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by Mike Sales
27 Feb 2021, 6:10pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Census 2021
Replies: 121
Views: 4120

Re: What do you identify as...

Cowsham wrote:
Mike Sales wrote:
Cowsham wrote: I'd like to be Manx right now -- that is a different planet.


Chatting in a bar in Port St. Mary we told the barman we came from Gwynedd.
A couple of cottages had just been burned by the hogiau and he commented that the Welsh had the right idea.


Is that a Welsh Wookiee ?


Hogiau? Means the lads.
by Mike Sales
27 Feb 2021, 6:09pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Beginner cyclist, need some advice :)
Replies: 11
Views: 896

Re: Beginner cyclist, need some advice :)

Oldjohnw wrote:I don’t know how old you are but balance does diminish a little with the passing years.

There are, however, some simple but effective exercises you can do to, well, redress the balance.

No more than standing on one leg at a time for 5 then 10 then 20 seconds at a time. Then doing knee bends on each separate leg. The difference after a few days can be considerable. It both strengthens the muscles but also, perhaps more importantly, trains the brain.


Put your trousers on while standing up?
by Mike Sales
27 Feb 2021, 5:54pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Census 2021
Replies: 121
Views: 4120

Re: What do you identify as...

Cowsham wrote: I'd like to be Manx right now -- that is a different planet.


Chatting in a bar in Port St. Mary we told the barman we came from Gwynedd.
A couple of cottages had just been burned by the hogiau and he commented that the Welsh had the right idea.
by Mike Sales
27 Feb 2021, 5:39pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Census 2021
Replies: 121
Views: 4120

Re: What do you identify as...

[XAP]Bob wrote:There is apparently a movement to suggest that people might want to identify as European in the upcoming census (as opposed to British or any of the four constituent nations (or some of the counties even MickF :P )).

Obviously it depends on your political views, but also on the form of the question.

At the moment I certainly don't identify as British or English, both are currently associated in my mind with a regressive, little minded attitude that I want nothing to do with.


I identify as Earthling.

It also depends on the situation in which the question is asked, and why.
Watching Wales v. England I find it a difficult to answer! I dislike being made to choose between many options.
by Mike Sales
26 Feb 2021, 5:44pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: NHS - privatisation by stealth?
Replies: 9
Views: 423

Re: NHS - privatisation by stealth?

More monetary links between Tory politicians and private healthcare firms.

Private companies with financial links to Tory politicians have won NHS contracts worth £1.5bn in the past two years, according to research by the UK’s largest trade union.

Unite claims that 24 Conservative MPs and peers who voted in favour of the government’s health reforms have links to 15 private companies that have won up the contracts since 2012.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “David Cameron promised there would be no top-down reorganisation of the NHS but he lied. How can we be in a situation where dozens of his MPs, voted for the sell off act and had links to private healthcare companies, knowing this would open up new opportunities for the companies that pay them.”


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/03/healthcare-companies-links-tories-nhs-contracts

'Selling off NHS for profit': Full list of MPs with links to private healthcare firms

PM David Cameron and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Lib Dems Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are also on the list - here is the full rundown. Is your MP on there?


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/selling-nhs-profit-full-list-4646154

I am sure these donations are purely altruistic and for the good health of our democracy.
by Mike Sales
26 Feb 2021, 5:23pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: NHS - privatisation by stealth?
Replies: 9
Views: 423

Re: NHS - privitisation by stealth?

TORY MPs are receiving large donations and earning thousands of pounds from links to the private health sector, the Sunday National can reveal.

An investigation has found numerous examples of Conservative MPs receiving donations or work connected with private healthcare firms, pharmaceutical companies and social care providers.

Details of the funding have been obtained from declarations on the House of Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests.


[
Examples include current UK health secretary Matt Hancock, who received a £10,000 donation for his leadership campaign bid last year from Wol Kolade, head of Livingbridge private equity firm that owns Vanguard Healthcare, which provides mobile facilities such as operating theatres and wards.

Hancock’s predecessor as health secretary Jeremy Hunt received a donation of £20,000 in June last year from Mustafa Mohammed, the owner of Genix Healthcare, a private dental care provider. The records also show Sir Iain Duncan Smith has an ongoing position since March 2018 as a member of the international advisory board of Tunstall Health Group, a digital healthcare group.


One might wonder why these businessmen think it worthwhile to invest in giving donations to Conservative politicians with an interest in health matters.
Perhaps they get on a "fast track."

https://www.thenational.scot/news/18255016.revealed-links-conservatives-private-healthcare/
by Mike Sales
23 Feb 2021, 9:51am
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Painting spd pedal bodies
Replies: 9
Views: 670

Re: Painting spd pedal bodies

I have painted an aluminium tube, part of a boat (red as it happens), with good results. It stood up well to the salty marine environment.
I used an etch primer. A search for etch primer for aluminium gives a choice.
I think the finish paint was epoxy.
Do some research on line!
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 7:53pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56868

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

Oldjohnw wrote:Forget vaccinations and blood samples.

Right now I am having to do daily meatal self-dilitation following recent surgery. Look it up and see if your eyes don’t water.


I have had quite a few dilatations.
I would not like to do it myself.

A procedure I did not relish was aspiration of my hip joint. Had a couple.

