tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post4994669155370095131..comments2024-02-06T07:57:54.467+00:00Comments on underdogs bite upwards: Where is the enemy?Leg-ironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04932361799889315359noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-87422767201767813722010-07-15T20:36:29.503+01:002010-07-15T20:36:29.503+01:00Solent - Electrojunkies?
How would they test for...Solent - Electrojunkies? <br /><br />How would they test for that?Leg-ironhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04932361799889315359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-80833072588410461932010-07-15T20:02:37.227+01:002010-07-15T20:02:37.227+01:00From the You Couldn't Make it Up department. H...From the You Couldn't Make it Up department. Hope the Righteous over here don't get to hear about it.<br /><a href="http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/07/15/166220/Sound-As-the-New-Illegal-Narcotic?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29" rel="nofollow">slashdot</a>View from the Solenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00930587784230398787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-78511226441892595072010-07-14T19:48:49.425+01:002010-07-14T19:48:49.425+01:00For those interested in studies on smoking, SHS an...For those interested in studies on smoking, SHS and NRT I recommend reading Christopher Snowden's Velvet Glove, Iron Fist<br /><br />For those interested in obesity I recommend Gary Taubes' The Diet Delusion.<br /><br />Studies galore in those and lots of lovely stats ;) A bonus is two authors who look at the actual scientific evidence and then let you make your own mind up.Snakeynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-32466508221032430522010-07-14T16:57:54.885+01:002010-07-14T16:57:54.885+01:00Mike power - there are stats galore out there that...Mike power - there are stats galore out there that nobody believes any more. Someone else did have the numbers, I'll see if I can find them.Leg-ironhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04932361799889315359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-62497397700292223582010-07-14T16:54:17.366+01:002010-07-14T16:54:17.366+01:00Anon - no, they aren't Olympic material but th...Anon - no, they aren't Olympic material but they're not fat. Nor are they, for the most part, suffering debilitating illnesses. Obesity is blamed on the type of food consumed when really, it's a matter of the amount consumed. There are chubby vegetarians out there, you know, and slim people who fry everything.<br /><br />As for smoking, I'm not advocating a tobacco supply on the NHS even though it's far less risky than a lot of other drugs. Overdo anything and it'll make you ill. You can die from drinking too much water.<br /><br />There are risks in smoking, but they are risks, not certainties. Not that many people get lung cancer, and not all of them are smokers. As Frank has said in the past, that risk is part of the fun.<br /><br />If bungee jumping meant certain death, who would do it? It carries a high risk of death but people do it anyway - they do it because of the risk. The same goes for car racing or mountain climbing. All carry a high risk of immediate death or painful and lasting injury.<br /><br />So stating that smokers are 'stupid' to risk their long term health means that logically, you'd have to believe that anyone risking immediate death is certifiable. Why are doctors not banning mountaineering or racing or bungee jumping?<br /><br />There was a dreadful death in the Winter Olympics, at the Luge. Was it banned? After Nikki Lauda suffered horrific burns, was racing banned? No, those things resulted in modifications and it was business as usual.<br /><br />Maybe you can argue that these sports don't affect others, but when a racing car crashes, it's on a track surrounded by people.<br /><br />Modifications to smoking, such as Electrosmoking, are shouted down. Separate smoking and non-smoking pubs? Shouted down. They don't want it made safer, they don't want to set up zero-risk options for those who don't like it. They want it banned.<br /><br />It is not up to doctors to control our lives. Their actual oath is 'do no harm' but when you look at the social lives ruined, the hatred they have stirred up, the hysteria they have generated among the public and the businesses they have closed, it seems to me they are doing a hell of a lot of harm.Leg-ironhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04932361799889315359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-75185803752254757482010-07-14T16:29:01.861+01:002010-07-14T16:29:01.861+01:00I agree, it's obvious that Clegg is doing what...I agree, it's obvious that Clegg is doing what he's told. I've suggested that he was allowed to do his little survey provided he kept the smokers under control. The drug dealers are at the back of it, and their bankrolling of WHO and anybody else to get their grubby hands on the nicotine market.<br />George SpellerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-23095572265799652172010-07-14T14:00:10.924+01:002010-07-14T14:00:10.924+01:00anon wrote: ...smoking does have a very marked eff...anon wrote:<i> ...smoking does have a very marked effect on peoples' health. Smokers suffer from circulatory problems and lung conditions caused by a steady challenge from carcinogens and assorted components of tobacco smoke. The statistics don't lie on this one; you don't need huge meta-studies to hunt out effects since pretty much any study will show what's going on.</i><br /><br />Any study? My long term study of me reveals no circulatory problems or lung conditions after 40 years of smoking untipped Old Holborn roll-ups.<br /><br />Odd, isn't it? There's a profound mismatch between the world as I experience it, and as the medical profession portrays it. In my experience, most people are healthy most of the time. In their world, almost everyone is unhealthy - particularly smokers and drinkers and fat people. Why is that?<br /><br />Because we use different meanings of the word "healthy". For me healthy means having a personal sense of wellbeing. But for them health isn't about any sense of wellbeing. Smokers and drinkers and fat people are unhealthy because they have been <i>defined</i> as unhealthy. So that even if a fat, smoking, drinker feels fine, he can't be because he is <i>de facto</i> unhealthy.