Sudan-ly

I dedicate this song to Gillian Gibbons. I hope you like Billy Ocean.

Suddenly, life has no meaning to me,
there’s teddy up above, and things we never take notice of
You wake up, suddenly you’re in jail.

Allah and Mohammad- Cuddly Wuddlies.

God and his Prophet.

On the right is Mohammad the Woolly Doggy wearing a nice warm knitted jumper. Piece be upon him.

On the left Allah the Cheeky Orange Tiger.

Praise be to Cheeky Tiger.

Yo! Sushi, Silverburn Glasgow

Yo! Sushi has just launched their first Scottish restaurant at the new Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow. This is very welcome because I no longer have to travel down to London on the pretext of going to meetings and conferences just to get my fix of raw fish.

This is not the first conveyor belt suchi bar in Glasgow. OKO in Merchant City trailblazed the concept but closed in 2006. Little brother OKO Express on Queen Street remains but is little more than a noodle bar serving Cantonese-esque fried noodles and rice.

The wife and I decided to try it out and we went there for Saturday lunch.

The restaurant is sited in one of the atria of the shopping centre so diners and sushi staff are in full view of the shoppers. The conveyor belt is large and seating is a mixture of fixed tables and stools arranged around the belt. Lunch service was brisk and hungry and inquisitive shoppers soon filled all the seats after the 12pm opening. Wait staff seemed well trained in the art of Yo! and kitchen preparation looked professional and organised. Like all Yo! outlets the sushi and sashimi are prepared fresh on site.

Salmon and tuna sashimi were spot on- very fresh and good cuts. California maki prepared in front of us were snapped up by the diners including ourselves. The rice was suprisingly good coming out of an automated machine. Presentation of the sushi dishes showed care and surpassed the outlets in London in my opinion. The only slight downer was the fried tofu- a bit over cooked and dry.

Overall a very pleasant experience although not cheap- 10 pence change out of a £40 bill. Jokalew Rating: 8/10

In a Bunker

More bad news. Trump has been given the go ahead for his mega golf resort in Aberdeenshire. This is going to spell disaster for the local economy. There’s going to be thousands of jobs created and the Aberdeenshire resort could attract new and big spending tourists into the local area. Scotland might even be a destination that people will want to come to.

It gets even worse. This is private sector money coming into Scotland. This is private investment. And it’s overseas money too. It needs to be stopped now. Why is this private money even allowed in Scotland? Shouldn’t the Treasury be funding jobs and benefits with public money? More civil service jobs. More public spending. That’s what we need.

This enterprise might even be sustainable in the longer term. It’s an outrage.

This has to be HALTED now. The Scottish Government can and must veto it.

A Review of Dining Out

Being a bit of a foodie, I (and the family) go out for meals on a fairly regualr basis. The experience generally is, sadly, a bit disappointing. I thought it would be good to note down the occasions that we’ve dined out in the past couple of months with a little review.

Roastit Bubbly Jocks, 450 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow. Lunch on a Saturday. Place smelt of cheap bleach which was not great. Scottish local produce on the menu. Service was unattentive and food rather plain and uninspired.  My lamb was tender but distinctly dry at the edges. Reheated? Wife’s beef stew was plain Scottish stodge. 3/10

Sannino, 57 Elmbank Street, Glasgow. Dinner on a Saturday night. Very busy due to the pre-theatre crowd. Buzzing atmosphere and friendly service. Typical and boringly safe Italian menu. Food tasted a bit tired and lack flair or imagination. My spag and meatballs was disappointing and pasta slightly over cooked. 4/10

SeeWoo Restaurant, 29 Saracen Street, Glasgow. Weekend and weekday dim sum (lunches). Over-large and nil-ambience dining room with a massive projector beaming out Chinese TV. Promp service and food. Good quality dim sum at weekends but a bit hit and miss on weekdays. Char sui buns fresh and tasty, prawn dumplings are very good but only on weekends. 5/10

Balbir’s, 7 Church Street, Glasgow. Sunday dinnerwas very busy and fully booked. Upbeat and attentive service by well informed staff. Menu is modern Indian but with classic favourites included. Lamb on the bone was perfectly spiced and tender. Salmon tandoori was wonderfully moist. 8/10

The Bothy, 11 Ruthven Lane, Glasgow. Busy Saturday dinner. Drinks and food service painfully slow and poorly coordinated. Some dishes verging on cool on arrival. Ambitious seasonal menu of Scottish produce but technically deficient in execution- lamb was over cooked and dry as was the sea bass. Pea and ham soup was salty and stodgy. Have had better food here and quality control has slipped badly. 5/10

