Tag: health

Saturday Sound-off7 Comments

Why do we Celebrate Stupidity?

franklparker

This past week an 83 year-old woman from Barnsley has made the rounds of the TV studios after she said she had no intention of following the latest set of Covid restrictions.I saw her in one inerview where she protested her concern for all the other people who are dying from other conditions. How stupid can you get? Does she, and people like her, not realise that every Covid patient in hospital is taking a resource that would otherwise be used by a patient on the waiting list for an operation or diagnostic procedure. At the time of writing there … Continue reading Why do we Celebrate Stupidity?

Original writing, Publication1 Comment

What a difference a year makes…

franklparker

Juliet Nubel was born in Glasgow but now live in France. She began revealing her writing to the public just a year ago, as she explains below. She is one of the 20 authors who  have contributed to the anthology “The Box Under The Bed”. Her story is heart-breakingly tragic rather than “scary” in the usually accepted sense. It occupies just two pages at the end of which you find yourself asking “what would I have done in that situation?” A situation, by the way, faced by many people every day. Source: What a difference a year makes… Continue reading What a difference a year makes…

General posts2 Comments

Open Book Blog Hop Oct 2 2017

franklparker

I’ve been a volunteer with a local cancer support charity since the spring of 2010. I mostly work in the garden there. But in 2013 I trained to lead groups of walkers on a programme called ‘Strides for Life‘. Too many of my friends at relatives have been afflicted by this disease which takes lives at random. It’s good to be involved with people who help those recovering from the illness, and family members struggling to come to terms with the fact a loved one has it. This is first time I’ve participated in the Open Book Blog Hop. You … Continue reading Open Book Blog Hop Oct 2 2017

British History, UK politicsLeave a comment

Malnutrition and Indolence – Lessons for Today

franklparker

In my previous post I postulated that poor diet in expectant mothers and infants had, in the past, a role in preventing the poor in Ireland from improving their conditions. But can it also explain the lack of aspiration evident among the poor in modern developed economies? The British government during World War II was concerned to ensure that expectant and nursing mothers and infants received proper nutrition despite the food shortages and rationing that characterised the war years and those immediately following. They would have been ignorant of the relationship between diet and brain growth. But they were certainly … Continue reading Malnutrition and Indolence – Lessons for Today

UK politics1 Comment

General Practice: Unable to Cope?

franklparker

I have been shaken recently by claims that in England you might have to wait 2-3 weeks for a GP appointment. The most recent instance was during an interview on the BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ programme yesterday evening, Dame Julie More, the CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, remarked, in what was little more than an aside, that she had spoken to a patient in A&E that morning who had stated she had been told by her GP there was a 3 week wait for an appointment “so I’ve come here.” It is no wonder that A&Es up and down the … Continue reading General Practice: Unable to Cope?

General posts1 Comment

Society: what is it exactly?

franklparker

Thanks to Stevie over at https://steviet3.wordpress.com/ for nominating me for the ‘Three Quotes for Three Days’ challenge. The rules of the challenge are: Three quotes for three days. Three nominees each day (no repetition). Thank the person who nominated you. Inform the nominees. For my 2nd contribution I am quoting Margaret Thatcher: There is no such thing as society. Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, 1979-90, in an interview for Woman’s Own, September 1987. Often quoted, frequently misunderstood, this single remark is held up as an example of her government’s belief that the state had no role to play in the … Continue reading Society: what is it exactly?