
We shall know
Of what metal she is wrought
I can still feel myself, in the middle of ironing, standing transfixed with a shiver down my spine
And I have often wondered since if Mrs Thatcher was, in one sense, forced to go to war to prove that she was not just a weak & feeble woman, & if President Regan’s somewhat indulgent reaction was not also prompted by thoughts of letting the little woman join in & see what it was like to play with the big boys
The comparison pretty much ends there, though it is interesting to see how a new generation of liberal or leftish women cope with their feelings of wanting to support, in some sense, someone whose politics they do not share, just because she is a woman
Mrs Thatcher was however anything but an instant heroine. The main reactions, as I remember them, were an unpleasant mixture of sexism & snobbishness, combined with a sense that by calling others bluff she had won election as leader of the Conservatives in a way that was somehow not quite cricket. And that was just from those in her own party
It was not until after the Falklands that she achieved her heroine status – until then it was widely believed that the Conservatives could not possibly win the next election
When Parliament was recalled to sit on a Saturday morning to discuss the reaction to the invasion of South Georgia Enoch Powell said (I quote from memory)
The Prime Minister relishes the sobriquet of the Iron Lady
But I warn her that
By her actions on this day
We shall know
Of what metal she is wrought
I can still feel myself, in the middle of ironing, standing transfixed with a shiver down my spine
And I have often wondered since if Mrs Thatcher was, in one sense, forced to go to war to prove that she was not just a weak & feeble woman, & if President Regan’s somewhat indulgent reaction was not also prompted by thoughts of letting the little woman join in & see what it was like to play with the big boys
Related post: The most important man in C20th British politics
Before science
I remain cautious about cooking cassava, because I am never certain that I can recognise the difference between the sweet & bitter kind. The bitter one contains prussic acid, & is thus poisonous. Unless, as the Amerindians discovered, it is thoroughly boiled for about an hour. I wonder who was the first volunteer for this experiment?
I might be less fearful of the vegetable in my inexpert hands, now I know of an antidote
BITTER CASSAVA: The aqueous part is expressed … By the inattention of the Slaves, this juice, when expressed, is frequently drank by the sheep, hogs & poultry, on the Plantations, which ever proves fatal to them: yet the animals thus poisoned, are always eaten by the inhabitants
… The best antidotes that have hitherto been discovered against the poisonous effects of the cassava in its crude state are red pepper & rum, taken immediately
I might be less fearful of the vegetable in my inexpert hands, now I know of an antidote
BITTER CASSAVA: The aqueous part is expressed … By the inattention of the Slaves, this juice, when expressed, is frequently drank by the sheep, hogs & poultry, on the Plantations, which ever proves fatal to them: yet the animals thus poisoned, are always eaten by the inhabitants
… The best antidotes that have hitherto been discovered against the poisonous effects of the cassava in its crude state are red pepper & rum, taken immediately
Believe what you want (2)
"With the smoking ban yielding 400,000 ex-smokers since it came into force a year ago …." Hilly Janes, editor, Times Body & Soul, 6 September 2008, p2
Since the ban (from July 1, 2007), more than 200,000 smokers have kicked the habit …. Sir Liam Donaldson’s claim to fame, Times Body & Soul, 6 September 2008, p6
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Where have all the men/women gone?
Contradictory stories coming out of Australia recently
One part trying to encourage ugly women to move in to town because of a surplus of lonely men
Another part of the country suffering from a man drought, as all eligible men flee to more exciting climes
Actually the population figures look quite ordinary. 105 boys born for every 100 girls. Men retain their majority until retirement age, when lonely widows predominate
Result – a slight majority for women as a whole
As is the case for pretty much every country in the world, except India & China
Still, that’s not news, is it
One part trying to encourage ugly women to move in to town because of a surplus of lonely men
Another part of the country suffering from a man drought, as all eligible men flee to more exciting climes
Actually the population figures look quite ordinary. 105 boys born for every 100 girls. Men retain their majority until retirement age, when lonely widows predominate
Result – a slight majority for women as a whole
As is the case for pretty much every country in the world, except India & China
Still, that’s not news, is it
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Heavenly music
“Jacques Brel does something to peoples souls. That sounds almost religious!”
So said Alastair Campbell, who does not ‘do’ God, on Radio 4 this Saturday morning
So said Alastair Campbell, who does not ‘do’ God, on Radio 4 this Saturday morning
Our number
I love this poem because it is good, so poignant it squeezes the heart
It reminds me of long ago evenings, sitting on the sea wall watching the shrimp boats setting out on their nightly trawl, under an arching sky. Why does the southern sky seem so much higher, the stars so much further away?
And then it also reminds me of Eric Cantona’s stirring denunciation of the scavengers of the press
The pins of the slack pin seine
irregular the horizon; the tide
has gone them bare. A most disturbed
seagull proportions a catch. The fisherman’s
wife, another seagull, leans on the sky
counting shrimp.
