CRYPTIC QUICK
Across
1. Initially Spode found it difficult to make a bit of pottery (5)
4. Scheme Edward followed showing evidence to have been ‘fixed’ (7)
8. They seek to ban bail too: insist on changing it (13)
10. Polishing medium merely appears to have lost initial lustre (5)
11. Where there’s ice, don’t begin to do what Prohibition forbade (4)
12. Changes made as to the Painted Porch (4)
16. I’m to be around university to fill my mind (5)
17. Though I can’t be upset I burp, malt beer being around (13)
19. Infuriated by having to change gear in the finish (7)
20. Lived almost well though in extremes of debt (5)
Down
1. Rehearsal using only the black keys is an underhanded business (5,8)
2. A turn from the past (3)
3. Chauffeur may be used by a golfer (6)
4. I’d pose like this when standing ready for action (6)
5. Girl giving nothing but a heartless ‘Yes’, which is aggravating (6)
6. Try a vesta for an international event (4,5)
7. Priest managed to alter such slighting talk (13)
Across
1. Competent (4)
4. Disperse widely (6)
8. Broad, comprehensive (7)
9. Shirk (5)
10. Kill (4)
11. Unafraid (8)
13. Sincere (9)
17. Strong liking for something (8)
19. Pin-up (4)
21. Move too close to (5)
22. Mythical creature (7)
23. Piled (6)
24. Sprint (4)
9. It is rough, but it will make things smooth (9)
13. One could give girl nothing that’s well out at sea (3-3)
14. Be plentiful as a leap can be (6)
15. First waterfowl declined to look like a duck’s foot (6)
18. State for one not drawing an opponent in Derby event (3)
Down
2. Under (7)
3. Nobleman (4)
4. Persuasive (6-7)
5. Reticent (8)
6. Spry (5)
7. Creature (5)
8. Pant (4)
12. No longer effective (6-2)
14. Monotonous (7)
15. Tiny spot (5)
16. Scheme (4)
18. Not anybody (2,3)
20. Tie (4)
procedure, a self test for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which causes almost all cervical cancer.
But although it’s available in Australia and parts of Europe, and described by experts as ‘‘a game changer’’, the Government has ignored calls to implement the testing.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer, but we get less treatment, and die twice as fast as people in other Western countries.
Care in pregnancy and childbirth varies wildly.
A Victoria University study revealed more than one third of pregnant women endured lifethreatening complications, and one third received substandard care.
A majority of women (85 per cent) suffer painful tears during childbirth. Some can be extensive, and severe tears in low-risk pregnancies increased by 1.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent over 10 years.
Yet, recently it emerged ACC has changed its policy on birth injuries.
Claiming for a rugby injury or a drunken accident, it seems, is legit. Having a tiny human split you from A to V is too much a burden for the state insurer to bear.
There are period complications and conditions like endometriosis. How many of us have visited a GP with a ‘bikini health’ issue, or even a migraine, only to be made to feel we are overreacting or hysterical?
After a time, the real-life horror stories start to bleed together. We are conditioned by a system that has us believe pain is a normal part of being a woman.
Serious medical complications, dismissed as ‘‘women’s problems,’’ or ‘‘that time of life’’, led to healthcare scandals like that of surgical mesh.
It’s why unacceptable barriers to contraception and abortion still exist. Why, in the age of the internet, we have to endure rushed, awkward, whispered conversations over a pharmacy counter.
Why serious conditions get overlooked or dismissed as UTIs, irritable bowel syndrome or anxiety. Why we are less likely to get effective pain relief.
That’s why we don’t have a national health strategy, and why the Government is able to ignore calls for more funding and to overhaul women’s health services.
Why medical research is skewed overwhelmingly towards the impact of disease in men.
Our healthcare system is gaslighting us. This arrogant culture contributes to misdiagnosis, long wait times, and lower survival rates for illnesses.
And just as we’ve been brushing off women’s symptoms, we continue to ignore the gender imbalance at the doctor’s surgery.
We are conditioned by a system that has us believe pain is a normal part of being a woman.