The following article is from: 

(Not a sheep, I am not a sheep, I have my own mind, I am fed up with being told what and how to think, Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech, I will speak out)

I turned on Radio London this afternoon to hear the travel news and there on Drivetime were Simon Letterman and Kath Melandri having a discussion about something or other.

Simon said that 63% of people agreed with a certain proposal and asked Kath what proportion that left, he even added assuming there weren't any don't knows.

Kath umm'd and ah'd and Simon said that he thought she wouldn't be able to say.

So Kath asked what the correct figure was and Simon said 47%. Kath assented to this.

Around five minutes later Simon said that someone had sent a text message saying the correct figure was 37%. There was no noticeable embarrassment at having a) given the wrong answer and b) being unable to perform simple mental arithmetic.

I know that the BBC is often accused of only employing "Arts graduates" rather than "Science graduates" but surely anyone who has managed to get a job with the BBC should be able to take 63 away from 100.

I seem to remember this would have counted as a very simple question in a class test at around age 5.

This is one of the first anti-sat-nav signs in the UK.

Would you know what it means?

Vale of Glamorgan Council in South Wales is the first in the UK to use visual signs warning drivers not to believe sat-nav advice after once peaceful villages were reduced to bedlam when heavy-goods lorries got stuck in tiny country lanes.

Now a sign aimed largely at foreign drivers has been put up on the outskirts of the village of St Hilary.

"The proliferation of satellite navigation aids used in heavy goods vehicles, and their over-reliance, especially by overseas drivers, has presented itself as a problem within the Vale of Glamorgan," a spokesman for the council's highways department said.

"A number of these drivers are using routes that are clearly signed as unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles.

"They are continuing with their journey only to find, after travelling some distance, they cannot proceed any further.

"Manoeuvring becomes difficult and the vehicle eventually blocks the road for a significant period of time."

In a bid to overcome the problem, county engineer Mark Simpson designed a pictorial sign aimed at foreign lorry drivers.

The sign was later approved by the Welsh Assembly and has now been put up outside the village for a trial period.

"The signs have been erected on the A48 at the junction to St Hilary and will remain in place for a period of 12 months," the council spokesman added.

"There have been numerous situations where HGVs have become lost and stuck in the village of St Hilary, even though there are signs at the junction of the A48 informing such drivers that the route is unsuitable.

"If the signs prove successful following the trial period, then they will be used at other locations throughout Wales."

Then there is the story of the young woman who was swept away in her car when she was directed into a river:

This is what happened to a driver who put her faith in her satellite navigation system – she ended up in deep water. The £96,000 Mercedes sports car was swept away in a swollen river and the motorist had to be rescued as it sank.

The driver, the latest of many to be led astray by satnavs, was on her way to a christening party in Leicestershire when she was sent down a winding track usually used only by farmers in their 4x4s.

Although the track is signposted as ‘unsuitable for motor vehicles’, the driver carried on and found herself at a ford in the village of Sheepy Magna.

Still accepting what the satnav told her, she set out to cross the ford, but it was swollen after days of heavy rain.

The Mercedes SL500 was swept 600 yards downstream, bouncing fromone bank of the River Sense to the other as the woman, in her late 20s and from London, frantically tried to escape.

She was finally rescued by villager Alice Clark when the car ran aground.

There have been many similar stories.

Surely drivers just need to use common sense and not blindly obey their satnav.

Now, in view of the latest news, I may have to reconsider my decision.

STATINS 'MAY EASE RISK OF DEMENTIA'

Taking cheap drugs designed to lower cholesterol could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's by 80 per cent, scientists say today.

Three million patients at risk of developing heart disease are already prescribed statins

An American study found that patients on cholesterol-lowering drugs had fewer signs of Alzheimer's.

Doctors are excited that statins, which cost as little as 60p a day, could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's by as much as four-fifths.

A team at Washington University, in Seattle, found fewer "tangles" and "plaques", which are signs of Alzheimer's, in the brains of people who took statins than in those who did not.

Three million patients at risk of developing heart disease because they have elevated levels of bad cholesterol are already prescribed statins.