<br /><br />So now when you go and see a doctor, he's not interested in how you're feeling. He just wants to know whether you're fat or you drink or smoke. That's all he needs to know. If you tick all those boxes, you're sick. If you tick none of them, you're healthy. You don't tell them you're unwell: they tell you.<br /><br />Got it?Frank Davishttp://frank-davis.livejournal.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-16016036119537594192010-07-14T12:47:32.495+01:002010-07-14T12:47:32.495+01:00Ta for link. I think the point of the post at mine...Ta for link. I think the point of the post at mine (which I didn't write) is that the UK has to do what the EU tells it and the EU has to do what the WHO tells it. Doctors love it either way as it gives them more power.<br /><br />Which I believe is Dick Puddlecote's analysis and he's the expert.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-6883217085491931572010-07-14T12:26:17.874+01:002010-07-14T12:26:17.874+01:00@anon 10.19 - I've never thought it a doctor&#...@anon 10.19 - I've never thought it a doctor's job to make people healthier, just to treat them when they're sick. I'll admit they have a useful role in educating people about the effects of excess but educating is where it should end otherwise they stray into the realm of self-determination. They also have a narrow view of health, ignoring factors which influence mental health. I suspect that their bullying of smokers has resulted in poorer mental health in the vulnerable which, in turn, affects their physical health.<br /><br />JayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-19304628865430503332010-07-14T10:19:50.301+01:002010-07-14T10:19:50.301+01:00Erm, I hate to point this out, but chav kids actua...Erm, I hate to point this out, but chav kids actually aren't the paragons of health that you think they are. If you compare chav kids from a rough school with similarly-aged kids from a school which serves a rich area, you'll see a difference. For their age, chav kids are a good deal smaller than the rich kids. They also do much less well on tests designed to measure general intelligence (basically a compendium of a lot of different measures of mental skills) and their health ain't that good, either. Yes, they're thinner, but this is down to general lack of nutrition rather than them being healthier per se.<br /><br />Secondly, although you would love it to be otherwise, smoking does have a very marked effect on peoples' health. Smokers suffer from circulatory problems and lung conditions caused by a steady challenge from carcinogens and assorted components of tobacco smoke. The statistics don't lie on this one; you don't need huge meta-studies to hunt out effects since pretty much any study will show what's going on.<br /><br />This is why doctors so dislike smoking: in their battle to improve peoples' health (and you can hardly blame them for this; their training and ethos is all about fixing disease and making people healthier) the easy wins get harvested first. Smoking is a single cause of a lot of debilitation and terminal illnesses; stop people smoking and a lot of preventable disease simply doesn't happen (and a lot of other diseases take their place, but further on in peoples' lives).<br /><br />All that can really be argued about is overbearing nanny-state controls, and gross stupidity in how to tackle the problem. As things stand, all the effort is on making people give up smoking; a more sensible approach would be the Swedish one, where smoking is replaced by a less harmful addiction of oral snus tobacco. I'd honestly say that going one better and actively promoting electrofag devices and similar things would be a good idea; quite a few people actively enjoy a nicotine habit, so making this harmless ought to be the goal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-52329115239889378912010-07-14T10:08:36.805+01:002010-07-14T10:08:36.805+01:00The good old BMA. From the same stable that gave ...The good old BMA. From the same stable that gave us ACPO etc etc.RantinRabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557178651491442917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-4700037999206407512010-07-14T10:03:08.083+01:002010-07-14T10:03:08.083+01:00Some stats would be nice.Some stats would be nice.Mike Powerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05861051860231257924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-50846689566390209982010-07-14T09:53:31.891+01:002010-07-14T09:53:31.891+01:00You keep the dream alive, Leg. Brilliant, incisive...You keep the dream alive, Leg. Brilliant, incisive and informed.<br /><br />As ever.Uncle Marvohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00146362608723100601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-61079015670002489782010-07-14T09:14:46.436+01:002010-07-14T09:14:46.436+01:00Another brilliant piece like usual. I'm just ...Another brilliant piece like usual. I'm just one of the uneducated council estate riff raff but maybe (hopefully) salt will be the straw that broke the camel's back. Didn't it play a major role in a fight for freedom back in 1930?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-78630406526125413022010-07-14T08:36:18.665+01:002010-07-14T08:36:18.665+01:00A bravura piece indeed, but more than that, you kn...A bravura piece indeed, but more than that, you know stuff that the vast majority of us don't and can therefore be blind-sided by the medical establishment. I for one would welcome more stuff about MRSA and C-diff and all the other lovelies they keep nice and comfy in hospitals.<br /><br />And you're right about the prole children - lean and mean, although in the North East they look malnourished to my eye. It's the bourgeoisie's offspring who resemble small bouncy castles. But it's their glands, you know. Or genes. Or something.PT Barnumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2170981338945747646.post-35171219140244639582010-07-14T04:00:53.907+01:002010-07-14T04:00:53.907+01:00Another great post LI! Thank you.
Try googling Co...Another great post LI! Thank you.<br /><br />Try googling Codex Alimentarious.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com