Surrendering ourselves
we denizen an epoch of abuse
trying to defy with the seagull’s
or seawife’s similar desperation
the tide that naked skins us.
Shrimp is our number. Is so
we stay. Is a way
of counting born we.
Martin Carter
It reminds me of long ago evenings, sitting on the sea wall watching the shrimp boats setting out on their nightly trawl, under an arching sky. Why does the southern sky seem so much higher, the stars so much further away?
And then it also reminds me of Eric Cantona’s stirring denunciation of the scavengers of the press
The pins of the slack pin seine
irregular the horizon; the tide
has gone them bare. A most disturbed
seagull proportions a catch. The fisherman’s
wife, another seagull, leans on the sky
counting shrimp.
Surrendering ourselves
we denizen an epoch of abuse
trying to defy with the seagull’s
or seawife’s similar desperation
the tide that naked skins us.
Shrimp is our number. Is so
we stay. Is a way
of counting born we.
Martin Carter
Friday, September 05, 2008
Quetelet would be interested
Danish investigators have found they can estimate your date of birth with a high degree of accuracy by subjecting protein from the lens of your eye to radio carbon dating
The transparent proteins, crystallins, remain essentially unchanged for the rest of our lives. Thus they provide a record of the environment we spent our first days in – including the type of radiation
1945-1960 nuclear bomb tests meant the quantity of C-14 in the atmosphere doubled. Since 1960 it has slowly decreased to natural levels
The fallout got into the food chain & into our crystallins. These proteins reflect the content of C-14 present in the atmosphere at the time of their creation, shortly after birth.
So there is no point lying about your age – at least if you were born during the years of variation
The transparent proteins, crystallins, remain essentially unchanged for the rest of our lives. Thus they provide a record of the environment we spent our first days in – including the type of radiation
1945-1960 nuclear bomb tests meant the quantity of C-14 in the atmosphere doubled. Since 1960 it has slowly decreased to natural levels
The fallout got into the food chain & into our crystallins. These proteins reflect the content of C-14 present in the atmosphere at the time of their creation, shortly after birth.
So there is no point lying about your age – at least if you were born during the years of variation
Related posts:
Bus pass minutiae
Overheard an 80 year old lady extolling the wonders of the new bus pass by recounting the detail of a trip she had made with a friend: And then we had to get on the tram to go to ….
Oh, said her friend, but isn’t yours a Derbyshire pass?
Our passes are valid only for buses in Manchester; we do not share the added benefit of free travel on trams & local trains which local residents get
The couple on the bus ended up by deciding that since the name of the local authority is writ quite small on the pass, “It must be difficult to see, so best not to point it out”
Actually it is a bit more complicated than that. Our passes used to be Derbyshire passes, but now they carry just the name of the district council (something to do with the new funding arrangements). Manchester passes are issued to residents of the whole of Greater Manchester (the Metropolitan County as was, before Mrs Thatcher abolished it along with the GLC); I have not examined one closely, but if they are labelled only with the name of the district, then tram & train operators who need to inspect them would need to be not only keen-sighted but also to have a very secure knowledge of the names of all the districts which make up Greater Manchester
Oh, said her friend, but isn’t yours a Derbyshire pass?
Our passes are valid only for buses in Manchester; we do not share the added benefit of free travel on trams & local trains which local residents get
The couple on the bus ended up by deciding that since the name of the local authority is writ quite small on the pass, “It must be difficult to see, so best not to point it out”
Actually it is a bit more complicated than that. Our passes used to be Derbyshire passes, but now they carry just the name of the district council (something to do with the new funding arrangements). Manchester passes are issued to residents of the whole of Greater Manchester (the Metropolitan County as was, before Mrs Thatcher abolished it along with the GLC); I have not examined one closely, but if they are labelled only with the name of the district, then tram & train operators who need to inspect them would need to be not only keen-sighted but also to have a very secure knowledge of the names of all the districts which make up Greater Manchester
Mutual understanding
Mark Bennet was the subject of an interesting edition of I Was a Child Prodigy on Radio 4 this week
He was a seriously good mathematician who abandoned an academic career & is now an Anglican priest
One of the reasons he gave for the switch was that the further you go into the world of mathematical ideas, the less you are able to talk to, or communicate with, other people
One of the people who spoke briefly on the programme was a contemporary at Cambridge who has since won the Fielding medal. I don’t know if he is the one I remember reading an interview with at the time. That person made much the same point – he could not even discuss his work with his wife, a fellow mathematician but in a different branch of the subject
There is often a feeling that those who are able to live in the world of mathematical imagination have much in common with those on the autistic spectrum. I do not know enough about this to comment, except to say that one of the signs of autism is supposedly an inability to recognise how others are feeling.