Chinois, Omni Centre, Edinburgh. Chinese buffet for weekday lunch. Dreadful mass dining masquerading as Chinese food. Indifferent and bored waiting staff. Sub mediocre food which was over seasoned and over MSG’ed. Dirty and wet plates. Avoid. 1/10

Dunblane Hydro- Banquet Hall, Perth Road, Dunblane. Conference banquet for 300  on a weekday night. 4 Courses executed with competence. Service was brisk and effiicient albeit impersonal. Menu showed some imagination with use of seasonal and local produce. Rack of lamb was slightly too pink. 7/10

Beardmore Hotel- Arcoona Restaurant, Beardmore Street, Clydebank. Saturday night dinner in private function room. Inexperienced waiting staff caused a few minor hiccups during the night eg serving white and red wine in the same glass. Uninspiring and play-it-safe hotel menu featuring Scottish fare. However food was cooked proficiently and was fresh. Cheeses were past their best. 5/10

Chinatown, 42 New City Road, Glasgow. Weekday dinner. Very quiet and almost soul less atmosphere on a Thursday night. Friendly and experienced staff does not make up for the soundless karaoke showing on 2 flat screens in the dining room. What are these for? Food is hearty and rustic Cantonese fare- ordering from the Chinese menu. 6/10 

Ichiban, 184 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow. Lunch on weekday. Set menu 2 course lunch in a busy westend location. Fast and slightly rushed service. Sushi rice cooked competently but noodles soft and over done. Fried rice fresh and not overly greasy. 6/10

La Tasca, 39 Renfield Street, Glasgow. Weekday lunch tapas menu. Friendly but slow wait staff. Tapas were good sized portions but all pre-prepared and heated to order. Meatballs dry and tired, paella flavourless, cold meats past their best. 3/10

Nowt as evil as religion

The news story of the young mum who died after a twin birth serves to reinforce my view that religion is insane and evil.

Emma Gough died following the birth of twins because being a Jehovah’s Witness forbade her to have a life saving blood transfusion. I guess that during a difficult twin delivery she lost a lot of blood, became shocked and probably suffered a heart attack or went into respiratory failure.

What a senseless loss of life indeed and for twins to grow up without a mother. These JW wackos are taking stuff about blood straight out of the the bible and then saying that blood transfusions are banned by god. When those fictional books of Genesis, etc were being written, nobody had an inkling about modern ITUs and life support. What a farce.  Blood transfusions are hardly sinful. Hell, even pets are having them done as I’ve said before. For a person to refuse a BT on the grounds of a mad delusional thought process (based upon fiction) in this day and age is unbelievable.

It’s like saying that “Teeth shalt never be discarded. The Tooth fairy will taketh from under your pillow and giveth you a quid if thou hast been a good boy”

Religious beliefs need to be shown to be the dangerous fanatical superstitious claptrap that they really are.

A run-in with the Homeopathic Thought Police

I am reproducing this article by Andy Lewis from the Quackometer as the Society of Homeopaths have asked his service provider to take it down on pretty flimsy grounds. To me it reeks of a pathetic attempt to silence valid criticism of dangerous and unethical practices. See here for the full story. Decide for yourself.

The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) are a shambles and a bad joke. It is now over a year since Sense about Science, Simon Singh and the BBC Newsnight programme exposed how it is common practice for high street homeopaths to tell customers that their magic pills can prevent malaria. The Society of Homeopaths have done diddly-squat to stamp out this dangerous practice apart from issue a few ambiguously weasel-worded press statements.

The SoH has a code of practice, but my feeling is that this is just a smokescreen and is widely flouted and that the Society do not care about this. If this is true, then the code of practice is nothing more than a thin veneer used to give authority and credibility to its deluded members. It does nothing more than fool the public into thinking they are dealing with a regulated professional.

As a quick test, I picked a random homeopath with a web site from the SoH register to see if they flouted a couple of important rules:

48 * Advertising shall not contain claims of superiority.
* No advertising may be used which expressly or implicitly claims to cure named diseases.

72 To avoid making claims (whether explicit or implied; orally or in writing) implying cure of any named disease.

The homeopath I picked on is called Julia Wilson and runs a practice from the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough. What I found rather shocked and angered me.

Straight away, we find that Julia M Wilson LCHE, RSHom specialises in asthma and works at a clinic that says,

Many illnesses and disease can be successfully treated using homeopathy, including arthritis, asthma, digestive disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties, headaches, infertility, skin and sleep problems.

