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Mar. 6th, 2006 10:46 pmA couple of years ago the British Government, in their infinite wisdom issued an edict stating that said we should all eat five portions of fruit or veg a day. Now it is almost impossible to buy packaged fruit of veg without being informed how much of it you would have to eat in order to consume a portion and it's frighteningly precise: 5 cherry tomatoes, 5cm of cucumber, 1/2 a pack of this, a quarter of that and a whole one of these. So I like vegetable. Alot. But I have never managed to consume 5 portions a day and I don't see how any one else could either. Of course the government make it even more difficult by saying that each portion should be of a different variety. Did they ever stop and even thing about the logistics behind such a dietary adjustment? As a single person living alone, I would have to spend somewhere in the region of £7 a day to keep up with 5 portions. Thats £50 a week which is more than half of my weekly food budget. I know families of 4 who have to get through a week on £40. Thats what Tony Blair and his Jag driving, property munching, money laundering Labour government don't understand. Now reduce my National Insurance premiums or give me 'veg' coupons and we might be talking. Perhaps the NHS should consider 'vegetables on prescription', that way I could get a 6 week supply for just £6.40 (but it's probably gone up. Again.) I mean if there really are health benefits then it will save the NHS money in the future won't it? I'm being facetious but the principle of the matter remains the same; that the government are saying that we are being unhealthy if we don't meet THEIR quota of veg (hmmm, I wonder if there is some under the table deal going on with the veg growers here) and I resent that.
The growing financial crisis in the NHS (the government will deny that it exists, but trust me. It does.) is to a number of reasons. The ever growing range of technologies that can be used to treat illnesses are almost invariably more expensive than the old treatments. This in turn is largely due to profiteering by drug companies who will exploits patents until they are blue in the teeth or the patent runs out and they bow to competition, usually by which point the treatment has been replaced by a new and even more expensive patent-protected therapy. In a hospital, staff managers have managers who have managers at board level who have managers at trust level who have managers at government level are bleeding the system dry. Resource management, risk management, risk containment management, anti discrimination review boards, policy review boards, research management, public relations management....what the hell is a hospital doing with a whole crew of people whose job it is to deal with the press anyway? All these department are made up of career managers with the odd doctor or nurse thrown in for good measure.
I have digressed, this was meant to be about vegetables:) and I was thinking about it earlier because I bought a packet of bean sprouts to put in a stir fry and forgot to add them (whoops!)so I decided that they would make a great afternoon snack, well after half an hour of shoveling the things in to my mouth I had only eaten half the packet and saw that one half of a packet makes a portion and could help but thing how highly inefficient bean sprouts really are!
Incidentally I was amused this evening to see that McDonald's have introduced a new choice in their Value Meals. Diners are now given the tantalising option of either fries or 'Garden Salad'. So now people can happily waltz into McDonald's and order a Big Mac and salad, content in the knowledge that they are ordering healthily! I was unable to keep the smile off my face when I heard one of the 'customer service assistants' call over the hot plate, 'Can I get some Garden Salad Sauce?' Oh yes, that most famous of sauces, or would that be 'salad dressing' to you and me?
The growing financial crisis in the NHS (the government will deny that it exists, but trust me. It does.) is to a number of reasons. The ever growing range of technologies that can be used to treat illnesses are almost invariably more expensive than the old treatments. This in turn is largely due to profiteering by drug companies who will exploits patents until they are blue in the teeth or the patent runs out and they bow to competition, usually by which point the treatment has been replaced by a new and even more expensive patent-protected therapy. In a hospital, staff managers have managers who have managers at board level who have managers at trust level who have managers at government level are bleeding the system dry. Resource management, risk management, risk containment management, anti discrimination review boards, policy review boards, research management, public relations management....what the hell is a hospital doing with a whole crew of people whose job it is to deal with the press anyway? All these department are made up of career managers with the odd doctor or nurse thrown in for good measure.
I have digressed, this was meant to be about vegetables:) and I was thinking about it earlier because I bought a packet of bean sprouts to put in a stir fry and forgot to add them (whoops!)so I decided that they would make a great afternoon snack, well after half an hour of shoveling the things in to my mouth I had only eaten half the packet and saw that one half of a packet makes a portion and could help but thing how highly inefficient bean sprouts really are!
Incidentally I was amused this evening to see that McDonald's have introduced a new choice in their Value Meals. Diners are now given the tantalising option of either fries or 'Garden Salad'. So now people can happily waltz into McDonald's and order a Big Mac and salad, content in the knowledge that they are ordering healthily! I was unable to keep the smile off my face when I heard one of the 'customer service assistants' call over the hot plate, 'Can I get some Garden Salad Sauce?' Oh yes, that most famous of sauces, or would that be 'salad dressing' to you and me?