The new study will add weight to the argument that although it would medicate a generation, the cheap and simple drugs may prevent ill health and early deaths in hundreds of thousands of people.

Campaigners recently lost their High Court fight for access on the NHS to three new Alzheimer's drugs, Aricept, Reminyl and Exelon, which cost £2.50 a day.

Dr Eric Larson, the senior co-author and leader of the study, said: "These results are exciting, novel and have important implications for prevention strategies."

An Alzheimer's Society spokesman said it was an important study because it was the first to look at the effect of statins on the brain.

"The evidence is certainly building to support previous studies to suggest statins may reduce risk of Alzheimer's. But it is too soon to say why or to recommend it as a preventative treatment."

Statins save the lives of 10,000 people a year but there are fears that we turn to the medicine cabinet for cures instead of preventing ill health. Cholesterol can be reduced with diet and exercise but more slowly than with statins.

GPs say that when they suggest that patients take more exercise and eat a better diet "their eyes glaze over and its like talking to a brick wall". It is easier to take a pill.

THE PRESCRIPTION PILL EPIDEMIC.

We have become a nation of pill-poppers, but are they all necessary?

Britain is in the grip of a prescription drug-taking epidemic, with unprecedented numbers of medicines being handed out by GPs, costing billions of pounds and stretching already tight NHS resources to breaking point.

Our increasing reliance on pills has resulted in a 27 per cent rise in prescriptions written by doctors in just five years.

Prescription drug use has increased by 27 per cent in the past the five years and the NHS drug bill topped £10bn in 2006. GPs prescribed 918 million medicines last year compared with 721 million five years ago, according to figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday.

Health experts put rocketing prescription numbers down to medical advances, but also point to poor prescribing by GPs, growing public demand for a "pill for every ill" and aggressive marketing tactics by the pharmaceutical industry, which prompted one MP to warn that the UK is heading towards what he called "pharmageddon".

The medicalising of society is convincing people they need a pill for everything.

Drug companies recruit patients, particularly good-looking and articulate ones, to help promote new drugs in the media.

Doctors now write an average of 81 prescriptions a day compared with 64 five years ago. More than 730,000 prescriptions for antidepressants are being handed out each week, to the point where they almost match those for antibiotics at 870,000 a week.

More than £1bn has been wasted in the past five years on buying and disposing of drugs that were never used by patients.

GPs prescribe thousands of drugs patients don't want or take, according to this survey. The money wasted would pay for a year's worth of the breast cancer drug Herceptin for more than 10,000 women or 100,000 cycles of IVF.

What can we do about it?

"Room Service"

PRISON GUARDS "SHOULD KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING"

Prison warders have been urged to show respect to inmates by knocking on cell doors before going in.

Is it proper respect, or a further slackening of discipline?

The advice was included in an inspection report from Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons.

Governors at HMP Birmingham, which houses more than a thousand prisoners, are considering the suggestion.

But Glyn Travis, of the Prison Officers' Association, said: "If we have to knock on prisoners' cell doors we may as well give them a key and let them do what they want. There's got to be some modicum of sense."

The report was issued after an inspection in February.

Two of the main recommendations were that "staff should routinely knock before entering cells, except in emergencies", and that "staff should address prisoners by their preferred names".

A third of inmates were reported as claiming they did not feel they were treated with respect.

Mr Travis said officers stuck to a "decency agenda" which allowed them to assess appropriate conduct when dealing with prisoners.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "The governor of HMP Birmingham will be looking at all the recommendations made by the inspectorate in their recent report, including those relating to staff-prisoner relationships.

"Consideration will be given to these recommendations in the design of staff training."

Shirkers have been given the perfect excuse as scientists declared workplace phobia a real illness requiring careful treatment.

A fear of the workplace, the people in it and problems that arise there are not simply a figment of the neurotic mind, they said, it is a separate condition that doctors must be aware of.

Researchers said work-related phobia is an anxiety disorder but because it can occur in people who do not suffer from general anxiety disorders it is different.

Critics said it was wrong to give skivers the excuse of having a mental disorder.

