In our fourth podcast, Dave and I discuss appearing on Question Time, calorie labelling on alcohol, drug treatment vs punishment and some nonsense about beef. Enjoy! Share! Feed back!
www.medicave.co.uk
@mdmedicave
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Showing posts with label Public health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public health. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
Monday, 27 October 2014
Podcast Episode 3 - TTIP, lung cancer and dementia screening, killer spiders...
In our third podcast, Dave and I discuss appearing on Question Time, TTIP, lung cancer screening, dementia and killer spiders. Enjoy! Share! Feed back!
www.medicave.co.uk
@mdmedicave
If you want to download it to your computer, you can click this link directly.
Or you can point your RSS reader or podcast app to the following feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PodcastMediCave
www.medicave.co.uk
@mdmedicave
If you want to download it to your computer, you can click this link directly.
Or you can point your RSS reader or podcast app to the following feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PodcastMediCave
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
What does UKIP really stand for? And what the hell is TTIP?
UKIP
UKIP have an MP. The Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Respect, a couple of independents and several parties representing Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland parties already did. Are they on the news as much? Doesn't seem that way. Many agree - that's why thousands of people have signed this petition to get the Greens on to the televised pre-election debates if UKIP are.
UKIP are big news though, because they speak for us, for ordinary people and will make Britain fairer for all, right? They're different to the 'Westminster Elite'. Nigel Farage drinks beer! He's like me!
Farage went from private education to a job in the City as a banker. He was a member of the Conservative Party before helping form UKIP. From that, he sounds more like others in politics than like me, but you can't help your background. Better to look at what UKIP stand for.
If you're thinking of voting UKIP to get a fairer society and get away from the current rule by a wealthy elite, first read some of their policies:
– We will introduce a 35p income tax rate between £42,285 and £55,000, whereupon the 40p rate becomes payable. (Cutting taxes for those earning over £42k)
– Inheritance tax will be abolished. (Inheritance tax only kicks in on estates over £325k or £650k for couples - most estates aren't affected. Abolishing inheritance tax would only increase the accumulation of wealth by already wealthy families)
– UKIP opposes ‘plain paper packaging’ for tobacco products and minimum pricing of alcohol. (Measures backed by doctors and evidence that would make people healthier, but might affect some company profits)
– UKIP will withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. (As a human, I'd like some rights)
– UKIP will require foreign vehicles to purchase a Britdisc, before entry to the UK, in order to contribute to the upkeep of UK roads and any lost fuel duty. (Yeah! Foreigners should pay for our roads if they drive on them. That would stop them coming over here, staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants and spending their foreign money. And I assume they should charge us for using their roads as well?)
– UKIP will abolish green taxes and charges in order to reduce fuel bills.
– UKIP supports a diverse energy market including coal, nuclear, shale gas, geo-thermal, tidal, solar, conventional gas and oil.
– UKIP will repeal the Climate Change Act 2008 which costs the economy £18bn a year.
– UKIP will abolish the Department of Energy and Climate Change and scrap green subsidies.
(Yes, energy is too pricey but the energy companies still manage to make excessive profits. Global warming is coming and will be very, very expensive.)
– UKIP will abolish the Department for Culture Media and Sport. (Well, we've already had the Olympics, I suppose.)
– UKIP will cut the foreign aid budget by £9bn pa, prioritising disaster relief and schemes which provide water and inoculation against preventable diseases. (Foreign aid is good. It makes us slightly less unpopular abroad. With ebola, we've seen what happens if poor countries are kept poor and unable to manage crises such as deadly epidemics. Maybe it's just a nice thing for us to do.
The truth is that UKIP are misleading the electorate and are happy to allow people to think that voting for them will help them get a better life. A UKIP vote is one for the wealthy, not for ordinary people.
If you like, you can look at the Green Party's ideas. If you want to protest against the government or the Westminster Elite, there are choices other than UKIP. Yes, they like the environment, but they tie this in with the well-being of all people, not just the wealthy few. It's a far more positive message than that of UKIP. I wouldn't tell you who to vote for, but please check what the party you choose actually stands for before you make up your mind.
UKIP has been hit by scandal after scandal, but most of these stories seem to be quickly forgotten. Many members have some very backwards views on race and gender. They certainly care a lot about immigration. Immigration certainly bothers people, but it does have benefits. One of these is to low-pay employers, who can exploit them to make cheap goods. If they had to pay a living wage and treat workers fairly, they could no longer bring in cheap foreign labour to live in poor conditions. UK workers would be competitive and migrant workers wouldn't be 'stealing our jobs'.
Also remember that if we send all immigrants home, they might send all ours back.
UKIP want us to leave Europe and be free of all their pesky regulations. Regulations that affect our beloved corporations.
