Elbows at the ready for fights over bargain sprouts

THREE things caught my eye this week in the news. Firstly I was pleased to read – at last – from a medic who said he thought the Alzheimer’s test was not a good idea and that he wouldn’t have one.

Most doctors keep quiet about their personal opinions on this, and if they haven’t suffered it in their own family will have no idea what it is like to live with on a daily basis.

Unfortunately they are given £55 for every case of dementia they diagnose which I suggest is the most appalling idea ever in the history of medicine.

For all the reasons I have stated in previous columns – and many of you have backed me up – this doctor has also come to the conclusion that it is self-defeating to know early on you were going to get such a serious, life-changing condition.

Yes, they are experimenting with drugs all the time but it’s only tinkering around the edges, and sadly does not alter the fact that there still is no cure.

Watching my mother’s slow decline from a lively gregarious woman to someone who could not dress or feed herself, speak or recognise anyone, including me, was bad enough, but if she had known what was coming it would have ruined the happy years that came before.

The second news story I want to share made me very glad to be a non-meat eater, as it’s unlikely I’ll ever find myself pushing people out of the way for reduced radishes or Brussels sprouts.

Did you see the pictures of people fighting over cut-price chicken and steak at a Tesco store in Northampton?

I do however hope this hasn’t set a trend which could eventually result in scuffles over cut-price cheese or soya. Quorn wars anyone? Elbows at the ready...

Finally, I gasped over the story of stowaways who have balanced in the undercarriage well of planes.

How do you find the courage to even think about attempting this?

Merely booking in at airports is tension enough, particularly going through the scanner which invariably pings and is followed by the indignity of a frisk.

Most challenging for me is that it’s such a serious business and laughing is definitely out of order, even when Mr F, with belt removed, is trying to hold on to his dignity as well as his trousers.

Email bmailbarbara@gmail.com