Don’t let the public health zealots demonise us innocent drinkers.
Charles Moore in the tellytubbygiraffe.
My first reaction – and, indeed, my later and my final one – was not to believe the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, and her Guidelines Development Group.
You shouldn’t, for she is a liar. She is a liar about this, just as her predecessors were liars when it came to bollocks about second-hand smoke. Just as they lie about fat, salt, sugar and anything else that people like to consume. They are puritans who are afraid that someone, somewhere might be enjoying themselves without state approval.
These people are evil. This is not about health. None of it ever was about health. This is about control. Nothing more.
No, my disbelief is because I sense a political motive rather than a medical one.
Well done for getting there. You are a bit late to the party, but better late than never.
I mean politicised campaigners who see industry as bad, consumers as stupid, government as good, and themselves as legislators to compel the public to behave in certain ways. Since I suspect such people’s motives, why should I accept the objectivity of what they say about health?
Precisely. The best way is resistance. To openly disobey their edicts and pour scorn on them. To undermine and circumvent them at every opportunity.
Anyway, read the whole thing. Interestingly, apart from the puritans and useful idiots that fester in the comments section of the Guardian, I am seeing a backlash in the media as Sally Davies jumps the shark with her idiotic “no safe limits” bullshit.
If you do have to go near a medic or anyone involved in a medical appointment you could always ask if the doctor is a fellow of the RCP and ask for someone who is not a health Nazi if they are. Most of course won’t be but the explanation might make them think. Creative passive resistance may have some impact and is better than actually punching the arrogant shits.
To be honest I find most health professionals really decent. I had to go to A&E recently and the nurse on getting to the public health questions said “I can see you are in pain so I won’t wind you up by asking you this”
The totalitarians at the top of public health don’t make life easier for anybody including hard working front line health workers.
It is important to remember that medicine is not a meritocracy. The arrogant mouth pieces behind the misanthropic power play got there by shouting loudest, escaping patient facing duties for long enough to write scientifically illiterate papers in bulk and stuffing their noses further up the arse of the person immediately above them on the greasy pole than their rivals. They are not nice people at all.
I am a physician, an intensive care physician.
I see the end results of excess drinking, smoking and eating every day. They are horrible ways to die.
I hope that you can therefore see why I have formed the opinion that people should be allowed to do what they bloody well like as long as they don’t harm other people.
Let people drink, smoke and eat nothing but cream buns if that’s their thing, please just don’t make the public pick up the tab for their health care due to these pastimes.
The public includes those who take risks. In the case of drinkers and smokers, they pay a premium, unlike those who engage in contact sports and expect “the public” to pay for their health care. We all pay in and if we need it, we get back what we have paid for. That’s how socialised medicine works.
In a free society there should not be a government health care system or at least not one that dominates the medical market place. People should get insurance to cover their medical costs. If they participate in statistically risky behaviours then they should have increased premiums. Free markets work if the only role of government is to prevent mercantilism.
Perfectly true-and it would not necessarily involve higher premiums. A heavy smoker, drinker or fattie is likely to die younger thereby saving on extended geriatric costs.
We are, however, where we are. You and I will not change it.
Not with an attitude like that Sonny Jim.
By the way they don’t necessarily die quickly. With modern medical care they can be kept grumbling along. In and out of ITU 6 to 8 times a year with long hospital stays into their 70s or more. So unlike what Sir Humphry said they don’t save us money with their early deaths.
Do not refer to me as sonny Jim. I don’t take kindly to being patronised.
A few years back, the Devil’s Kitchen published an article about his experience looking for private health insurance. Despite being a smoker, his premiums were not higher. This is because the insurance industry, unlike the medical profession, looks at the whole, not just those that visit hospitals. Not all smokers will have lingering disease caused by their habit, likewise drinkers and fatties. Many, most, probably, will not see a doctor from one decade to the next. They might spend a few weeks at the end of their lives in intensive care, but overall, will have been net contributors to the system. Insurers realise this and set premiums accordingly.
“This is about control. Nothing more.” Mmm. Disagree. It’s about money. Because they’ve run out, yet again.
The health professionals that I encounter seem OK. They have to do my BMI reading but it is pretty clear that they take it with a pinch of salt. Of course I am a very well behaved little diabetic, I don’t know how nice they are to those that are less so.
“…I mean politicised campaigners who see industry as bad, consumers as stupid, government as good…”
As Ronald Reagan so aptly stated, “Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”.
Ask for facts; it stalls them every time. BMI is as big a load of bollox as you’ll find anywhere. I’m 5’9″ my BIL is 6’2″; when we sit side by side I’m an inch taller than he is. Whaur’s yer BMI noo?
The definition of an alcoholic? Someone who drinks more than his doctor.
(Not my original I’m sorry to say)
I was once weighed by a female practice nurse who was about a foot shorter than myself and about thirty years my junior who must have been about two stone heavier , who then berated me about my BMI , I am six foot two and sixteen stone and in my mid sixties .
“When you come to see us we’ll be asking you about your smoking and drinking” I will impolitely reply mind your own ******* business.