TICAP, The Hague, March 15th 2010

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Truth Seeker and ASH

"I don't think I need go any further, save to say, bunkum!

Please Truth Seeker, give us your thoughts and perhaps indicate how your decision making process is going."

Please revisit Truth Seeker Blog for an update and read ASH's wise words.

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Sunday, July 13, 2008

The BMA Gets A Kicking Part 2

“Doctor, doctor, there’s smoke in my eyes”

By Simon Heffer

We should be used by now to the self-important berks of the British Medical Association using their annual junket to suggest some aspect of our over-regulated, over-nannied lives in which they feel there is insufficient interference. This year, though, they have excelled themselves, demanding higher certification for films that show anyone smoking. Soon, the films of Bogey and Bacall (the latter of whom is still going strong and looking pretty good at 83) will be top-shelf material, and allowed to be shown only on subscription channels well after the watershed. Let us, though, consider the sheer unmitigated claptrap of this idea. I am addicted to old films, watch little else when I go near a television, and have been so since infancy. People smoke in them all the time. Yet I have never smoked so much as a salmon in my life. Do you, like me, start to feel troubled about what role the medical profession would find for itself if we had a totalitarian state? What did that nice Mr Mengele do for a living, by the way?

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The BMA Gets A Kicking Part 1

“The Nasty Doctor”

By Blad Tolstoy


Needless to say, this is a doctor friendly website. After all, with one member of the production team being a doctor, and the other having worked for the NHS three times in three different capacities, it would be odd if it wasn’t.

However, like many members of the public, including a number of doctors, there is a significant degree of concern with the way the BMA conducts itself these days. It is, essentially, a medical trade union although as a trade union it has, in many respects, exceeded even the NUM’s Arthur Scargill in being bossy and dictatorial.

Indeed, the BMA now believes in dictating our lifestyles and along with NICE (The National Institute for Clinical Excellence) it no longer thinks that people with “unhealthy lifestyles should receive NHS treatment, even though those people may have paid for that treatment many times over. Smokers, of course, are an important case in question, for though the payment of tax on the over-the-counter sales of tobacco products, plus the corporation tax levied on the profits of the tobacco companies, they permit the government to receive annual revenue to the tune of several billions of pounds. And all that on top of National Insurance contributions!

I was pleased then, this last week, to read Janet Daley in The Daily Telegraph, having a go at Dr Hamish Meldrum, head of the BMA. No, I said “ Hamish Meldrum” and not “Victor Meldrew”, but you may be forgiven for being confused about this as they are both rather nasty old buggers.

Anyway, Meldrum has angered patients' groups and fellow doctors by saying that current rules which prevent patients from combining private and NHS treatment – by stipulating that those who pay for any part of their care should pay for all of it – must be maintained.

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/opinion/2008/07/07/do0701.xml

and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/2254806/NHS-New-row-over-top-up-payments.html

This seems to have caused a particular furore amongst cancer patients, many of whom need to purchase their own additional treatments or top-ups to survive.

Meldrum was described as “cruel” and in denial about the current reality of the services that the NHS can afford to provide, and I must admit, it was good to hear of this off-white paragon of virtue getting a good kicking. Ever heard of the Hippocratic Oath, Hamish?

However, the good news doesn’t just end there, as my old pal Simon Heffer had a go too, in today’s Telegraph (12/7/08). This time it was in relation to the BMA’s comments on films. I shan’t say any more as I don’t want to spoil your appetite for this next little piece of dry caustic criticism delivered in a way that only Simon can.

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Monday, July 07, 2008

Liberty is Coming Back to America!

By Blad Tolstoy

I am pleased to announce that as I write, ladies and gentlemen, a major event is taking place in Hawaii. Today, July 6th, is International Day of Defiance in that sunny state and a new dawn is beginning. Yes, I know many of you have always kept the faith, but still you wondered when a change was coming. Now that day has arrived.

Hawaiian bar owners, cyclists and gun owners are out on the streets and united in their demands for freedom of choice. This is a new alliance and one that is set to grow... And grow...And grow!

A message of support has already been given in a Skype chat conference, and personally, to Dave Crowley (one of the prime movers in Hawaii), by The International Coalition Against Prohibition (TICAP) which represents organisations from some 15 countries through out the world.

Now please read this newsflash at Forces International:

March on Capitol on July 6

http://forces.org/News_Portal/news_viewer.php?id=1275

And then, tune into this programme for an interview with Dave Crowley and the following discussions on that precious matter of freedom of choice. As you will discover, the mood in America is starting to change!

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/CINCINNATI-OH/WLW-AM/MIKE070508H2.mp3

Please excuse the pauses in the podcast. Just be patient and persevere. You'll find it will be worth it!

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