Only sometimes regulations are good. Corporations are robots. They are built to make money. They might be briefly not evil if that will result in them making money. If customers will only buy their stuff if they are good then they will respond to that. However, most of the time, people aren’t aware of the bad stuff they do, or there isn’t a choice, or they can’t afford to make the choice, so corporations will do whatever bad stuff they can get away with so long as it makes them money.
Often, the only thing stopping them doing this is regulation from national and supra-national bodies. The EU isn’t just about straightening bananas, it does all sorts of stuff for us including cheap flights, cheaper international phone calls, consumer protection, food safety and human rights. Yes, the European Convention on Human Rights is a good thing. Unless you like being a slave, discriminated against, or killed, or being told what to believe or being tortured etc. It just has some unintended consequences, as all regulations do.
It’s bodies like the EU that will be instrumental if we want people and companies to pay the tax they owe without stashing their cash in tax havens.
But one thing going on in Europe now might be about to make things a whole lot worse. Apparently that thing is called TTIP.
TTIP
 |
| A sticker on a bus |
I’d love to say I know what TTIP is, but, to be honest, I don’t. So what's the concern? Boris Johnson says I'm a 'numskull' for worrying about it. Thanks Boris. I'm not the only worrying, though. Here are some angry protesters.
When I say I don’t ‘know’ what TTIP is, I mean that I only know these brief details that have been leaked. The negotiations are actually happening in secret.
It’s supposed to be a free-trade agreement between the EU and the US.
The pitch:
To remove restrictions between the two areas to make it easier to invest.
To decrease bureaucracy and duplication of regulations, so companies only have to meet one set of rules when creating products and services.
To increase growth and create bazillions of jobs.
Brilliant.
So what’s everyone’s beef? Well, beef for one. If we harmonize food production rules, we might find Europe’s current safety standards lowered to those of America. Have you seen the state of an American chicken farm? Sardines in a can don’t know how lucky they are. The example often cited is the use of growth hormones to make cows bigger. Europe doesn’t allow this, America does. What’s wrong with grass and grain?
Ok, what else? Companies investing sounds good, right? Not necessarily if they are investing in our healthcare system. TTIP will make it easier for US companies to take over NHS contracts. Worse than that, they could sue governments if they are prevented from doing so. The corporations tout fair competition but they want to remove the NHS’s protection from predatory PLCs. Cameron has been asked to keep the NHS out of these discussions.
If you need reasons to be concerned about TTIP, try:
and
And if you agree that it sounds bad in it's current form, that we should be told more about it and that we should make sure that our safety standards and public services are corrected, then look at these petitions:
So, in summary...
Is it a contradiction to criticise UKIP's anti-Europe stance and the TTIP negotiations going on in Europe in the same post? Maybe. But maybe it's just that the world's a bit more complicated than 'Europe is bad for Britain' or 'immigration is too high'. It's the nuances of these debates that are more important than the headlines.
Think long and hard before you vote UKIP. It is unlikely that all your problems are because of immigration, it's just a simple and visible thing to make you scared about. If you care about the rest of UKIP's policies, then please read them and decide if they would benefit you and really make Britain the kind of country you want it to be.
The world has changed and Britain isn't in charge any more. Our own well-being is tied up with that of the rest of the world. Maybe there's more to life than being the most powerful country and reducing inequality within our own country would make us all happier. If we do want a say on the world stage, then it's hard to do it alone and being part of Europe has many more benefits than drawbacks.
We need to engage with Europe and hold it to account. Sometimes it is too expensive. When things are going wrong, such as with TTIP, we need to know about it and do something about it. The alternative could be disastrous.
Monday, 22 September 2014
Mad Men
Mad Men is our show at the moment. We're only on series three but flying through it. It's early 1960s Manhattan and the Mad Men are the advertising executives of Madison Avenue. The word 'Men' refers to just that. In this industry, the males get the office, the big salary and the prestige. The women work as secretaries and try to pick up husbands. The one girl who breaks through struggles to be treated on equal terms.
It's not just a man's world but a white man's world. The African-Americans have to content themselves with operating the lift. The series touches on the struggles in the South, but this is just another unfairness you have to accept in the show.
Much of the show trades on the discomfort the viewer feels in the inequalities of the day and in the smugness in just how far we have come. There are many ways in which the world has improved and in which we can be proud. However, I think it pays to be reminded that we're only part way down the road with regards to many of the issues portrayed.
Gender inequality.
Yes, women can now get top jobs but it's still no level playing field. Australian women earn 18.2% less than their male counterparts. Less than a third of Northern Ireland's top jobs are held by women. This Guardian article shows some of the progress made but also the challenges remaining.
