Cutting female genitals

A wonderful female GP in London called Dr Abe is leading a campaign against FGM female genital mutilation.
She is based at the Yiewsley Health Centre.

She fell into the situation when a year ago a patient quietly asked her if it was possible to be given her clitoris back.
She had been "CUT" as a child.

Until then Dr Abe had never seen a patient  with this. Now she discreetly asks all females of African or Middle eastern origin if they have been cut.Word has got round and now she sees one every day  - sometimes more.

It is an unbelievably horrific thing to do to someone, not just because it ruins sex, but because it leads to repeat cystitis/ bladder infection, kidney infection and incontinence of urine and faeces.

Dr Abe has seen horrific cases - with the labia and clitoris removed and the vagina sewn up almost completely.
In her worst case - the poor women had developed so many fistulae because of scarring, that the urine and faeces didn't know which way to go and she was leaking everywhere.

Sometimes the woman's vagina has been sewn up to such an extent that her husband cannot have sex with her - and  leaves her as a result.

How can we stop this happening in the UK
The official figures show, that in just England and Wales there has been a threefold increase in the last 10 years. It is almost certainly more than that.

It needs to be talked about and talked about until  it is heard by the women who need to hear.

It is not a crime done by men to women
It is something that women do to women - that mothers do to daughters
With proper education these women would not do it

I worked for many years as a school doctor in the days when there was a good school health service.
This service no longer really exists in any useful way. Perhaps it is time to bring it back again.

In the school where I worked - a boys school - I examined every new boy. In the primary school this involved checking the boys testicles to  make sure they were properly in the scrotum. A parent was always asked to be present.

If I were working now in a mixed school it would be so easy to examine the genitals of every child - male and female- during their entry medical. It would uncover those already CUT and it would be an opportunity to educate all mothers.It would also probably allow some mothers who were also CUT to ask for help and to be able to refer them to the appropriate places.

Legal Rape

I have just read that a village court - 149 miles from Calcutta in India -ordered  -
that a girl should be raped by the men of the village.

This was the considered verdict of The Court and the head man of the village.
The 20 year old girl had been having an affair with a man from a different community.

Her parents were too poor to pay the fine, which was the initial punishment -
so the court - "salisha sabha" a form of legal village court - sentenced her to be tied to a tree for more than 12 hour - and then to be raped by the men of the village.

This happened

She is alive - in hospital - but in a critical state, having lost a massive amount of blood.

She said that more than 5 men raped her.  After that  - she lost count. One of the men was the head of the village and others were those she knew well, and even some she called Uncle.

I would like to see all those men - including the ones who were members of the court who did not rape her - (if there were any) -have their testicles cut off. Then I would like to see all those men who raped her - have their penis cut off - with a rusty blunt knife.
And I would make sure that every man in the country knew - that was what lay in store for him if he orders or allows rape or if he commits rapes.
Enough is enough

Wicked Research

How often does one read a snippet in the media saying something like -
"New research has shown that if you do something, it will cure something else"

If one can be bothered to look up the paper behind the headline, it is most often  one small study, done under, not entirely satisfactory scientific research standards.
But even if it has been an excellent, class A, bit of research - the big question should be -
IF IT WAS DONE AGAIN  - WOULD THE RESULT BE THE SAME?

When the drug company Amgen tried to replicate 53 key studies of cancer, they got the same results IN JUST SIX CASES.

We find it hard to believe that many experiments get significant results - just BY CHANCE
Of course the best way to check for this is  - to repeat the experiment - preferably before publishing that result.

All too often scientists get over-excited and publish chance results, or "false positives", like gamblers or fund managers who tell you about winners they backed.
The media pick then them up - as they make a story that will sell papers.

Sadly the scientists often do not bother to replicate the study.
or
If they do and get a negative results -
they don't bother to publish it - or are not allowed to publish it.
And  -even if they do -
the media do not pick it up  - as it will not sell papers!

I love Google

My great passion is genealogy - all the branches of my ancestors - not just the men.

This has recently taken me to Bologna in Italy, where we unearthed amazing discoveries in ancient libraries and archives

Now - back in the UK - the research continues - thanks to Google.

One name on the family tree that we discovered there - was Bonaparte Zani - who lived about 1250.

I popped the name into Google and up came an old 17th century book of letters in the archives of The University of Madrid .
One of these letters is from a Valerio Zani - a cousin of an ancestor - who can also be found on the above mentioned tree.
So-
I am looking at this letter - (written before 1668 - by an ancient relative in Italy) displayed in Google books - on my computer in my home in the UK .

This is just Magic
But it gets more so-

If I select a paragraph and click translate - Google takes the text  - which is in image format and converts it into text format  - and then  translates it  - quicker than I could say - Jack Robinson.
Total Magic.

