Monday, May 07, 2012
Demi tweet
A return to the clockwise Horton Lane run yesterday where I scored three demi tweets. That is to say a sighting good enough to say that it was a small multi-coloured bird, probably a finch, but not good enough to say exactly what sort of a bird, never mind finch. White hawthorn looking good - although not clear why it is lot more out in Horton Lane than it is in our front garden.
Oddly enough, later in the day, getting on towards midnight, Horton Lane reappeared in the form of noise pollution. Some young bog-standard who thought it clever to charge up and down in some noisy car with much revving and squealing of both brake and tyre. Must have gone on for half an hour or more; quite an attention span for such a person. Or perhaps, being mindless, they can carry on forever if not disturbed. Worst incident of this sort that I can remember. See March 31st for the last occasion that all this was in the news.
In between, came across an item in the 'Coeliac News' about how prescription policy varied from county to county across the country, with some counties bearing down on the free or subsidised supply of gluten free bread. A subject on which I am allowed to be holy having forced FIL off free prescription onto buy-your-own bread, having read that the prescription bread costs the NHS several times what it costs to buy the stuff for yourself in a shop. Possibly a mild version of the disease which has military ashtrays coming in at £500 a pop, instead of the £5 you or I might pay in Wilkinson. Expensive stuff, the sort of paint needed camoulflage an ashtray in the desert.
So, the question is, when is it right for something to be provided on a prescription, which means that it is likely to be free or near-free to the old and near-old?
Given that we have a national health service, free at the point of delivery, it is right that medicines should be subsided in this way, although it would be good if we could devise some not too unpleasant way to bear down on the huge amount of waste that this seems to involve. But is gluten free bread a medicine?
When FIL was first diagnosed, maybe 50 years ago (he has a very small Coeliac Society membership number), gluten awareness in shops and their suppliers was close to zero. It was quite hard to get hold of gluten free products, they were not much good but they were expensive. In these circumstances, perhaps not unreasonable that society should draw some of the pain and make the stuff available on prescription from the chemist. A small catch being that as the consumer is not then paying at the point of delivery, he has no incentive to be careful and the supplier has every incentive to get him to call down as much as he can get away with. Another catch is that the stuff is bulky and does not keep very well; a lot more of a pain from the chemist's point of view than aspirin or oramorph.
Furthermore, in the intervening 50 years, our supermarkets have cottoned onto the free-from market, a market which includes free-from-gluten, and all kinds of gluten free products are available from them, including bread. I dare say the stuff is a bit dearer than regular bread but not hugely so. So why should the taxpayer continue to pick up the tab for this basic foodstuff? The taxpayer does not pay for your water so why should it pay for your bread? No longer relevant that it is a slightly odd kind of bread.
As it happens we do not buy in a shop as FIL is a bit fussy about brand. We use Dialachemist, an outfit about which, unprompted, Google tells me 'You've visited this page 2 times. Last visit: 24/02/12'. A new to me feature, presumably all part of what seems to be a lot of activity on the user end of the Google offering.
PS: thinking of military ashtrays I wonder if the military are allowed to smoke in their tents in the desert or whether that counts as a workplace in the sense used by the tobacco regulations? Do the NAAFIs have to cover up their displays of duty freeze? Do squaddies puff as much as they used to? After all a lot of them come from the lands of beers and pies where smoking is popular. Could I revive the cult dedicated to the worship of the ancient Mexican goddess of smoke (Tzitzimitl) and get exemption that way, along with the luvvies on their stages?
Oddly enough, later in the day, getting on towards midnight, Horton Lane reappeared in the form of noise pollution. Some young bog-standard who thought it clever to charge up and down in some noisy car with much revving and squealing of both brake and tyre. Must have gone on for half an hour or more; quite an attention span for such a person. Or perhaps, being mindless, they can carry on forever if not disturbed. Worst incident of this sort that I can remember. See March 31st for the last occasion that all this was in the news.
In between, came across an item in the 'Coeliac News' about how prescription policy varied from county to county across the country, with some counties bearing down on the free or subsidised supply of gluten free bread. A subject on which I am allowed to be holy having forced FIL off free prescription onto buy-your-own bread, having read that the prescription bread costs the NHS several times what it costs to buy the stuff for yourself in a shop. Possibly a mild version of the disease which has military ashtrays coming in at £500 a pop, instead of the £5 you or I might pay in Wilkinson. Expensive stuff, the sort of paint needed camoulflage an ashtray in the desert.
So, the question is, when is it right for something to be provided on a prescription, which means that it is likely to be free or near-free to the old and near-old?
Given that we have a national health service, free at the point of delivery, it is right that medicines should be subsided in this way, although it would be good if we could devise some not too unpleasant way to bear down on the huge amount of waste that this seems to involve. But is gluten free bread a medicine?
When FIL was first diagnosed, maybe 50 years ago (he has a very small Coeliac Society membership number), gluten awareness in shops and their suppliers was close to zero. It was quite hard to get hold of gluten free products, they were not much good but they were expensive. In these circumstances, perhaps not unreasonable that society should draw some of the pain and make the stuff available on prescription from the chemist. A small catch being that as the consumer is not then paying at the point of delivery, he has no incentive to be careful and the supplier has every incentive to get him to call down as much as he can get away with. Another catch is that the stuff is bulky and does not keep very well; a lot more of a pain from the chemist's point of view than aspirin or oramorph.
Furthermore, in the intervening 50 years, our supermarkets have cottoned onto the free-from market, a market which includes free-from-gluten, and all kinds of gluten free products are available from them, including bread. I dare say the stuff is a bit dearer than regular bread but not hugely so. So why should the taxpayer continue to pick up the tab for this basic foodstuff? The taxpayer does not pay for your water so why should it pay for your bread? No longer relevant that it is a slightly odd kind of bread.
As it happens we do not buy in a shop as FIL is a bit fussy about brand. We use Dialachemist, an outfit about which, unprompted, Google tells me 'You've visited this page 2 times. Last visit: 24/02/12'. A new to me feature, presumably all part of what seems to be a lot of activity on the user end of the Google offering.
PS: thinking of military ashtrays I wonder if the military are allowed to smoke in their tents in the desert or whether that counts as a workplace in the sense used by the tobacco regulations? Do the NAAFIs have to cover up their displays of duty freeze? Do squaddies puff as much as they used to? After all a lot of them come from the lands of beers and pies where smoking is popular. Could I revive the cult dedicated to the worship of the ancient Mexican goddess of smoke (Tzitzimitl) and get exemption that way, along with the luvvies on their stages?
# posted by Jim @ 2:08 AM 
