Contents
Cartoon:
Claudia Ward
Getting
through the winter: Joselyn Duffy Morton
Cover
pic: Roger Morton
Editorial
13 February 2013
For
the last few days, the news has been full of the horsemeat scandal. I should
say the British news because in France, horsemeat is still for sale in the
butcher or the supermarket. It is the British that are more fond of horses than
they are of cows, sheep or pigs. It is horses they put their legs astride, that
they gently stroke, that they feel deep affection for. Cows, sheep, pigs - not
so much.
Vegetarians
of course are not affected; they are once again squeaky clean. They don’t chew
on the flesh of any of these big beasts.
The
main worry of course is not the duplicity or disguising of one animal for
another, the main worry is that horses often get administered powerful drugs,
the most common seems to be Phenylbutazone, usually known as Bute. This is an inexpensive anti-inflammatory drug
which can cause nasty side-effects in humans.
So
this horsemeat scandal is not just your run-of-the-mill bad taste scandal, it
could be more serious than that. Then there’s the question of dosh because the
Findus beef lasagne packets should have actually cost less as they were not
beef but horse. It’s a shonky world all right.
Pope
Benedict XV1 has resigned. I am trying to feel the shock-waves of this but the
Pope’s doings don’t actually impinge upon my life. Though, given what has gone
down already, I would not be surprised if David Cameron were to use him as an
example of why the pension age should be raised to 85.
I
continue to be sad for all the lousy stories and accounts that I read about the
NHS – what a horror story it is becoming. I think nowadays none of us want to
inherit the earth, we just want to die peacefully in our own beds Not however, starved
to death and neglected as a pensioner in her 80s did recently in England, after
9 days on her own. This was because there was a raid on her care agency which
was then closed down because illegal refugees were working in it. I hope, since
then, someone has gone through the agency’s books to ascertain that there are
no other clients to whom this could happen.
Meanwhile,
I am hoping to rouse my lazy, latent inner self and go and see a few more
movies before the Oscars.
I
also know I desperately need to earn some money and yet the inner workings of
the details of how this is possible, continue to elude me.
Hoping
you are all keeping cheerful and warm. Best wishes, Joselyn Morton
