mike hawkins - thinking out loud

Okay – I feel terribly sorry for this man’s family, I really do.  But please don’t let there be an outcry, suggesting  in some way, that the NHS have let him down.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Man refused liver transplant dies

I’m an alcoholic – fortunate enough to have stayed off the booze for just over eighteen years. It was tough coming off it, occasionally it is tough staying off.  I carry the health legacy even now – with liver results which only recently caused a doctor to advise me to cut down on my alcohol intake – after eighteen years, of none at all.

Today, I am increasingly intolerant of those who, patently, drink too much, blame their circumstances for their problem, and then cry ‘foul’ when the health service restricts treatment.  I want the NHS to treat everyone that has a reasonable chance of being cured – everyone.  But does the raging. recidivist alcoholic fall into the ‘curable' category?  The high profile case of George Best suggests the answer is a resounding no.  I feel certain that Best was the tip of a depressing iceberg, and that on numerous occasions, there have been transplants given to people who go on to drink themselves to a, merely, postponed death.

Let’s get this straight in our minds.  A liver transplant is a major procedure and the operation, after-care and continued need for medication is a significant cost to any health service.  A completely justifiable expense however, if the recipient is either, in need of the organ because of illness rather than abuse or has made demonstrable efforts to stop drinking and has been ‘dry’ for a significant period of time.

This is not merely a financial argument – but also a moral one.  For those waiting for organs, with legitimate claims in terms of the the above, it must be a deeply enraging  experience to watch those, such as Best, fritter their second chance at life in such a frivolous manner.  For every liver wasted – potentially someone dies.

I started this by saying that my sympathies are with this man’s family and friends.  They truly are, but I’m also sympathetic to them for having lived with a binge drinker who unfortunately seems to have been on a road to self-destruction – it cannot have been easy.

I hope that the press deal with this sensibly.  I also hope that the government who posture about doing something about alcoholism (but who are too dependent on revenue to truly have their hearts in it), take note.  Additionally I would love to see the supermarkets (and the advertising industry) start selling alcohol in a responsible manner – not by using it as a loss leader to increase footfall.

People are dying - who shouldn’t be.

The end of a long and distinguished life.  Somehow more important to me than other “newsworthy” deaths recently.

BBC NEWS | UK | Oldest WWI veteran dies aged 113

Read more about Henry Allingham here.

So…I was looking through my Google webmaster stats, and noticed that a few small Flash animations on a client’s site had been crawled and analysed - with key text words picked up.  Interesting – so I had a look around, and yes, for those who use Flash more heavily than, hitherto, was advisable it is very good news, in SEO terms.

Search Engine Oracle article

Tie this in with Adobe working closely with Google on their new OS and things begin to add up.

It was only a matter of time – but probably a bit sooner than Microsoft expected or wanted.  The signs have been there for a while, as Google have increasingly moved towards software development and the launch of Chrome was a clear signal.  Now it’s official – a Google OS.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/86b864c0-6b87-11de-9320-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

I have no idea who comprises the Reform Group – but they are certainly on my list of people whose thinking tallies with mine.  Their view of the current A Level system is spot on – at last a group daring to say what, deep down, everyone involved with modern education already knew.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8103274.stm