platypus mcdandruff

title-1406288

2006-12-05T22:58:41+01:00

So the big pharmaceuticals are now taking legal action over the decision not to provide a new alzheimers drug on the NHS, casting themselves as champion of the patients. Isnt it nice. I'm sure that in an ideal world everyone would have access to the best possible medical treatment, but the NHS already seems close to financial collapse, and someone surely has to set priorities. However these priorities are set surely those with most to gain should have at most a minimal role.

They also want to be allowed to market directly to patients - advertising is by definition biased and propagandist information. Aloowing patients access to information about their treatment seems like a good idea but not provided by the drug firms.

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So why don't they put decent cycle facilities on trains?

2006-09-07T23:07:45+02:00

Tali and I went to Climate cam in Yorkshire last week. By car. Ironic considering the nature of the event. We would have loved to take the train and taken bikes with us but the train operators policy seems to run along the lines of "book well in advance and you might be able to bring a bicycle assuming no more than a couple of others want to do the same".

The old style trains often had a guards van suitable for oversize luggage, smoking and other uses. New trains have no equivalent. I cant imagine that the marginal costs (rolling stock, and energy chiefly) of hitching another nearly empty carriage, with either bicycle racks or even just metal bars to lock on to would be prohibitive. Doing so could make train travel a lot easier and pleasurable.

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US wants to split Iraq - Why?

2006-08-15T20:33:09+02:00

Surprised at just having read an article on AlJazeera arguing that far from being by and large a failure, US involvement in Iraq has actually been a resounding success on the grounds that the intention all along was to split the country along sectarian lines. This seems ridiculously counter intuitive.

Dismembering the body politic in Iraq
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7DFA2889-95A5-4B0A-A767-14E1A93C2539.htm

1) I had gained the impression that part of the point was to build a friendly, pliant state for several purposes - namely oil extraction (Iraq being ranked around 4th in oil reserves), to gain a 2nd extended millitary base/ally (besides Israel) in the region and to gain some sort of PR victory.

1) Turkey. Turkey could not tolerate an independant Kurdish state on its southern border with its already seperatist (and large) Kurdish minority. Such a challenge would inflame the already simmering tension between secular state and army and the growing power of faith based politics.

3) If Iraq were to split into three, besides the destabilising influence of an independent Kurdish entity the Shia and Sunni areas would surely, having turned to religion as a prime source of ethnic identity be likely to gravitate toward the spheres of influence of their respective ethnicities. In the case of the Shia population this would obviously be Iran. And with the more diffuse Sunni identity who knows, but in some cases might adopt bin laden style ideology.

The US seems to have nothing to gain and everything to lose from a messy three way split in Iraq. So no its not working and they've screwed up really bad.

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celebrity sudoku

2005-11-26T17:33:25+01:00

I saw an awful thing on one of the hundreds of digital channels the other day. The celebrity sudoku channel consisting of a gri made up of celebrity faces (completed squares) and £50's (in the blanks). Tali and I watched in horror for about ten minutes while the poor desperate sap presenting it (was he wearing a disguise?) chatted inanely in an attempt to get people to ring in and join the fun. Didn't work as no one rang in while we were watching and so we never got to see how to "play" (if thats the word). Arrgh. Who comes up with such pointless ideas?

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first post

2005-10-23T23:39:42+02:00

Though I don't really care if anyone other than me reads this blog, I would like to create some sort of a web presence eventually.

I am interested in anything interesting really although I think it will probably end up focusing largely on anything weird/kooky/conspiracy and also all things Anthropological.

If anyone does read this then I'd love for the blog to become a means of gathering stuff relating to either aspect. Once I figure out how to put up links I'll do so.

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