It must be just as difficult to understand how other people think
He was a seriously good mathematician who abandoned an academic career & is now an Anglican priest
One of the reasons he gave for the switch was that the further you go into the world of mathematical ideas, the less you are able to talk to, or communicate with, other people
One of the people who spoke briefly on the programme was a contemporary at Cambridge who has since won the Fielding medal. I don’t know if he is the one I remember reading an interview with at the time. That person made much the same point – he could not even discuss his work with his wife, a fellow mathematician but in a different branch of the subject
There is often a feeling that those who are able to live in the world of mathematical imagination have much in common with those on the autistic spectrum. I do not know enough about this to comment, except to say that one of the signs of autism is supposedly an inability to recognise how others are feeling.
It must be just as difficult to understand how other people think
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Radio Marmite
John Humphrys must be the Marmite of Radio 4 – you either love him or hate him
I belong to the latter school
As soon as I no longer had a sort of professional reason for listening to the Today programme, I stopped
I used to like Radio 5 in the mornings, but then they brought in N Campbell. (Just as women over 40 should stop wearing their hair long & loose – before people start saying she ought to – so men over 40 should stop calling themselves Nicky. And both sexes should stop calling their Mother mummy)
Although he has his moments (asking Nick Clegg about God) & some of the banter can be good, he is generally miscast for this programme. His questions go on & on, you lose all interest by the time he stops for an answer. Any politician has seen it coming for so long that they are as prepared as The Ancient Mariner to waffle on
And I am surprised that violence has not been done, the way Campbell butts in on other people’s interviews
Imagine James Naughtie doing that to Humphrys!
Now that I have a push button radio with pre-sets, I spend my time flicking through the stations when something comes on that I cannot bear. And so it is only recently I have discovered how Radios 4 & 5 tend to cover exactly the same stories each morning. There is probably more football 0n 5 & more foreign on 4, but otherwise they are even interviewing the same people. Sometimes I switch over to hear somebody say: We are expecting to interview the Home Secretary, to which I mutter sotto voce: Yes, as soon as she has finished in the other studio
Setting the agenda for the day, indeed. I did not realise that there is literally only one
Saving us from ourselves
A consultant in an NHS poisoning unit, speaking on Radio 4 the other evening, said that the limitations on the sale of paracetamol do not seem to have worked to bring about a long term reduction in the number of cases of deliberate self harm
I think I could have predicted that, although I was surprised when once I grumbled to the pharmacist about it, to hear that there had been a short term reduction
Even with the restrictions I could very easily acquire nearly 100 tablets in the space of minutes – from 2 supermarkets, 2 pharmacies & 2 newsagents in the shopping centre. If I were depressed & obsessed by thoughts of suicide I could easily build up a much larger stock – assuming I was not already aware (before this programme) of the grisly details of its effects
Which leaves the question: Even if limitations on sale brought about the slightest reduction in harm, is it be worth putting hundreds or thousands or millions of sensible, careful people to (relatively) minor, but cumulatively quite major, irritation & inconvenience?
I used to buy bottles of 100 at a very low price. I do not take very many or very often, but it does mean that there are always sufficient, sitting safely high up in the cupboard, to see us through a bout of flu or some cause of pain. The other big advantage is that you see at a glance how many are left & are constantly reminded when it is time to buy more
Blister packs are a confounded nuisance.
Expensive. Excessively packaged.
Some are very difficult to open.
Many of the rest are just the opposite – if you put a strip in your handbag the foil rubs itself off & you are left with dusty pills littering the lining
And it is easy to reach the end of your supply without realising it, to be deceived by the way that the strip still looks full. Nothing left for an emergency
I think I could have predicted that, although I was surprised when once I grumbled to the pharmacist about it, to hear that there had been a short term reduction
Even with the restrictions I could very easily acquire nearly 100 tablets in the space of minutes – from 2 supermarkets, 2 pharmacies & 2 newsagents in the shopping centre. If I were depressed & obsessed by thoughts of suicide I could easily build up a much larger stock – assuming I was not already aware (before this programme) of the grisly details of its effects
Which leaves the question: Even if limitations on sale brought about the slightest reduction in harm, is it be worth putting hundreds or thousands or millions of sensible, careful people to (relatively) minor, but cumulatively quite major, irritation & inconvenience?
I used to buy bottles of 100 at a very low price. I do not take very many or very often, but it does mean that there are always sufficient, sitting safely high up in the cupboard, to see us through a bout of flu or some cause of pain. The other big advantage is that you see at a glance how many are left & are constantly reminded when it is time to buy more
Blister packs are a confounded nuisance.
Expensive. Excessively packaged.
Some are very difficult to open.
Many of the rest are just the opposite – if you put a strip in your handbag the foil rubs itself off & you are left with dusty pills littering the lining
And it is easy to reach the end of your supply without realising it, to be deceived by the way that the strip still looks full. Nothing left for an emergency
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)