OK  - the translation needs a bit of tweaking - it is trying to cope with 17th century Italian - but it is quite possible for me to understand what is being said.

And -
What is it saying?
Well Valerio was obviously also the family genealogist, and he was discussing how Bonaparte Zani fitted into the family tree.

Without Google I  would never have known about that book.
Even if by some miracle I had stumbled upon it - I would not have known there was anything inside relevant to my research
Even if I had known it was relevant -  I would not have been able to search for the name Zani inside it.
It is so easy to search for a name in a book that has been digitised.

Google - I love you

Divided by Accent

One of the biggest dividers in the UK is accent.

If a person talks like you, then you are more likely to perceive them as being like you, even if appearance is different.

If I meet a person who lives here but who comes from India or Pakistan  and who speaks with an accent from that place, I perceive them as foreign although they live here
If I meet a similar person who speaks with a Scottish accent, then I will perceive them as local - as belonging here.

If I meet a person who lives here but who comes from Yorkshire and who speaks with a Yorkshire accent then I perceive them as foreign (from Yorkshire) although they live here
If I meet a similar person from Yorkshire who speaks with a Scottish accent then I would think they were local - as belonging here - being Scottish.

If I meet a person who lives in Edinburgh but comes from Glasgow, I would immediately know he/she came from Glasgow and vice versa  - and each would think the other to be Scottish, but different from them

If I met someone who had been to a posh private school and spoke posh BBC English, but who lived in Scotland, then I would think they were posh - from either England or Scotland - but most Scots would think they were English.

What I am getting at  is this
 In the UK- it is accent that divides.
Learn the same accent as your neighbours and you will blend in and be accepted - if that is what you want.
The best place for children to learn this  - is at school.

I lived in Canada for a while. If I had decided to stay permanently,  I would have worked on losing my British accent as much as possible. I like to feel that I belong where I live.

But do we want to lose our UK regional accents?

At present there are massive differences in accent between Glasgow (Billy Connolly) Edinburgh (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) Aberdeen, the Highlands, the Western Isles etc.
I think it would be tragic to lose them.
So  perhaps it is a case of ""VIVE LA DIFFÉRENCE

My cure for the economy

My cure for the economy is to stop gambling on things that are too important to be played with.
Manufacturing / business
Housing

What do I mean.
A person buys shares in a company in the stock market .
The capital of that company is the money lent to it by all its shareholders.
That money is essential to the company to function - to buy raw materials and machinery and to pay its staff and costs and modernize when necessary.
In return the  shareholder is paid dividends.
If the company does well the shareholder may be rewarded in two ways - by an  increase in dividends and an increase in share price.
When I buy shares I am gambling - taking a punt
If I get it wrong - I can lose  - big time
But
if I get right - I can win - and make money.

It is a similar thing with housing
Until the recent credit crunch it was a dead cert that if you bought a property - you would very quickly be able to sell it for healthy profit. It wasn't  much of a gamble.
Has that changed - perhaps - many people are predicting that the new housing upward spiral will end in disaster.
But most of us ordinary people buy property because we need somewhere to live.
But many others buy as an investment - an alternative to the stock market - as a gamble.

People with spare cash invest in many things.
Bank saving accounts are now useless due to terrible  interest rates.
What else is there apart from property or the stock market?
Well- works of art, antiques, old cars etc
Any investment is a gamble.

My point is that gambling on manufacturing and housing is too dangerous to our nation to be allowed.
In Germany home ownership is much lower than the UK. The Germans are not encouraged to gamble with their homes. If you buy a property in Germany and sell it within a certain number of years you are very heavily taxed on any profit.
In this country there used to be a system through taxation that encouraged shareholders to hold their shares in a company for a long time so that it was a true investment in that company and not a quick punt.

I would like to see the UK Government bring in both these measures
And as for -
Investment banking and all the horrific new weird products they keep dreaming up of gambling with our precious savings,
I would get rid of them all.

Ordinary banks at present can  legally have a bank balance of 20 times the amount of money they actually have.
This is crazy - no wonder there are problems. I gather that the powers-that-be are aware of this but dare not do anything  for fear of another disaster .
I would like to see a long term aim, to work towards a situation, were no-one lends out more than they have.
Perhaps this will happen with  new internet peer to peer lending and then banks will become a thing of the past.

I love Photoshop

I know I am weird - but I just love Photoshop.
I have an expert son - who gives me tutorials on occasional visits home.
This is such a treat - better than any present.

It used to be - "A photo can never lie".
How wrong can that be now.

