aboveboard
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A fresh start
Last year was the year of the veil; this year will be that of the video -- the execution of Saddam Hussein. Technology but not morality has advanced. Public hangings would not be short of viewers.
Visited my mother yesterday. Sometimes I wonder which is worse, a diseased body or a diseased brain. Most of the residents look normal but their brains are far from normal.
A new woman approached the table where I sat with my parents. She asked if we could help her. She had been to visit her family in the morning and had come back but now had left it too late to get a taxi home. Could we do something? 'I'm deaf,' said my mother cupping an ear. 'I am too,' said my father. Fortunately the woman didn't turn to me. Oh well, she said, I'll try someone else, and off she went only to return two minutes later with the same request.
The woman's bedroom is next to that of my parents. My mother encountered her the day before in the corridor. The woman was wearing a nightie and bedsocks. She asked my mother if she could tell her how to get out; she didn't have a room here and it was time for her to go home. 'Are you intending to go home dressed like that?' asked my mother pointing to her nightie. The woman looked down and the message that one doesn't go out wearing one's nightie must have reached the surface of her failing brain.
'If you can find which room you left your clothes in,' my mother told her, 'then that will be your room. You can stay here tonight.' My mother always tries to be helpful; the blind leading the daft in this case. In the first bedroom that they entered was a chair that my mother could just about see. On this were some clothes. The woman looked at these and recognised them; they were hers. End of close encounter of the muddled mind.
Thought for today
We reprove others not so much to correct them as to persuade them that we ourselves are free from their faults.
Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 1665
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1.1.07 18:40
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Something must be done
The first editorial in The Times today is about the high crash rate in young male drivers. Young men crash more than older drivers, and have done so for years, but today it is news. The front page has a photo of a crash scene. A 22 year old man crashed his car into another after driving at more than 80mph in central London killing a 21 year old passenger. Traffic congestion has its advantages. The editorial called the high death rate 'unacceptable' (it must be acceptable to someone) and ended, feebly, with the sentence 'Something must be done.'
The Chief Driving Examiner of the DSA, according to the article accompanying the photo, says there needs to be change in the attitude to driving, a change in the attitude of young men that is. I think there needs to be a change in the attitude of all drivers not just young male drivers. And I think there needs to be a change in attitude of passengers too. People should think twice before accepting lifts from some drivers. If the driving frightens them, they should say so, perhaps adding that they are likely to be sick unless the driver slows down. Loud retching and putting hand over mouth adds credibility to this.
I've had an idea. How about an aerosol that smells of vomit or a stick that when broken releases a smell of vomit? Worried passengers could use these surreptitiously and, for added effect, open a can of tinned vomit onto the floor if they couldn't produce any vomit of their own.
Back to something must be done. Politicians should set a good example by becoming advanced drivers. They won't of course; they will, if they do anything, resort to their usual response--that of introducing more legislation.
Thought for today
We seem to be living in a world where we spend our time dredging up the past. The problems are in front of us not behind.
Extract from a letter in The Times prompted by the recent report on the death of Princess Diana
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2.1.07 19:29
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Easy words
John (two chins) Prescott has criticised the videoing of the execution of Saddam Hussein. Easy for him to criticise. What I think is remarkable is that someone present had a working mobile phone. However, would we have acted differently? Our newspapers printed photos of his death; they didn't have to. Money talks; the motive was profit. JP should have kept his mouth shut. (Come to think of it, he should keep it shut more often then he wouldn't be so fat.)
The Americans said that the job would have been done differently if they had been in charge. No doubt, but not necessarily better. They do not have an unblemished track record.
Registered with another GPs' practice today. I had to fill in two forms and prove my identity. The practice wanted a photoID and a letter with my address even though this was on my new driving licence. There must be some people with no form of photoID; not everyone has a passport or driving licence.
Householders going to the tip to dump rubbish are not required to prove that they live locally. I wonder how long this will last. The council could be paying for the disposal of outsiders' rubbish. Correction: taxpayers could be paying for the disposal of outsiders' rubbish. Someone commented about yesterday's entry: 'In the summer on 2005 my 25 year old male friend drove his car into a tree, killing his 19 year old female passenger. He was three times over the legal alcohol limit.'
Why did she get into the car with him? That was my point; passengers must think carefully before accepting rides. We should all think about road safety; we all use the roads. We ain't safe even on the pavement.
The comment ended: 'Drinking and driving or just reckless driving is a huge lack of judgement but I think we live in a permissive culture.' I call it non-judgemental rather than permissive. It's time the worm turned.