We should be increasing childcare provisions for working mums and eliminating pay gaps. Organisations should be working to improve access to top jobs. This has to start in parliament.
The darker side of male and female workplace inequality rears it's head in the show, with sexual harassment rife. There's also really disturbing scene of rape within a relationship. It would be great to say that thankfully this doesn't happen any more but I can't.
Smoking
There is a LOT of smoking in Mad Men. In the office, in the car, around the kids. I'm glad that we see less of it on TV now. This is a period piece, but I'm not convinced that that justifies it. Smoking rates have come down since the sixties and legislation such as banning smoking in enclosed public places and in cars carrying children should be celebrated. The Mad Men have a tobacco account and are struggling to cope with the negative publicity surrounding links with cancer and heart disease.
I remember tobacco advertising and sponsorship in the UK. Good riddance. The tobacco companies are fighting back though. They are challenging plain packaging laws and moaning about hiding cigs in supermarkets. They are buying up e-cigarette companies and marketing them to young people. My co-podcaster Dave doesn't mind this but I do not want people to remain addicted to nicotine, or to start smoking as young people. All the while the companies are promoting cigarettes in developing countries and there are now more than 300 million smokers in China.
Alcohol
There's almost as much boozing as smoking. Every time someone walks into another office, they get a drink poured. After work drinks lead to accidents (and affairs) and drink driving is the norm. The show is also a vehicle for product placement. Them talking about how to advertise a particular product on the show IS advertising that product, obviously.
The costs of alcohol to the NHS alone run into the billions. Advertising definitely plays a part but price is likely to be a bigger factor in determining consumption. The government caved into pressure from the alcohol industry and backed down on minimum unit pricing.
We have not made the same leaps forward on alcohol that we have on smoking.
In The End
It's good to think that some things have got better. Mad Men is set before car seat-belts were compulsory. Now we wouldn't think of getting in a car without them. There are no actual tobacco adverts on British TV anymore. But there is still big money to be made in advertising, because it works. It might be cigarettes in China, e-cigarettes on our TV, junk food with kids toys, Coke pretending to care about health, the excitement of gambling or winning in an online casino or lager companies sponsoring major sporting events. We can look back at the sixties and be glad that things have moved on. In many ways, however, the adverts are just more clever and the Mad Men are still one step ahead.
Saturday, 13 September 2014
Podcast Episode 1 - eCigarettes, Scottish Independence and the NFL!
In our first podcast, Dave and I talk eCigs and eCars, Scottish Independence, Ashya King, the NFL and dog ownership. Enjoy! Share! Feed back!
www.medicave.co.uk
@mdmedicave
If you want to download it to your computer, you can click this link directly.
Or you can point your RSS reader or podcast app to the following feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PodcastMediCave
www.medicave.co.uk
@mdmedicave
If you want to download it to your computer, you can click this link directly.
Or you can point your RSS reader or podcast app to the following feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PodcastMediCave
War On Drugs - Top Ten Films!
Have you seen End of Watch? My wife and I watched it this
week and it made me (almost) cry. Not in the usual Hollywood way. And not in
the Apollo 13 triumph over adversity way (the other film that always gets me).
It’s a buddy movie about two cops in south-central LA who are doing their best
to uphold the law and take down the bad guys. The crime in question is drug
dealing and the violence that goes along with it.
It’s the way it’s shot as a realistic fly on the wall /
found footage type thing (often a crap start to a film) that sucks you in and
really makes you feel it at the end. No one wins. It made me think about the
senseless loss of life on both sides of the law that have occurred in the War on Drugs.
So in true box-office style, here are my top-ten films that
depict the tragedy of the War on Drugs.
10 - City of God
The birth of a Rio De Jeneiro cocaine empire and the
violence that accompanies it. Think of cocaine and cannabis and many will think of Central and South America. Be it the Columbian cartels, Mexican narco-terrorism or farmers surviving on growing 'Bolivian marching powder'.
Several countries are making progressive strides though. One example is Uruguay, who are regulating production and sale of cannabis. This graphic from Drug Law Reform explains how it works. US states, such as Colorado are taking their own steps. As you can see, it's not designed to create a free-for-all, but to control who has access to cannabis. The aim is to take production and sale out of the hands of the criminals and place it within a regulatory framework.
9 - Scarface
The
glamour of running a cocaine business in Miami! Until you end up hooked,
friendless and full of bullet holes. This one is ridiculously over the top, but
it shows where the money goes, to local gangsters, paying off officials and ultimately
to huge and powerful cartels, leading to politcal instability and conflict in producing nations.
8 - Human traffic
The story of a night out involving alcohol, ecstasy,
cannabis and, I think, cocaine.