I can spend endless happy hours re-arranging people in a family group picture to get the best results.
In some recent wedding pictures - I spent ages re-arranging my hair which the wind had blown out of place.
We went for a walk to photograph the beautiful autumn colours, but the sun did not deign to come out.
So - I took the photos anyway and made the sun come out.

I love it because it is being creative
However - I think what I really love is the power it gives me
I can change people
I can change nature
A bit scary really.

I wish I could claim to have created this amazing image but I didn't. It came from
http://www.funnyjunksite.com/pictures/pictures/funny-photoshopped-pictures/page/43/
.

What is your favourite shop?

Which is my favourite Shop?
Forget clothes and make-up.
Forget furniture.
Forget white goods and kitchen stuff.
Forget most food and drink- except that involving chocolate and cream.
What are you left with?
Books - Computer stuff  - Stationery
Hmmmm
Those are my 3 favourites.
But I have a mountain of physical  books and kindle books waiting to be read
and
I cannot find anymore excuses to buy any more computers or gadgets.
So -
if forced to pick one  - it would be - Stationary.
I can spend happy hours browsing through paper, pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, paperclips, tape, covers etc - so many things that I don't really need but would  be useful.
I love the stationers that are big enough to also stock storage containers - Oh I want to buy them all - they could all be useful.
and
It is always possible to find something that your really do need.
My essential buys today where -
a packet of paperclips
a packet of plain postcards
a packet of clear plastic folders - open on 2 sides
What more can I say?

A uniform

A uniform is a wonderful thing because it removes all need of "thought about clothes".
You just put them on and take them off - job done.
What could be more easy and more stress free.

I first wore a uniform for school at about age 10.
That took me through to age 18.
Those were happy clothes years.

Then university - swinging sixties - London.
Well - it was OK - because anything was OK - the weirder the better.
My mother thought it odd that I wore a long skirt all day and a mini for evening party wear and both with white lipstick.

Then work - as a hospital doctor was wonderful - a uniform again - the long white coat.
Anything could be worn underneath and often was.
 I remember one occasion when I was woken by a crash call (cardiac arrest) and leapt out the door pulling my white coat on over my nightie.
It was late the  next evening before I had time to gather my thought  - finding  -as I collapsed into bed - that I still had the nightie on under the white coat.

Then life as a mother.
This is where the stress began.
Looking after children is horrifically stressful, but is made much worse by the lack of a uniform.
It would be much better if mothers were issued with something like nurses now wear - pyjama suits.
There could even be different colours for 1st year, 2nd year or 3rd.

But the really troublesome place is  - Work
(in most jobs not in a hospital)
Oh the stress of -
a. Having to get up in time to get there.
b. Having to "think of clothes".

And then - of course -
the really really suicidal time is  - Work + Children.
How does anyone do that for any length of time and stay sane?

The best thing about retirement for me is that -
I am back in a uniform.
I have several, fairly identical, trousers and tops and they just get rotated each day without any thought required at all
Oh the bliss of it.
No-one expects oldies to be fashionable or smart.
Oldies can be comfortable and eccentric.

I can remember, when I was young, hearing an "old" person going into agonies about what to wear for an approaching wedding.
I thought this quite extra-ordinary. -
Why would such an "old " person be bothered by such things?
Well  - I am now much older than that person was.
I have reached that age of freedom
I will wear my  uniform - perhaps purple.

Candy Crush - I wish I had invented it

I confess - I am an addict - to Candy Crush
and to all the new games that King.com keep producing
The last was Pet Rescue - not quite as good as Candy Crush
Today  - Farm Heroes Saga - perhaps the best yet.

I find them soothing when I am stressed
and useful when I am bored

I refuse to pay for any of the helpful things offered - I consider that cheating
But - I have paid - perhaps 3 or 4 times - the huge price of 69 pence - at the places where I am advised by my children - there is no other way to advance.

Now - I had a "Pooh Think".
Winnie The Pooh had "Pooh Thinks" and our family caught the habit

According to an article I read recently   - approx 66 million (66,000,000) people play Candy Crush
If they all pay - like me - 69 pence x 3  - that is approx  137 million pounds (£137,940,000)

In one article someone in the know estimates they make
$875,382 per day which is about half a million pounds a day

That is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amount of money

I so wish that I had invented it  - Don't you?

Smoked Scottish Salmon - or is it?