Prof Michael Linden, a clinical psychologist in Berlin who led the research, estimated that one in every two workers on long-term sick leave will be showing signs and symptoms of work-related anxiety.

Prof Linden will present his findings next week at the World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine, in Quebec City.

He said: "Like other forms of anxiety, job-anxieties can present in the form of panic, hypochondriac fears, work-related worrying, post-traumatic stress, or work-related social anxieties.

"Anxiety can lead to avoidance. Job anxiety can therefore be one explanation for sick leave, work absenteeism, or early retirement.

"Job-anxieties, therefore, must be considered as expensive problems."

'MAWKISH' MEMORIAL BENCHES BANNED'

A council has banned commemorative benches and trees from its parks and open spaces after complaints that they were depressing.

South Lanarkshire council said it had to take action after an "explosion" of garish memorabilia left at the memorials such as flowers, wind chimes, football strips and toys.

The council will still run a service allowing families to dedicate trees, benches or plaques in areas such as cemeteries or crematoriums.

Gerry Convery, the chairman of the council committee that imposed the ban, said: "People have complained they are out for a picnic and others are laying flowers on benches.

"Many have said they feel disrespectful sitting there.

"We have sympathy for someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one, but surely it is better for them and the public if they do it in a designated area such as a cemetery or a crematorium."

John Donnelly, a funeral director with Heritage Funerals in East Kilbride, said the council was trying to keep memorials as dignified as possible.

He said: "People have different tastes and the things left might not be appropriate, although they are personal to that family."

I am indebted to the Sun newspaper for this triviality about Caz (Carole) who apparently is a contestant in some TV programme called, I think, 'Big Brother':

SHELL SHOCK: CAZ FAMILY AT WAR

June refused to comment last night, saying: “It is a family matter.”

I will not quote any more from the long article as, quite frankly, it is BORING and hardly world-shattering news.

However, I think these details of 'Caz'are very revealing:

Town/Place: London
Age: 53
Occupation: Young people’s sexual health and HIV worker - unemployed.

The Peter Kay and Ricky Gervais fan has been promising herself a tattoo or piercing for a while and might treat herself for her next birthday."

You can probably tell that I am not a big fan!

Am I being unfair?

Caz

OBESITY 'CAUSED BY INFECTIOUS VIRUS WHICH TURNS CELLS INTO FATTY TISSUES'
(From yesterday's Independent)

Obesity can be caught like a cold, according to a laboratory study showing that a common infectious virus can turn human cells into fatty tissue, scientists said.

It is well established that the human adenovirus-36 causes respiratory and eye infections but now scientists found it can also transform adult stem cells found under the skin into the fat cells of adipose tissue.

The scientists also found there is a specific gene in the virus that appears to control this fatty transformation, which they observed when human stem cells grown in the laboratory became infected.

The findings, presented yesterday to the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, suggest that the growing global epidemic of obesity may involve more than a lack of exercise and a love of high-calorie food.

"We're not saying a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections," said Magdalena Pasarica of Louis-iana State University in Baton Rouge.

"Not all infected people will develop obesity," she said. "We would like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually to find a way to treat it."

Previous research on animals suggested that adenovirus-36, and two related viruses known as Ad-37 and Ad-5, can trigger obesity. Another study found a high prevalence of adenovirus in overweight people; some 30 per cent of obese people had Ad-36 compared with 11 per cent of lean people.

This led to suggestions that respiratory viruses may play an important role in triggering the tendency towards obesity in susceptible people with the sort of sedentary lifestyle that favours putting on weight.

The latest study appears to support these claims at the cellular level by looking at how the virus interacts with human stem cells growing outside the body in laboratory cultures.

Dr Pasarica obtained the fatty tissue stem cells from a broad cross-section of patients who had undergone liposuction. She exposed only half of the stem cells to Ad-36.

After a week of growth in the laboratory, most of the virus-infected adult stem cells developed into fat cells but the non-infected stem cells did not, Dr Pasarica told the American Chemical Society. "A common virus appears to target stem cells in humans to generate more and bigger fat cells.