Talking of worms turning, I no longer smile benignly when dogs jump up at me. I flail my arms about with clenched fists, look crossly at the owners and tell them to keep their dog under control. Women usually apologise for the dog's behaviour; men look surprised at my response. Why is this? My theory is that those who dislike dogs slobbering on them and putting their muddy paws on them, and I can't believe I am alone in this, haven't the guts to say so. Thoughtless dog-owners are thus unaware of their feelings. They like dogs and assume everyone else does.
Thought for today
The danger of Remembrance Day is it becomes a purely backward-looking event.
Ed Balls, Labour politician, 2006
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3.1.07 19:34
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Times change
The latest book I am reading is Beyond Words by John Humphrys. He rants in places but otherwise is interesting. Prompted by a comment of his about the current presentation of the news, I watched the BBC1 news at 6pm, not having done so for ages; I listen to the news on the radio. Newsreaders in his day read sitting behind a desk so he often wore jeans because his trousers would not be visible. Times have changed. There were two newsreaders today, two women dressed to kill. They reminded me of Morecambe and Wise as they took it in turns to read sentences. I'll stay with the radio.
Tony Blair has returned early from his holiday. (Did anyone notice he was away?) So far he has yet to comment on the hanging of Saddam Hussein. Hardly surprising. The mess in Iraq is thanks to him and GWB so it would be a bit rich of him to criticise the conduct of the execution.
Thought for today
The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
King Edward VIII (1894 - 1972)
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4.1.07 19:43
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Fiction not fact
Watched the final episode of Bodies last night. It was shown on BBC3 a few weeks ago. The surgical detail was well done; the operations and deliveries looked realistic; blood flowed and babies popped out. There was one mistake, though; a woman bleeding from a placental abruption was given two units of uncrossmatched ONeg blood before crossmatched blood was available. The haematology dept would have had a fit at this. Modern methods of crossmatching blood do not take long. The haematology dept where I worked aimed to have crossmatched blood available in twenty minutes from the time they received a patient's sample of blood. The woman with the abruption, whose bleeding was not considered heavy enough for her to need immediate surgery, should have been treated with intravenous colloids and clear fluids until crossmatched blood was ready for her. The medical advisors slipped up.
The surgery was realistic but the appointment of the incompetent (unfortunate?) obstetrician to the hospital with the hero was not, and that irked me. It seemed (as I understood from the programme) that neither knew the other was employed by the hospital until they met accidentally. The baddie would have had to visit the hospital when he applied for the post and would have had to meet all the other obstetricians and gynecologists if he wanted the post. He would have met the goodie before he was appointed. When the post was advertised, or certainly by the time of the short-listing, the members of the appointments committee would already have been decided. The goodie would have known who was on the committee.
Hospitals are not isolated places; word gets round. Tales of incompetence leak out, not necessarily to the public but certainly to the doctors in neighbouring hospitals. Also, word gets round about unhelpful radiologists (or unhelpful any kind of specialist). One way of dealing with those is to avoid them; find another one.
Thought for today
Television is the first truly democratic culture--the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what the people do want.
Clive Barnes, in the New Yorks Times, 1969
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5.1.07 19:45
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Looking back
For the past ten years I have produced a Christmas newsletter. I looked at some today; they reveal how management changed in the NHS over the years.
Processes became popular in 1998. Under the heading Life is a process, I wrote: Everything is a process these days. Decision making process is common as are talks process and peace process. In one document at work I lost count of the number of processes. We had interview process, health care delivery process, merger process, complaints process, patient recovery process, consent process and learning process. How did we manage before all these processes?
The next item was headed Rules, what rules? Each operating theatre has a fridge for the exclusive storage of drugs that deteriorate if kept at room temperature. One day an old lady having a skin graft under local anaesthetic complained of feeling hot so I looked in the fridge for some ice to wrap in a cloth to cool her down. There was ice in the compartment but there was also a prawn curry. Two days later this had been joined by three chocolate orange mousses. So much for regulations.
Thought for today
Nothing has an uglier look to us than reason, when it is not on our side.
George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, Political, Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflexions, c.1694
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6.1.07 20:59
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Why so critical?
According the news today, Downing Street said that the conduct of the execution of SH was completely wrong. Gordon Brown said the taunting was deplorable. (Some would describe the invasion in these terms.) The criticism should not be considered in isolation; it should be considered in the context of events past, present and future.
Let's be honest; SH was no saint. His overthrow and subsequent capture were precipitated by the orders of GWB and TB. Thousands of Iraqis have died since the invasion and thousands more are likely to die. Freedom is no benefit if you are in constant fear of death.
What good does the condemning do? What purpose does it serve? Perhaps the taunting and filming were done by supporters of SH to increase the chance of his being seen as a martyr. Perhaps they were done by others to increase the chaos.
Thought for today
Any time a politician tells you 'The Russians are coming,' hang on to your wallet. It's just another raid on the treasury.
Gore Vidal (1925 - )
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7.1.07 20:03
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