This film is showing its age now. Ecstasy use is decreasing amongst young people, possibly being replaced by newer psychoactive substances - 'legal highs' and our drug laws are struggling to ban the substances quick enough. If they were all brought under the same regulation as alcohol, tobacco and other currently illegal drugs, then the onus would be on the manufacturer to prove contents and safety and scientists would stand a better chance of studying the substances to aid classification and control.
All drugs have adverse effects. I include
alcohol and tobacco in that. There are, however, millions of people who take
drugs and don’t end up as addicts or in hospital. They must enjoy themselves,
or they wouldn’t take them. When people do come to harm, it is often a failure
of education. When Leah Betts died in 1995 after taking ecstasy, there was a
huge national campaign against the drug. It can be dangerous and there are
deaths associated with it but in her case it was likely because she drank
several litres of water in a short period of time (leading to low blood sodium
levels and swelling of the brain) rather than the toxicity of the drug itself.
Educating users on how to avoid harm is a more pragmatic approach than hoping they won’t take it
at all. Other fatalities have come because of mixing drugs together or taking
drugs with dangerous impurities. If they were sold in a pharmacy, with warning
labels and advice, this would be much less likely to occur.
Professor David Nutt was fired from the government’s
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for suggesting a more coherent approach
to drug classification, presumably based on actual harm to users and society
rather than political hysteria and the thoughts of the Daily Mail. At some
point he pointed out that ecstasy was less dangerous than horse riding as well
as tobacco and alcohol though I think this was after his dismissal. Scientists
do not say that drugs are safe, just that they should be classified according
to harm. Many now think that legalizing and regulating (and of course taxing)
is the best way to reduce this harm.
7 - Trainspotting
Fairly obvious but it does depict the devastating effects of
heroin addiction and how hard it is to get off. It shows the strength of the
addiction and the lengths to which people will go to get their fix. What it
also shows is that the threat of criminal punishment does nothing to alter
this. Whether it’s a crime or not, addicts need their drugs. Not all drugs are equal. There is no doubt that heroin is harmful. It wouldn't take long walking around my local city to find someone who has lost one or both legs due to the drug. People die from overdoses. People catch life threatening diseases from using dirty needles. Addiction fuels crime.
People need
treatment and this takes time, effort and money. People also need to know that
there’s a viable alternative life to the one that they are trapped in.
Prohibition is a public health disaster. If you want people to take less
heroin, locking them up is not the answer. They need support and compassion.
Clean, unadulterated drugs or substitutes, counselling, needle exchange
programmes, detoxification facilities, accommodation and the prospect of a job and a future.
6 - 25th Hour
The drug dealer’s going to prison. There’ll be another one
to take his place. He made a shed-load of money but lost. The temptation will
be there for the next one. I put this one in because Philip Seymour Hoffman is
fantastic in it and now he’s dead. That’s very sad. The fact that his drug
taking was illegal didn’t stop him wanting to take it. The fact that drug
dealing is illegal doesn’t make them hard to buy. Prohibition failed and a
great actor died.
5 - Requiem for a Dream
A tale of a dream of a quick buck from selling heroin turns
to a tale of addiction and illness. The protagonist ends up in prison and there’s
devastating physical consequences of his drug use. The American legal system is
bonkers. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences destroy communities.
Whole generations are in prison or dead. This chap is also denied proper
medical care because he’s in jail. It’s no better for his mum though, who gets
hooked on prescription diet pills.
If drugs were legalized and regulated, then more dangerous
substances like heroin would only be available through pharmacies or other
licensed medical establishments. There wouldn’t be a market for dirty or
adulterated street drugs and this guy would have looked for another way to make
a living and would have stayed out of jail or received proper treatment for his
illness. The money saved in law enforcement and gained in taxing less dangerous
substances, could be used for education and treatment to keep people off more
harmful drugs.
4 - Breaking Bad
You’ve all seen it, people love it and yes, it's not a film. Thankfully crystal methamphetamine has not made a huge impact in the UK. Interestingly, whereas
crack cocaine hit black neighbourhoods in the USA, meth has had a bigger impact
on poor white areas. Again, it’s a cheap, highly addictive drug, with huge profits to be
made and law enforcement cannot stop it. Educate, inform, treat, regulate.
Another point is that Walter started all his drug empire shenanigans because he was faced with huge medical bills after getting lung cancer. Under the NHS, his treatment would have been free. Remember that.
3 - A Scanner Darkly
A messed up dystopian future (as most of my favourite books
and films tend to involve) is the setting for this kind of animated live action
film where a cop goes undercover to expose the source of a new drug called
Substance D that has swept America. He is overpowered by the drug but does make
some amazing discoveries along the way. This is the War on Drugs lost.