"The results are clear. Ad-36 prompts adult, fat-derived stem cells to convert to pre-fat cells, rather than other cell types," she said. "Furthermore, these fat cells accumulate lipids - fats - at an increased rate."

"We conclude that human adenovirus Ad-36 increases the number of fat cells and increases their fat content in humans, which might contribute to the development of obesity," she told the meeting.

The spread of obesity around the developed world is one of the fastest-growing epidemics. But the idea of it being even partly the result of viral infections is contentious; most experts put it down to a change in diet and lifestyle.

CAMEL KILLS WOMAN 'TRYING TO HAVE SEX'

What they meant to say was: "Camel 'trying to have sex' kills woman.

The camel was the instigator, not the woman.

Here is the full story:

An Australian woman was killed by a pet camel given to her as a 60th birthday present, police have said.

The fate of the camel was not known.

The education system is failing to ensure enough school leavers master the "three Rs", a survey has suggested.

The CBI said 42% of the employers it surveyed were unhappy with reading, writing and numeracy skills.

Half thought school leavers lacked communication and team-working skills. The CBI demanded government "action as well as words" to raise standards.

"The figures are evidence the system is failing teenagers and the taxpayer, as well as employers - who have to pay for remedial lessons for new recruits on top of the taxes they have already paid to fund the education system," it said.

"A working knowledge of English and maths provides a vital foundation for the modern world of work - but the education system is failing many young people by leaving them ill-equipped."

The CBI said its 2004 survey figures found 83% of businesses thought the education system's first priority should be improving literacy and numeracy levels.

Eight out of 10 jobs required a basic competency in the "three Rs" it said.

"The CBI welcomed the government's pledge of a 'relentless drive' to raise standards and eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy but there has been no clear action to back up the promises of February's education white paper,"

"We need to see action as well as words - at the moment the UK economy is losing up to £10 billion a year because of poor basic skills, whilst our school-leavers are held back from fulfilling their potential.

"Too many emerge from our education system with no feeling of self-worth - leading to social dislocation, crime and wasted futures."

BBC

I have found an explanation for the high level of passes in recent school examinations.

Teenagers may be using James Bond-style hidden earpieces to cheat in school exams, the Government’s exam watchdog has warned.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is investigating concerns students could be using the devices to communicate with accomplices who supply them with answers.

The wireless earpiece is so small it cannot be easily seen. Students using the device in an exam hall could be silently called on their mobile phone by an accomplice outside while they could talk back to them via a tiny microphone sensitive enough to pick up whispers.

Alternatively they could use the devices to listen surreptitiously listen to exam notes prerecorded on to an mp3 music player.

Concerns were raised after the discovery of a Canadian website specifically targeting teenagers worldwide with the high-tech gadgets.

The Toronto-based company Examear uses the advertising slogan “helping students succeed. Worldwide!” to offer a range of earpieces.

The company website says: “Our spy wireless earphones are great for students. No more breaking your head over a difficult tests or exam.

“No more memorising long and boring speeches. No more thinking about getting caught by using old notes-paper techniques.”

Earpieces have been shipped to countries around the world, including the UK, according to the site.

The QCA last night said an unnamed teacher had alerted to them to the dangers after becoming aware of the website.

While the authority had no known examples of their use in this country, it had alerted examiners to look out for them and is taking legal advice on what action it can take.

Isabel Nisbet, director of regulation and standards at the QCA, said: “The way in which this device has been advertised is absolutely disgraceful.

“As a regulator we take malpractice very seriously and will be taking any action we can.”

The watchdog said students must understand that they face disqualification for using this kind of device in an exam.

The cheapest earpiece on sale, known as the silver model, costs £86 and is described as “especially designed for high school” and well suited for “the needs of students who are doing a test, exam or any class assignment”.

It says: “The model has 240 minutes battery life; this should be enough to complete any complicated and tedious test/exam.

“The wireless earphone is extremely small, and is not visible in the ear, what makes it a perfect helper to complete the desired test/presentation/etc.

“With this model, your only concern would be changing the battery after each long use.”

