Hello 166 (Not mincing my words)

Warning this blog entry may contain large doses of political incorrectness It’s about time readers that this sort of nonsense “Red meat raises risk of all kinds of death” got put into proper perspective, for instance consider this particular quote from the article:- ‘The researchers said thousands of deaths could be prevented if people simply ate less meat’… Well I beg to differ. Unless these researchers have been studying a cross section of immortal types who can only be killed by a steak (heh) to the heart what they are trying to convince us is that by not eating as much meat it’s possible you might be able to delay the inevitable by a short indeterminable amount of time. What appears to be happening here is a shift up from promoting healthy living to healthy dying as well.(Bear in mind a lot of those involved here were close to or had already done their statutory 3 score and 10) Ridiculous words like ‘quintiles’ getting thrown in should have alerted me to the green card about to be played, lets face it unless you have a beard, a tweed jacket and walk around with cnd leaflets and a megaphone words like that shouldn’t be part of your everyday vocabulary. No real surprise then when it goes on to indirectly accuse everyone who eats meat of contributing to large amounts of greenhouse gas caused by farming cows. Apparently I now must save myself and the world by turning vegetarian. In a similar vain it also needs pointing out that the thousands of lives that are proudly announced as saved each year by the no smoking brigade would be more accurately described deaths that might have been deferred for a short while. Personally I think the anti smoking campaigns go way too far, to the point where they are non productive. It may surprise a few to learn that I haven’t had a cigarette for a while now, but every time I see any we can help you stop propoganda it just reminds me that I did enjoy it and maybe I should be sparking one up. Before anyone suggests support groups, nicotine patches, hypnotism, acupuncture, colonic irrigation, pacifiers, aversion therapy or anything else that is supposed to assist me in ‘giving up’ I believe that all you need is to have a good reason to not smoke. For me a good reason happened to be not feeling like I’d enjoy one during a bout of indigestion and trapped wind.. Note A once those feelings had passed and after a day or two without a smoke I thought I might ease things financially by not buying the stuff. It certainly wasn’t because I’d been deeply affected by images of someone coughing up a tar blackened left lung. Now I seriously doubt if I could afford to start again and as I’ve not been given the authority to simply print money quantitatively ease the situation I have ended up reclassifying tobacco so it falls in the luxury part of the budget where it is currently competing for pennies with a 50mm prime lens…can’t see me affording that any time soon either. I predicted a while ago when the state finally imposed the no smoking law in pubs and workplaces etc that it wouldn’t be long before the do-gooders and nay-sayers turned their attention elsewhere Note B In particular there are some delightful adverts warning us car drivers of the dangers of exceeding 30mph. Travelling at 40mph apparently carries a much greater risk of causing death, we should expect terrible consequences if we risk travelling at just that extra few mph. Speed kills…Errr, No it doesn’t, stepping out into the road in front of an oncoming car is what kills you. Unless you are an armed robber fleeing the scene or a 15yr old joyrider at the wheel of a nicked BMW you are unlikely to be driving recklessly enough to be mowing people down on the pavement, and lets face it, if you can’t control an average family hatchback on a clear day doing 35-40 you have no business being behind the wheel in the first place. Here’s a wacky idea, instead of targetting decent law abiding drivers, how about ramming the message home that roads were in fact built for driving on and therefore playing on one or running into the path of a ton or so of moving metal that happens to be travelling down one is a tardish thing to do? Think I’m being harsh? When was the last time you saw a think of the consequences of doing over 30 ad aimed at train drivers? Now think of the last one that warned you about the dangers of trains on say level crossings. Eh? Nuff said. Note A: Maybe I should have looked into taking greater care of my colon, if my digestive system had been firing on all cylinders that day I would most likely be still enjoying the delights of Imperial Tobaccos finest virginia blend right now whilst hacking this out. Note B: The opening salvos have already been fired in the battle to free the nation from the grip of alcoholism. Even tea drinkers might soon find themselves cast out as socially irresponsible and a strain on resources. Both shot down for now but as soon as the political climate is more favourable just watch them resurface.