Strawberry Fields?

The Consumers Association magazine Which? (online version) has recently reported on the techniques supermarkets deploy to entice us to part with our lolly. They opine that "The suspicion is that these specifications put more emphasis on how the food looks and how long it will last than on what it tastes like", but go on to say:

"However, our snapshot taste test of strawberries showed that Tesco's strawberries were as tasty as those from a farmer's market. We bought non-organic British strawberries from market leader Tesco, Islington Farmer's Market, and a market stall in Camden Town. We then ran a blind test, in total rating 234 strawberries for looks and taste. The result? There was no clear winner, with all three of the strawberries being preferred by almost equal numbers.

Have you noticed many farms in Islington, or strawberry fields in Camden, lately?

A little help from our friends?

It was the evening of Christmas Day a few years back. The big feast was over, we had cleared up and were settling down for whichever blockbuster movie was on offer that year. The phone rang: it was our our younger daughter who had gone to her boyfriend's home only to find him suffering a raging fever, sore throat with rigors, vomiting, the works. She asked if we had any penicillin in the house. I had, but was not prepared for her to simply come and collect it: I had to see the patient. Half an hour later I had confirmed a rather unhappy, unwell-looking suitor suffering a temperature of 39degC and markedly enlarged, inflamed tonsils with purulent exudate.

A suitable case for penicillin, I thought, and handed over the pills: not really the time or place for microbiological confirmation. I wrote a note for him to take to his general practitioner in a day or so, explaining my unofficial intervention. A few days later when next I saw him he was bright and bouncy and had seen his GP who, as it turned out, was the wife of a colleague and an aquaintance of many many years. She had apparently dismissed my pharmacological offering as lacking in evidence and basically out of date (or was the phrase she used 'unfashionable')?

This reminiscence was sparked by Robert Centor's recent post about a patient with sinusitis who, whilst recognizing that antibiotics probably aren't the answer, modern medicine wanted for decent alternatives. Sometimes, I think, we can use a little help from our friends.

Crass opportunism

Yesterday's bombings in London left many commuters stranded. London's hotels were reputedly only 80% full but instead of making the other 20% readily available (at cost or even free) as a gesture of solidarity, there are reports of massive price hikes, with some being charged double or more than the usual rate. This cynical behaviour does no credit to the industry or, indeed, to London.

A spokesman for the hotels trade organization, the British Hospitality Association, which represents hotels reportedly said he was 'surprised' by the increases, but evidently did not denounce them. For sure, the industry will face a difficult time for a while in the aftermath of the bombings—US travellers are apparently already cancelling in droves—but sympathy for their plight will be seriously dented by these acts of opportunistic greed.

Someone should publish a list of the culprit hotels.

Cowards

Today's atrocities in London were the archetypal cowardly act. Innocent, defenceless people going to work mindlessly slaughtered. To what end? A previously unknown derivative of al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the bombings. To what end? If it actually was responsible, it has simply confirmed its cowardice. If not, it has demonstrated cowardice on an even higher plane.

Any belief that this group has that its actions will have the desired effect is monumentally misplaced. Of course that assumes that we understand what the 'desired effect actually is. If we don't then we have an even bigger problem, with neither side having the foggiest notion of what the other is about. Either way, I am unclear how to reconcile the concept of "God, the merciful, the compassionate" with "revenge", and any God that sanctions this kind of barbarity doesn't get my vote.

Happily, as far as we can tell, all our friends and acquaintances in London are safe and sound. May a more merciful and sensible God ensure it remains so.

Sainsbury's To You: Sometimes

A couple of years ago I wrote about Sainsbury's unreliability. I don't think much has improved since then, and there hasn't been a week when everything on my list was on their shelves. Becoming increasingly frustrated with the experience, I decided to sign up for their home shopping service Sainbsbury's To You.

I love shopping on the Internet. I can search to my heart's content, mull things over as much as I need to, and buy what I want when I feel like it. So including the weekly grocery shop ought to be a breeze. In some ways it is, but the experience has been far from straightforward so far, and my concerns about the retailer's reliability have not been dissipated in any way.