More elaborate and high-performance models range up to £140. Examear also recommends the earpieces for those giving presentations, for gamblers, TV presenters, waiters and bar staff.

The company was unavailable for comment tonight.

The QCA has previously warned that cheating through mobile phones and internet plagiarism are difficult but growing problems.

Last year it commissioned a report by a leading expert on exam fraud which concluded schools should consider using signal blocking devices to prevent pupils using mobile phones and pagers to cheat in exams.

Professor Jean Underwood, of Nottingham Trent University, suggested that in large exam halls, where staff had to supervise numerous students, the only way to effectively stop modern cheating is to install technology that prevents the information being shared.

She also said more traditional forms of cheating, such as getting another pupil to take the exam, can best be prevented with the introduction of photographic identity checks.

You can go to the website of 'Examear' at:

http://www.examear.com/index.html

Bloody Mary:

If you don't talk happy,
And you never have dream,
Then you'll never have a dream come true!

DEPRESSION IS 'OVER-DIAGNOSED'

Too many people are being diagnosed with depression when all they are is unhappy, a leading psychiatrist says.

Professor Gordon Parker claims the threshold for clinical depression is too low and risks treating normal emotional states as illness.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, he calls depression a "catch-all" diagnosis driven by clever marketing.

But another psychiatrist writing in the journal contradicts his views, praising the increased diagnosis of depression.

Professor Ian Hickie writes that an increased diagnosis and treatment of depression has led to a reduction in suicides and removal of the old stigma surrounding mental illness.

Under the current diagnosis guidelines, around one in five adults is thought to suffer depression during their lifetime. This costs the UK economy billions in lost productivity and treatment.

Prof Parker, from the University of New South Wales, in Australia, said the "over-diagnosis" began around 25 years ago.

The professor, who carried out a 15-year study of 242 teachers, found that more than three-quarters of them met the current criteria for depression.

He writes in the BMJ that almost everyone had symptoms such as "feeling sad, blue or down in the dumps" at some point in their lives.

He said prescribing medication may raise false hopes and might not be effective as there was nothing biologically wrong with the patient.

The number of prescriptions for antidepressants in England hit a record high of more than 31 million prescriptions earlier this year.

TESCO BANS CLOWN FROM USING BALLOONS

A children's entertainer has been banned by Tesco from using balloons during his act in one of their stores.

Barney Baloney, the clown, usually twists them into animal shapes and hands them to children. But Tesco has told the 47-year-old, also known as Tony Turner, to keep the balloons in his pocket and entertain children with what is left of his act.

Mr Turner, who was booked for a five-hour show at Tesco's Crossgates Centre store in Leeds, had to rely on magic, puppets, juggling and an emu costume to keep the children amused.

He has already been forced to stop using a bubble-making machine after being refused public liability insurance because insurers said the bubbles might cause the children to slip and hurt themselves. "At this rate I will have no act left," Mr Turner, from Sheffield, said. A Tesco spokesman said: "This is a health and safety issue.

"We have banned balloons because latex is used in the manufacture of them and this can trigger an allergic reaction in some children. We always have the welfare of children at heart."

Travellers passing through Heathrow face higher stress levels than riot police, writes leading neuropsychologist David Lewis.

British travellers passing through Heathrow suffer higher stress levels than fighter pilots, Formula One racing drivers, parachutists and riot police. This is not an alarmist statement but the result of in-depth research my team conducted into what happens to people as they negotiate our overcrowded, understaffed flagship airport.

Having spent years measuring the physiological stress levels suffered by people who subject themselves to extreme conditions, I was shocked to find that the airport experience is putting everyday passengers' health in grave danger.

During our study, four passengers had chest monitors fitted to record increases in heart rate, pressure pads attached to their arms to monitor changes in blood pressure and sensors attached to their finger-tips to measure changes in physiological stress. The results showed that the level of stress they felt in the airport peaked at four times, but otherwise stayed at a sustained level for longer than that experienced by the riot police and others mentioned above.

Passengers are in danger of developing tachycardia (the rapid beating of the heart) that can at times prove fatal.

