Storm in a teacup

I'm half listening to a recording of the infamous Question Time with Nick Griffin. What a load of rubbish. Whatever you think of the BNP and its policies they are a legal political party and he should at some point have appeared on such a programme. The problem as far as I can see is that no one can set aside their emotions and debate the issues in any sort of analytical fashion. We need free speech - even if we don't agree with what is said.

I think the BNP have probably crystallised some of the things that many people were thinking but maybe they've not done it in the right way. I know from my own reactions to some of the views put forward by the BNP that there is a lot more going on under the surface of the whole argument. Some rather unpleasant archetypes are being given a lot of exercise in the public sphere at the moment.

I do think it's very interesting that the main political parties are angry about the whole thing. Why? Don't they like free speech? Or is it all right provided people are saying things which confirm their own beliefs?

Fat people are responsible for global warming

There is an article in today's Telegraph online http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1973230/Fat-people-blamed-for-global-warming.html saying new research blames fat people for global warming. There's a certain strange logic to this: fat people eat more so it costs more in terms of resources to produce their food. Yes I can understand that. It was the next bit I found unpalatable - fat people walk less and travel by car more and don't use public transport!! How's that for sweeping generalisations?

I actually walk more and use public transport more than many thinner people I know so I don't see how they can generalise like this. If you're thin and active you might also eat more than fat inactive people. What about food everyone in the Western world wastes as well?

Personally I don't subscribe to the idea that mankind is wholly responsible for climate change. What about volcanoes? What about all the historical evidence about climate change in the past? Were dinosaurs driving around in gas guzzling cars before the last ice age? I don't think so - though of course there are the Flintstones to consider!

I'm all in favour of limiting waste but not for reasons of climate change. The whole carrier bag thing irritates me immensely. Those of us who use carrier bags as bin bags will only have to buy alternatives if they ban them entirely - so where's the difference? I refuse to wash out the kitchen bin every time I use it because I can't put a bin liner in it - that's a waste of water and washing up liquid.

The other thing that really bugged me today on the news is the idea that many rural doctor's surgeries may have to close under the new grand plan for polyclinics. So how are rural communities to manage? This potentially means more cars on the road and more people travelling which is not what this government wants. Our leaders and their policies seem less and less joined up by the minute.

Those of you who follow Dr Crippen's posts on NHS blog doctor - link at top of page - may have read his comments on extreme feminism. Even though I'm female I still sided with him. The women he's referring to who are discussing 'birth rape' seem to have a very strange outlook on life. I fail to see how medical procedures can be described as and equated with rape. They may be unpleasant and uncomfortable but NOT rape. There is something definitely skewed about this sort of attitude in my opinion. Do men being examined for prostate cancer regard the examination as male rape? I doubt it.

I've come across this attitude before in women of my acquaintance who seem to think doctors get turned on by giving women internal examinations and regard anything like that as disgusting and demeaning. To me it all depends on your attitude to it. What if the doctor is turned on? As far as I'm concerned if he's doing his job properly I don't really care what vicarious enjoyment he's deriving from the task. As long as a procedure is medically necessary - what is the problem?

Maybe this all brands me as anti-feminist - which I'm not. I don't like the extremes of misogynism or feminism as they're apt to throw the baby out with the bath water in their pursuit of their ideals.