2 - The House I Live In
If you want to know more about what America's drug policies have done to its people, please watch this. This great docco interviews people on both sides of the failed War on Drugs. Police, officials, criminals, users and prisoners. Watch it, you’ll learn a lot. And look at their site.
1 - The Wire
Not a film, but the five series of this Baltimore-set show
do more than anything else I’ve seen on TV or film to portray the futility of
the War on Drugs. There’s good and bad on both sides. There’s murder after
murder, death, relapse into addiction. There’s an overstretched police
department who are struggling to keep up with the drug-gang related murders.
There’s people born into families where ‘the game’ is all people have ever
known, with no hope of a better life. Schools are underfunded and kids have no role models other than older gang members. There’s a couple of big winners and a
whole heap of losers. The worst thing is that at the end of it all, nothing’s
changed. This is a stunning examination of the War on Drugs, urban decay,
education, law-enforcement, city politics and the media. It makes me laugh, shout at the TV, frustrated and sad and I love it.
More...
I could give all the arguments for and against legalizing and regulating drugs, but helpfully it’s been put in this great information leaflet by The Transform Drug Policy Foundation. It would be hard and there would be unintended consequences. It would require a lot of political will and international co-operation. A step-wise move towards the goal is the most likely. What we need to do now is have an honest debate about the pros and cons. Look at the evidence from other nations, make the conversation follow science and reason and not right-wing hysteria. People will take drugs, whatever the rules are. It's our duty to help reduce harm.
Monday, 8 September 2014
What is the Matrix?
The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us.
Even now, in this very room.
You can see it when you turn on your television.
You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes.
It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
What truth?
That you are a slave, err, (insert your name here, unless it is Neo, then keep that one).
I watched it for about the twentieth time the other day. 1999, that film came out. My friends and I saw it at the cinema when we were 15. We hadn't seen a film like this before and were blown away by the special effects, the sounds, the slide down Nokia phone! Bullet time! And of course, the concept.
Now I don't actually think that we live inside a computer generated virtual reality. I'm also aware that I'm unlikely to be the first to compare the 'real' world to the Matrix. It still has a lot to say though.
As my walk through Ellesmere Port emphasised we are surrounded and bombarded by a world that is often out to hurt us, or at the very least, keep us quiet whilst bad stuff goes on elsewhere. Not all of it, not everyone, of course. The world is incredibly complex and everyone has their own set of incentives. The girl in the red dress isn't a computer program but has her own priorities and motivations.
But there is a system. Maybe multiple systems. Battling against each other. And it's hard to tell who is who. Companies have to make money. They have to make more money each year so people will buy their shares. They can grow their market, but if they have cornered the market then they have to make more money off each person. People within companies might care about your health, but most companies do not. They just need to sell you stuff. Maybe stuff you need, maybe not. Maybe they are selling booze, fags, takeaways, sugary drinks, time on the sunbeds or maybe healthcare itself. Either way, they care about profits. They care about your health if it is in line with their profits.
Now obviously companies employ people, but many don't care about their employees either.
On the other side should be the government, working for us, not for profit. National institutions such as the NHS are working for us, but bits are being snipped off and sold at an alarming rate. More and more contracts are going to private providers. This is often the more profitable end of an operation, leaving the NHS underfunded and having to cope with increasing disease with decreasing funding.
So let's break it down…
"You can see it when you turn on the television" –
'Television is the opiate of the masses'. The original quote was about religion by Karl Marx, not sure who coined the TV version. There is a lot of nonsense on TV. Watch it on Saturday night and you will gain little insight into the issues facing our world today. I asked someone if they were going to vote in the local elections. They said 'I don't know anything about politics, but how many Kardashians can you name?'
One, the one who married Kanye West.
TV is there to entertain us, but surely there's some room in there to educate us about what's going on. 15 million votes were cast for the final of series 7 of the X-factor according to the Wikipedia page (do not waste your time following that link). Yet only a third of eligible voters turned out for the local and European parliament elections this year. Some might say this was an argument for compulsory voting. I would say it's an argument for improved publicity and engagement, with options for online ballot casting. And compulsory voting.
Worse is the content between the programmes. If you watched TV for a whole day, how many adverts for unhealthy or high sugar foods, high interest short-term loans, gambling websites or booze would you see? How many would your children see? Advertising works, or they wouldn't advertise. I'm concerned when I see sexy young people 'vaping' on TV adverts. I'm sure e-cigarettes are better for you than tobacco, but that doesn't mean they should be promoted to young people as something cool to do.
"when you go to work" – Pretty broad this. How many people are trapped in low income or minimal wage jobs? Is there good job progression? Is there hope? Is childcare available and can you take advantage of training opportunities? Can you live an acceptable life on the minimum wage or are you still relying on benefits or debt? Employers have a responsibility to pay a living wage. If they won't, then the government has a responsibility to raise the minimum wage. Working full time should enable you to live.