Within minutes of our subjects entering Terminal 4, heart rates had increased from healthy levels of about 55 beats per minute to more than 70 beats per minute. During the four hours it took to reach the aircraft, rates continued to rise, with some recording more than 200 beats a minute - up to four times the resting heart rate of a healthy human. Even athletes do not often reach these levels. Given that our travellers were young, healthy and not exerting themselves, the results show just how much psychological stress they were under. The main causes were queues, unfriendly and impatient staff, lack of information, poor air quality and inadequate facilities.

Organisations such as Disney World are adept at lowering visitors' stress levels by deliberately "under-promising" on queuing times. They put up markers saying the wait will be 20 minutes when they know it will only be 10. The result is that people's stress levels fall as they reach the front of the queue much quicker than expected. The opposite seems to be happening at airports: lack of information or misinformation only adds to the physiological burden.

As passengers passed through a series of further queues from check-in to security, blood pressure readings showed levels of hypertension more commonly found in stroke victims. Levels rose rapidly from an average of 123/81 to peaks of around 170/99.

Skin conductance (measured by sweat gland activity and skin-pore size), a reliable measure of stress, also showed a marked increase throughout the passengers' airport journey, with peaks up to 100 times higher than in the relaxed state. Furthermore, with passengers being forced to arrive at the airport much earlier to guarantee they will catch their flight, they spend more time on their feet, which, in turn, restricts the flow of blood from feet to brain, raising blood pressure.

The return journey also showed that arriving can be as stressful as departing.

Queues of more than an hour and a half at understaffed passport desks resulted in sharp increases in heart rate and soaring blood pressure levels.

There are ways of avoiding or reducing stress, such as flying from regional airports or smaller London airports or avoiding peak times. But these options are not open to all of us. Thus, in our efforts to escape the stresses of everyday life by going on holiday, we are actually adding to them and harming our health.

Dr David Lewis is a director of research at Neuroco, an international market research organisation. His study was carried out last month for the airline Silverjet.

Daily Telegraph

OVERDOSING ON COFFEE

A teenager was recently taken to hospital after overdosing on espresso coffee.

Jasmine Willis, 17, developed a fever and began hyperventilating after drinking seven double espressos while working at her family's sandwich shop

The student, of Stanley, County Durham, was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, where doctors confirmed she had overdosed on caffeine.

She has since made a full recovery and is now warning others about the dangers of excessive coffee drinking.

Ms Willis, who had thought the coffees were single measures, said the effects were so severe that she began laughing and crying for no reason while serving customers at the shop.

"I was having palpitations, my heart was beating so fast and I thought I was going into shock."

She developed a fever and began struggling to breathe after being sent home by her father.

"I did not realise this could happen to you and I only hope other people learn from my mistake."

The teenager, who was allowed home after a few hours of observation, suffered side effects for days afterwards and now says she cannot stand the sight of coffee.

This incident illustrates the danger of consuming too much coffee, or other caffeine-loaded drinks.

A cuppa could help you run for longer

COFFEE 'BOOSTS EXERCISE STAMINA

A cup of coffee could help you burn more fat during your workout, say researchers.

Australian researchers found that even a small quantity of caffeine allowed athletes to exercise almost a third longer.

A single cup of coffee may be enough to trigger these beneficial effects.

The Australian Institute of Sport team found that caffeine triggers the muscles to start using fat as an energy source rather than carbohydrate sugars.

Caffeine has been used by many endurance athletes as a way of eking extra energy out of their body's reserves during an event.

The researchers tested its effects on cyclists, who were allowed to sip on flat cola or coffee as they pedalled.

Those who did were able to keep going longer than those who stuck to water.

Britons spend an estimated £2 billion on caffeinated drinks each year, but are often advised to steer clear of coffee or cola before exercise because the belief persists that it has a diuretic effect that could contribute to dehydration.

This, says sports dietician Jane Griffiths, is actually a myth.

"If you drink a large quantity of caffeine - perhaps 300 milligrams, which is equivalent to eight cups of tea - in one sitting, there might be a diuretic effect, but not if you drink this amount over a day."