We have a very fishy Scottish parliament - Our Scottish parliamentary leader is  Alec Salmond and his deputy is Nicola Sturgeon.
Alec Salmond has recently struck a deal with the Chinese to supply them with huge amounts of Scottish salmon.
However - According to Private Eye, we cant produce enough to fulfill the deal.
So the industry goes clever with some very fishy labeling with - it seems - the full approval of whoever it is who sanctions these things.
Below are two sentences with the 3 same words - but in different orders

1. Smoked Scottish Salmon
2. Scottish Smoked salmon

Apparently - according to the officials -
The first means Scottish salmon smoked in Scotland
The second means - salmon from anywhere in the world - smoked in Scotland

I was scandalised when I heard this. I had recently bought a packet of  - what I thought - was Scottish (smoked) salmon from Tesco
My husband got it out of the fridge to examine it.
At first glance the assumption was it was Scottish  - as there was a  St Andrews flag on the front.
It called itself  - Tesco - Smoked salmon Slices.
To read further, my husband had to put his reading glasses on and search very carefully to find some mention of source
Finally he found this on the back

Farmed in Scotland (B) , Norway (C)
For country of origin see the letter in the use by box on the front of the pack.

So turning over to the front we found a letter B
Therefore this packet was salmon from Scotland

I would like to know - if it had been a C - salmon from Norway - would there still have been a Scottish flag on the front?

It may be legal - but I think it is a wicked deception. It is not honest.
Not that I have anything against Norwegian salmon.

Cooker conundrums

I had what might have been a cooker crisis just before Christmas. The element in my fan oven died.

I wasn't too surprised  because we had had  a cooker crisis a few years ago - at Christmas. The repair man then seemed surprised that a cooker as old as ours was still functioning at all. He mended it for us but - as he went out the door - told us very firmly - not to call him the next time it broke. It would then  - he said - be fit for nothing else but the scrap heap.
Well that was quite a few years ago, so it has done very well.
I remember him looking inside the main oven and exclaiming in horror and saying in a very accusatory sort of way
"You don't open roast do you?"
I had to think very hard about this. What did he mean?  I felt attacked and very foolish and tentatively asked him what he meant.
He explained - as if to a total idiot - that open roasting meant roasting in an uncovered receptacle.

Well I don't know about you - but to me - roasting  involves putting a chunk of meat in a roasting dish and bunging it in the oven - for 20 minutes per lb plus 20 minutes. The roast potatoes get put in around it about 45  minutes before the end.
Infallible - works a treat  - as done by my mother and probably her mother before that.
I wouldn't dream of putting it in a covered container. That would not be proper  roasting - it would be braising or something weird like that - a different process altogether.

I proceeded to tell this to said repair man.

He looked duly amazed and then told me that NO-ONE open roasted now and that I was most unusual.
He then said something extra-ordinary -

"Cookers nowadays are not designed for open roasting.
If you open roast in a modern oven you will destroy it"

I think his explanation also  involved a description of the fatty fumes getting into the fan where they cant be cleaned. Certainly my cooker billows fumes whenever it is in action.

But no more - the main element was dead.
Someone pointed out to me that my cooker was multi-function and it could also cook conventionally and that perhaps the conventional elements top and bottom still worked.
This was an exciting find. I had no idea that it was multi-functional whatever that meant. I had no idea that it could be a conventional oven  as well as a fan oven. I had no idea that the element for the fan was situated in the back wall and the elements for the conventional cooker in the floor and roof.

So - I tried it
The kitchen immediately filled with horrific choking fumes. I reckoned it was all the years of fat that had accumulated on the never-used conventional elements. So I gave it 2 hours - with all the windows open - to burn themselves clean. But there was no improvement

On Christmas Eve, in desperation, I got down on hands and knees and inspected it.
It looked as if the oven floor was trying to peel off a layer. With nothing to lose I carefully lifted up the peeling off bit.
It occurred to me that what I was looking at was some sort of oven liner thing, made out of black synthetic something, possibly put there years ago. Lying directly over the lower conventional element - this was the cause of the fumes. It was removed and binned and the problem was solved.
The Christmas meal was open roasted in a fumeless kitchen.

However - with Christmas out of the way - I must now investigate and ultimately buy a new cooker.
If I wanted to buy a new computer or  tablet, the internet overflows with reviews going into the most  minute detail on every available product

For cookers - there is nothing

The lack of anything has driven me to take out a subscription to Which magazine. Even that is pretty useless.
Because I don't have gas in my kitchen, I sadly have to have an electric hob.
Do I really want an induction hob and have to throw away all my existing pans which would be rendered useless?
I want to find out more about ceramic hobs and the rings that lurk beneath them.
Are they fast halogen?
Are they those dreadful ones that keep turning themselves off, whilst pretending to keep the pan at a steady temperature?
I want to know the wattage of the oven - how powerful it is?
Why is there this lack of information - it is very basic stuff
Sadly the answer is - I think -
That very few people cook anymore
Very few people do the sort of real cooking from basics done by previous generations - the sort where open roasting is normal.
Most younger people use their cooker - if they use it all - to reheat ready made meals - in covered containers - while they play with their tablet!