"when you go to church" – Maybe you go, maybe you don't, but religious institutions still have an effect on your life. I went to Church of England schools and had to pray and sing with everyone else. I wasn't offered a choice until much later and it was never put to me that many people don't believe in Christianity and live perfectly fulfilling lives. 26 Bishops sit in the House of Lords and help decide our laws. Members of religious organisations are asked for their opinion on every topic under the sun and given a load of air-time.
Thought For The Day on Radio 4! What is that?! Programmes on Radio 4 should be either informative or entertaining. That is neither. Ditto The Archers.
"when you pay your taxes" – I've just read Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century and it describes thoroughly and brilliantly how our financial and fiscal system funnels money from the poor to the rich and functions to widen the gap. We should have a progressive tax system that prevents the increasing inequality and divergence of wealth that we see in this country and others. Our taxation system benefits those who have money and power and wish to increase it. And I bet that you don't have access to an expensive accountant and aggressive tax-avoidance schemes.
There is enough money in this country to fund the NHS. We have good outcomes and provide excellent value to the taxpayer. If everyone paid their fair share and the NHS was given the funding it needed, we could do even better (and it would still be cheaper than most private systems).
"That you are a slave, Neo." – Not literally, I hope. But you probably aren't getting a fair portion of the fruits of your labour. I do not wish to promote wealth envy, just fairness (and I'm definitely not a communist!). The world is set up in a way that it is easy to make unhealthy choices and give your money to people who already have plenty. It's not designed to improve our health and well-being.
Later, the Matrix talks about the prophecy of 'The One' – "a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit." In some way we all have this ability. (Imagine quiet music) It's our voice and our vote. If politicians are doing something you don't like, vote for someone else. Make sure that they bring in regulation that is there for you, not for the businesses that lobby them. (Music starts to build) We can choose the products that are sold to us by buying something different. We can make small changes in our lives that will make us healthier and take responsibility for our own well-being (louder). Write to your MPs, register to vote, write to the papers, rant on the internet! (music climaxes in a thundering crescendo!) We are all The One!
Boom, big finish. I frickin' love that film.
Even now, in this very room.
You can see it when you turn on your television.
You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes.
It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
What truth?
That you are a slave, err, (insert your name here, unless it is Neo, then keep that one).
I watched it for about the twentieth time the other day. 1999, that film came out. My friends and I saw it at the cinema when we were 15. We hadn't seen a film like this before and were blown away by the special effects, the sounds, the slide down Nokia phone! Bullet time! And of course, the concept.
Now I don't actually think that we live inside a computer generated virtual reality. I'm also aware that I'm unlikely to be the first to compare the 'real' world to the Matrix. It still has a lot to say though.
As my walk through Ellesmere Port emphasised we are surrounded and bombarded by a world that is often out to hurt us, or at the very least, keep us quiet whilst bad stuff goes on elsewhere. Not all of it, not everyone, of course. The world is incredibly complex and everyone has their own set of incentives. The girl in the red dress isn't a computer program but has her own priorities and motivations.
But there is a system. Maybe multiple systems. Battling against each other. And it's hard to tell who is who. Companies have to make money. They have to make more money each year so people will buy their shares. They can grow their market, but if they have cornered the market then they have to make more money off each person. People within companies might care about your health, but most companies do not. They just need to sell you stuff. Maybe stuff you need, maybe not. Maybe they are selling booze, fags, takeaways, sugary drinks, time on the sunbeds or maybe healthcare itself. Either way, they care about profits. They care about your health if it is in line with their profits.
Now obviously companies employ people, but many don't care about their employees either.
On the other side should be the government, working for us, not for profit. National institutions such as the NHS are working for us, but bits are being snipped off and sold at an alarming rate. More and more contracts are going to private providers. This is often the more profitable end of an operation, leaving the NHS underfunded and having to cope with increasing disease with decreasing funding.
So let's break it down…
"You can see it when you turn on the television" –
'Television is the opiate of the masses'. The original quote was about religion by Karl Marx, not sure who coined the TV version. There is a lot of nonsense on TV. Watch it on Saturday night and you will gain little insight into the issues facing our world today. I asked someone if they were going to vote in the local elections. They said 'I don't know anything about politics, but how many Kardashians can you name?'
One, the one who married Kanye West.
TV is there to entertain us, but surely there's some room in there to educate us about what's going on. 15 million votes were cast for the final of series 7 of the X-factor according to the Wikipedia page (do not waste your time following that link). Yet only a third of eligible voters turned out for the local and European parliament elections this year. Some might say this was an argument for compulsory voting. I would say it's an argument for improved publicity and engagement, with options for online ballot casting. And compulsory voting.