Other studies also suggest the beneficial effects of caffeine during exercise, delaying the onset of fatigue by up to 60%.

A mental health crisis among Britain’s elderly has been revealed in a new report, with more than 3.5 million aged over 65 suffering from dementia or depression. Suicide rates amongst the over-75s have also risen dramatically.

These shocking discoveries were made by the UK Inquiry into Mental Health and Well-Being in Later Life, involving various experts.

Described as a "mental health pandemic", the report states that our elderly are the "invisible" people. They do not seek help because of stigma, but when they do their symptoms are often just attributed to age.

Tragically, only 15% of those needing help or treatment ever receive any and the study predicts that, unless there are effective interventions, mental health problems among the elderly will rise by a third in the next 15 years.

There are also higher rates of suicide in people over the age of 75.

What action can be taken to help our elderly population? And how can we try to prevent these problems from occurring?

How can we generate awareness of this tragic pandemic?

What measures can the government take to halt this crisis?

A senior military officer brought into the White House to coordinate the Bush administration's Iraq war policy has said that a return to conscription should be considered because of the increasing demands on United States military.

Lt Gen Douglas Lute, President George W. Bush's deputy national security adviser, said: "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table."

What he means is that the continuing heavy losses in Iraq have had a disatrous effect on troop morale and voluntary recruitment.

The Army, which missed its recruiting goals in May and June, is now offering new recruits $20,000 bonuses if they sign up before September 30.

To misquote the Bard:

“Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more, or fill the wall up with our American dead.”

Almost 700,000 people are so fat that they need drastic surgery to tackle their weight problems, the Government's health watchdog has found.

Despite the scale of the obesity crisis, primary care trusts (PCTs), fearful that the £3 billion cost of the operations would cripple the NHS, are restricting surgery to the most desperate cases. Last year, fewer than 5,000 such operations were performed.

Analysis of the guidance drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) reveals that 688,000 people in England, classified as "morbidly obese", are entitled to be fitted with gastric bands or to have stomach stapling operations to reduce the amount of food they consume.

Nice says that anyone with a body mass index (BMI) above 40 should be offered surgery if other attempts to lose weight fail after six months, and those with a BMI above 50 should go under the knife immediately. A BMI of 40 equates to a man of 5ft 9in weighing 19 stone and a woman of 5ft 4in weighing almost 17 stone.

However, obesity experts claim that PCTs are ignoring the guidelines and, because they cannot afford to pay for thousands of operations - which cost about £6,000 each - are imposing stricter restrictions of their own.

Yesterday, it emerged that Emma Favell, 32, from Burton-on-Trent, starved to death after a stomach-stapling operation went wrong. It had been intended to help her lose weight ahead of her wedding.

She paid out £7,000 for the procedure in June 2005 and her weight dropped rapidly. An inquest heard that a mistake meant she was not able to give her body the nutrition she needed to remain healthy and eventually died in April this year. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death, but said the operation was partly to blame.

My views on statins are well-known to regular readers of this blog.

I believe that they are over-prescribed by doctors as an 'easy fix' for high cholesterol levels.

Not only are they often unneccesary, but they are sometimes downright dangerous, leading to very unpleasant side-effects.

Of course they make huge profits for the pharmaceutical companies.

Now some medical experts have said that, rather than prolonging life, preventive treatments in elderly people may simply change the cause of death.

In this week's British Medical Journal they call for a more sophisticated way of assessing the benefits and harms of preventive treatment in elderly people.

Here is part of their statement:

Preventive health care aims to delay the onset of illness and disease and to prevent untimely and premature deaths, say Dr Dee Mangin and colleagues. But concerns about equity of access to treatments have led to preventive interventions being encouraged regardless of age, and this can be harmful to the patient and expensive for the health service.

We should not carry on extrapolating data from younger populations and using linear models that use absolute risks of disease rather than all cause mortality and morbidity. If we do, the only ones to benefit will be drug companies, with increasing profits from an aging population consumed by epidemics rather than enjoying their long life.