Barney Frank FTW. xD.

I’ve spent a very pleasant evening in the company of the Sceptics in the Pub London, where the speaker was Dr. Aubrey de Gray, Chief Scientific Officer with the SENS Foundation. In brief, de Gray (Wikipedia article) set out the work of the SENS foundation which, as I understand it, looks at ageing as a [...]

The proposals in the US at the moment seem to be ranging between extension of a non-exclusionary scheme like Medicare to anyone that wants it on the one hand and public health co-operatives on the other. Whether that would be a single co-operative for the US, one for each state or many more remains to [...]

Went to the rather lovely Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve today. Having just moved to Cambridgeshire, Mrs Dave and I wanted to see the fens and I’m glad we went – I’m sure we’re going to go back with slightly sturdier footwear. There’s a couple of pretty easy walks – one, the boardwalk, is fully [...]

And this evening's song recommendation is http://www.last.fm/music/DVA/_/Dua+Dua # RT @atlanticcom How Will Europe Protect Itself Against the Nationalist Virus?: http://bit.ly/PTypc # My train is running slow and the person next to me's phone beeps with every button press.Why have it on that setting?Grr. # Ooo… KDE Twitter widget. Nice. This will mean I never get [...]

The polemic of Obamacare and the nature of the NHS continues. There is a really important contribution to be made by Dr A. J. Cronin, a doctor of some note. Dr Cronin died in 1981, and the contribution is not scientific, but moral. It is not a paper, but a novel, called The Citadel. I [...]

I wonder if Dan Hannan’s posturing over the NHS might end up being the Tories’ undoing. The #welovetheNHS hashtag on Twitter and equivalents on other social media thingummies suggest not only that the NHS, for all its problems, is popular but also that the NHS forms part of our national identity. I know that this [...]

Yes, I’m biased towards Labour, but the boy done good. H/T The Wardman Wire. xD.

Conservatives for Patients’ Rights (CPRights) have a video up decrying government healthcare. The NHS has its problems; no-one would say that it is perfect. However, it does a pretty damned good job and it does so regardless of someone’s ability to pay. While we don’t see the faces of private healthcare – or those who [...]

Listening to the rather wonderful Fry’s English Delight reminded me of a post on the rather wonderful F Word Blog. A dimwit MEP by the name of Roger Helmer doesn’t believe that homophobia exists. Mr Helmer, whose blog has the strapline ‘Straight Talking’, says In psychiatry, a phobia is defined as an irrational fear. I [...]