Many of us must have undergone or will have to undergo medical procedures besides which a little needle seems hardly worth mentioning. As I mentioned earlier, the unpleasantness of covid treatment would be considerably worse, too.
I think we manage to handle whatever comes. Most pain does not last long and is soon forgotten.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 1:22pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Bill Gates' book and the Mars landers
Replies: 60
Views: 1816

Re: Bill Gates' book and the Mars landers

Gates sets out very cogently how we could avert the climate catastrophe.
What makes me rather less optimistic than him is the extreme reluctance of our leaders to take the necessary actions.
They do not seem to have realised the urgency, and the decisions to open new coal mines and continue drilling for oil are deeply depressing.
Robert Watson, who I quote above and who knows a lot more than I, calls this decision ridiculous.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 12:58pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56868

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

661-Pete wrote:Having had routine blood tests for many years now, I suppose I've got used to it. What makes me queasy is watching someone else having a jab. I always look away - even if it's on TV. I can't explain why :? :lol:

During my brief hospitalisation a year ago, I had no end of cannulas stuck into my arms. You can feel them going in but I'm not bothered. It was persuading the nurses that I no longer needed one and could they please take it out? that was problematic. When I was taken into theatre, not having had a GA since I was a small child, I wondered how it was administered nowadays. The anaesthetist told me, he'd simply swap the saline that was feeding into one of the cannulas, for a knock-out shot (probably barbiturate) - and he assured me I wouldn't feel a thing.

And I didn't. :D


I was being given intravenous antibiotics through a cannula which needed regular renewal.
One renewal was done by a student doctor who made a long, painful mess of the job.
When he arrived to to the next I considered asking for a more expert person instead. I did not and he made the usual efficient job of it. My thanks must have been so obviously heartfelt that he replied that he did usually get it right!

By all accounts the full on treatment for Covid is quite sufficiently unpleasant. I feel that whatever problems some might have with vaccination are a tiny trial in comparison.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 12:49pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 56033

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

thirdcrank wrote:More widely, I've seen objections in the media to the repeated close-up shots of injections in TV news coverage, including comments along the lines that this isn't the way to encourage anybody who may be hesitant.


I have deliberately accustomed myself to watching my blood flow into the syringe.
I have never thought of myself as courageous, rather I have steeled myself to accept the necessary unpleasantnesses of life. I find that this is the best way to improve my stoicism, in situations which have been difficult.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 12:44pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 56033

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

Psamathe wrote:In which case, sorry, I must have missed those as only reference I notes was
PDQ Mobile wrote:...
Fear of needles?- I can't say I'm mad keen - I look away!
But not a phobia.
Not relevant in this case.
.....

(My bold/red to indicate the significant aspect in my response)

Ian


Sorry, I must have had in mind the "Who's had the vaccine thread?"
If you thought I was referring to you and your own reluctance to get injected I certainly did not intend this.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 12:35pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 56033

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

Psamathe wrote:
Mike Sales wrote:I am a bit surprised at the reluctance some have to being pricked with a needle.
Many patients have undergone much more intrusive and distressing procedures.
.....

You assume that being uncertain or seeking clarifications of having questions is down to "reluctance some have to being pricked with a needle". In my case (seeking the Pfizer vaccine as things stand at present) it has nothing what-so-ever to do with aversion to needles. Those brave enough to raise questions have never expressed any reluctance due to the involvement of needles.

Ian


No, I do not assume that.
I am addressing the fear of needles that some have expressed in this thread.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 12:27pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!
Replies: 1354
Views: 56033

Re: Would you take a vaccine against CV? Vote now please!

I am a bit surprised at the reluctance some have to being pricked with a needle.
Many patients have undergone much more intrusive and distressing procedures.
I will not detail my own experiences.
I did jib at injecting my own belly fat: it was convenient to ask a nurse to do it for me, but I think I could have managed if I had to.
A full blown phobia is a different matter, but normal fears ought to be superable.
I always tell myself that various tribes require young males to undergo some grim initiations, which the victims manage to suffer without complaint. I ought to be able to put up with much less pain for my own good.
by Mike Sales
20 Feb 2021, 10:05am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Bill Gates' book and the Mars landers
Replies: 60
Views: 1816

Re: Bill Gates' book and the Mars landers

simonineaston wrote:Phew, we're OK - the cavalry has arrived! ...and there was me, worrying!
Hi - err - we can't ignore it - err - the warnings have been even clearer than they were for covid and that is the problem of of planet change and - err - this is why - err - we're going to be working very hard to get - err - some some great things done...
(our PM, quoted verbatim, from his opening address to the G7 meeting, recently) - see here



I'm sorry to disillusion you, but...

One of the UK’s most eminent environmental scientists has called the government’s failure to block a new coalmine in Cumbria “absolutely ridiculous”.

Prof Sir Robert Watson said the UK’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 to tackle the climate crisis was “wonderful”, but that there had to be a focus on immediate actions. The UK is hosting a UN climate summit, Cop26, in November and Boris Johnson has pledged to lead a green industrial revolution.

“The British government says, ‘We’re going to lead Cop26 in Glasgow, we really care about climate change. But, by the way, we won’t override the council in Cumbria, and we’ll have a new coalmine.’ Absolutely ridiculous!” Watson said. “You get these wonderful statements by governments and then they have an action that goes completely against


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/20/absolutely-ridiculous-top-scientist-slams-uk-government-over-coalmine