Worse is the content between the programmes. If you watched TV for a whole day, how many adverts for unhealthy or high sugar foods, high interest short-term loans, gambling websites or booze would you see? How many would your children see? Advertising works, or they wouldn't advertise. I'm concerned when I see sexy young people 'vaping' on TV adverts. I'm sure e-cigarettes are better for you than tobacco, but that doesn't mean they should be promoted to young people as something cool to do.
"when you go to work" – Pretty broad this. How many people are trapped in low income or minimal wage jobs? Is there good job progression? Is there hope? Is childcare available and can you take advantage of training opportunities? Can you live an acceptable life on the minimum wage or are you still relying on benefits or debt? Employers have a responsibility to pay a living wage. If they won't, then the government has a responsibility to raise the minimum wage. Working full time should enable you to live.
"when you go to church" – Maybe you go, maybe you don't, but religious institutions still have an effect on your life. I went to Church of England schools and had to pray and sing with everyone else. I wasn't offered a choice until much later and it was never put to me that many people don't believe in Christianity and live perfectly fulfilling lives. 26 Bishops sit in the House of Lords and help decide our laws. Members of religious organisations are asked for their opinion on every topic under the sun and given a load of air-time.
Thought For The Day on Radio 4! What is that?! Programmes on Radio 4 should be either informative or entertaining. That is neither. Ditto The Archers.
"when you pay your taxes" – I've just read Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century and it describes thoroughly and brilliantly how our financial and fiscal system funnels money from the poor to the rich and functions to widen the gap. We should have a progressive tax system that prevents the increasing inequality and divergence of wealth that we see in this country and others. Our taxation system benefits those who have money and power and wish to increase it. And I bet that you don't have access to an expensive accountant and aggressive tax-avoidance schemes.
There is enough money in this country to fund the NHS. We have good outcomes and provide excellent value to the taxpayer. If everyone paid their fair share and the NHS was given the funding it needed, we could do even better (and it would still be cheaper than most private systems).
"That you are a slave, Neo." – Not literally, I hope. But you probably aren't getting a fair portion of the fruits of your labour. I do not wish to promote wealth envy, just fairness (and I'm definitely not a communist!). The world is set up in a way that it is easy to make unhealthy choices and give your money to people who already have plenty. It's not designed to improve our health and well-being.
Later, the Matrix talks about the prophecy of 'The One' – "a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit." In some way we all have this ability. (Imagine quiet music) It's our voice and our vote. If politicians are doing something you don't like, vote for someone else. Make sure that they bring in regulation that is there for you, not for the businesses that lobby them. (Music starts to build) We can choose the products that are sold to us by buying something different. We can make small changes in our lives that will make us healthier and take responsibility for our own well-being (louder). Write to your MPs, register to vote, write to the papers, rant on the internet! (music climaxes in a thundering crescendo!) We are all The One!
Boom, big finish. I frickin' love that film.
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
This could be Ellesmere, or anywhere.
I've been working in Ellesmere Port this week. If you've never been, it's a northern industrial town on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal and has kept itself busy producing chemicals, refining oil and building Vauxhall Astras. But its high street, Whitby Road, looks like many other roads in less affluent parts of the UK. When walking to work from the train station, I was struck by a feeling that this was not a street designed to improve your wellbeing. There are other streets, of course, as well as out-of-town arcades, shopping centres and supermarkets, but I wasn't there, I was here.
The results are below. It's not very (at all) scientific. I didn't document or publish my aims and methods before setting off, though I did come up with the categories on the train in advance. There were some tricky businesses selling multiple classes of goods and services (there was a company that would do you a loan, book you a taxi or a sell you a refurbished washing machine that I struggled to place...). I'm not sure that I could reproduce my findings, never mind anyone else. Some of the vacant buildings did have people working on them or 'coming soon' signs but I kept them as vacant. There was a Blockbuster that I may have put as retail, when it could have been a service but then I remembered that it has actually gone into administration so I'm pretty sure it went to the vacant category.
Anyhow, minor errors aside, you'll see that there a quite a few businesses here that do not have the health of Ellesmere Port's people as their first concern. There are quite a few pawn shops and short term loan companies, which might be profiting from people's financial difficulties. Once you've got your loan, you can promptly lose it at a range of bookmakers, amusement arcades and bingo halls. It is much easier to spend your money on cigarettes, alcohol or fast-food than anything healthy. I tried to find an apple on my way to the station yesterday evening. I had to settle for an Apple Tango.
There are streets that are worse - I didn't see any sunbed salons for instance - but it is still easy to see how people walking down streets such as these with a limited amount of money in their pockets, end up making unhealthy choices. Surely one of the vacant shops could sell some fruit and veg?
Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom. I came across the Montague Cafe, which is part of a council-led scheme and offers employment to young people and sells alcohol-free drinks and healthier food options.
The council are offering grants to landlords of long-term vacant properties to enable refurbishment and occupation by community groups and projects and this is starting to improve a few buildings along the street.
It's this sort of action by councils and community groups that can really make a difference to where we live and work. Well done to them and the local MP Andrew Miller ( http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10435/andrew_miller/ellesmere_port_and_neston ). They are limited in what they can do though. If it's more profitable to sell booze, fags and takeaways than fruit and veg, then that's what businesses will offer. If they are cheaper to buy and it's hard to even find, never mind afford healthy alternatives, then that's what people will buy. Only legislation at national and international level can really change this.
I brought my own apple today, I needn't have bothered. On the way home I called into the Polish food store and its selection of fruit and veg was fantastic. I'd recommend it.
 |
| An air quality display in front of a pawnbroker and takeaways. |
Due to train scheduling, I had 45 minutes to do a 20 minute walk this morning. I decided, as I'm sure many of you would, to categorize every building along the main, built-up section of the street and then turn this into a pie-chart. I've never really made a 3D pie-chart with pulled out segments as if I was giving a key-note speech so this seemed particularly appealing.
The results are below. It's not very (at all) scientific. I didn't document or publish my aims and methods before setting off, though I did come up with the categories on the train in advance. There were some tricky businesses selling multiple classes of goods and services (there was a company that would do you a loan, book you a taxi or a sell you a refurbished washing machine that I struggled to place...). I'm not sure that I could reproduce my findings, never mind anyone else. Some of the vacant buildings did have people working on them or 'coming soon' signs but I kept them as vacant. There was a Blockbuster that I may have put as retail, when it could have been a service but then I remembered that it has actually gone into administration so I'm pretty sure it went to the vacant category.
Anyhow, minor errors aside, you'll see that there a quite a few businesses here that do not have the health of Ellesmere Port's people as their first concern. There are quite a few pawn shops and short term loan companies, which might be profiting from people's financial difficulties. Once you've got your loan, you can promptly lose it at a range of bookmakers, amusement arcades and bingo halls. It is much easier to spend your money on cigarettes, alcohol or fast-food than anything healthy. I tried to find an apple on my way to the station yesterday evening. I had to settle for an Apple Tango.
The food shops include an Iceland supermarket. This does offer some vegetables and I'm sure you could craft some healthier meals from its wares but looking at this site - http://www.iceland.co.uk/amazing-iceland-value/ - I suspect that it would be easier not to. The other is a Polish shop called Baltic Store. I had to give this place the benefit of the doubt as it wasn't open when I went past. The Apple Tango came from an off-license with a few groceries but the only fresh veg was some green potatoes.
The takeaways ranged from fried chicken to pizzas, to kebabs and burgers and fish & chips. You could dine in at an Indian takeaway or Subway as far as I could see (you can get some salad there, but you'll be offered a meal deal with a large sugary drink) or at the pub. I'm not against all pubs and agree that they can be an important part of the community, but this one was part of a large chain and offered discounts and drink offers.
The takeaways ranged from fried chicken to pizzas, to kebabs and burgers and fish & chips. You could dine in at an Indian takeaway or Subway as far as I could see (you can get some salad there, but you'll be offered a meal deal with a large sugary drink) or at the pub. I'm not against all pubs and agree that they can be an important part of the community, but this one was part of a large chain and offered discounts and drink offers.
There are streets that are worse - I didn't see any sunbed salons for instance - but it is still easy to see how people walking down streets such as these with a limited amount of money in their pockets, end up making unhealthy choices. Surely one of the vacant shops could sell some fruit and veg?
Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom. I came across the Montague Cafe, which is part of a council-led scheme and offers employment to young people and sells alcohol-free drinks and healthier food options.
The council are offering grants to landlords of long-term vacant properties to enable refurbishment and occupation by community groups and projects and this is starting to improve a few buildings along the street.
I found an arts and photography project called the Paperboat Gallery
and another project called the Fablab, where schools and community groups can fabricate, err, all sorts of things
It's this sort of action by councils and community groups that can really make a difference to where we live and work. Well done to them and the local MP Andrew Miller ( http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10435/andrew_miller/ellesmere_port_and_neston ). They are limited in what they can do though. If it's more profitable to sell booze, fags and takeaways than fruit and veg, then that's what businesses will offer. If they are cheaper to buy and it's hard to even find, never mind afford healthy alternatives, then that's what people will buy. Only legislation at national and international level can really change this.
I brought my own apple today, I needn't have bothered. On the way home I called into the Polish food store and its selection of fruit and veg was fantastic. I'd recommend it.
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