Well, there are a number of named diseases there to start off. She also gives a leaflet that advertises her asthma clinic. The advertising leaflet says,

Conventional medicine is at a loss when it comes to understanding the origin of allergies. … The best that medical research can do is try to keep the symptoms under control. Homeopathy is different, it seeks to address the triggers for asthma and eczema. It is a safe, drug free approach that helps alleviate the flaring of skin and tightening of lungs…

Now, despite the usual homeopathic contradiction of claiming to treat causes not symptoms and then in the next breath saying it can alleviate symptoms, the advert is clearly in breach of the above rule 47 on advertising as it implicitly claims superiority over real medicine and names a disease.

Asthma is estimated to be responsible for 1,500 deaths and 74,000 emergency hospital admissions in the UK each year. It is not a trivial illness that sugar pills ought to be anywhere near. The Cochrane Review says the following about the evidence for asthma and homeopathy,

The review of trials found that the type of homeopathy varied between the studies, that the study designs used in the trials were varied and that no strong evidence existed that usual forms of homeopathy for asthma are effective.

This is not a surprise given that homeopathy is just a ritualised placebo. Hopefully, most parents attending this clinic will have the good sense to go to a real accident and emergency unit in the event of a severe attack and consult their GP about real management of the illness. I would hope that Julia does little harm here.

However, a little more research on her site reveals much more serious concerns. She says on her site that ’she worked in Kenya teaching homeopathy at a college in Nairobi and supporting graduates to set up their own clinics’. Now, we have seen what homeopaths do in Kenya before. It is not treating a little stress and the odd headache. Free from strong UK legislation, these missionary homeopaths make the boldest claims about the deadliest diseases.

A bit of web research shows where Julia was working (picture above). The Abha Light Foundation is a registered NGO in Kenya. It takes mobile homeopathy clinics through the slums of Nairobi and surrounding villages. Its stated aim is to,

introduce Homeopathy and natural medicines as a method of managing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Kenya.

I must admit, I had to pause for breath after reading that. The clinic sells its own homeopathic remedies for ‘treating’ various lethal diseases. Its MalariaX potion,

is a homeopathic preparation for prevention of malaria and treatment of malaria. Suitable for children. For prevention. Only 1 pill each week before entering, during and after leaving malaria risk areas. For treatment. Take 1 pill every 1-3 hours during a malaria attack.

This is nothing short of being totally outrageous. It is a murderous delusion. David Colquhoun has been writing about this wicked scam recently and it is well worth following his blog on the issue.

Let’s remind ourselves what one of the most senior and respected homeopaths in the UK, Dr Peter Fisher of the London Homeopathic Hospital, has to say on this matter.

there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won’t find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice.

Malaria is a huge killer in Kenya. It is the biggest killer of children under five. The problem is so huge that the reintroduction of DDT is considered as a proven way of reducing deaths. Magic sugar pills and water drops will do nothing. Many of the poorest in Kenya cannot afford real anti-malaria medicine, but offering them insane nonsense as a substitute will not help anyone.

Ironically, the WHO has issued a press release today on cheap ways of reducing child and adult mortality due to malaria. Their trials, conducted in Kenya, of using cheap mosquito nets soaked in insecticide have reduced child deaths by 44% over two years. It says that issuing these nets be the ‘immediate priority’ to governments with a malaria problem. No mention of homeopathy. These results were arrived at by careful trials and observation. Science. We now know that nets work. A lifesaving net costs $5. A bottle of useless homeopathic crap costs $4.50. Both are large amounts for a poor Kenyan, but is their life really worth the 50c saving?

I am sure we are going to hear the usual homeopath bleat that this is just a campaign by Big Pharma to discredit unpatentable homeopathic remedies. Are we to add to the conspiracy Big Net manufacturers too?

It amazes me that to add to all the list of ills and injustices that our rich nations impose on the poor of the world, we have to add the widespread export of our bourgeois and lethal healing fantasies. To make a strong point: if we can introduce laws that allow the arrest of sex tourists on their return to the UK, can we not charge people who travel to Africa to indulge their dangerous healing delusions?

At the very least, we could expect the Society of Homeopaths to try to stamp out this wicked practice? Could we?

For Your Life

So the Met has been found guilty of breaches of HEALTH AND SAFETY laws over the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. The familiy rightly or wrongly are calling for heads to roll (no joke intended) and perhaps for the whole British police system to be scrapped.

The latter might be a little hyperbole but I feel it’s symptomatic of today’s knee jerk tabloid culture.  A train hits a car on a level crossing and [hysteria] we must all ban level crossings [/hysteria].

I’m not going to turn this into a rant against today’s reactionary media. That will be for another day.

I want to highlight what I see is a disparity between a Brazilian life in the UK and a Brazilian life in Brazil. I refer to the ongoing and murderous persecution of Brazilian street children. The ABC Trust is a UK charity set up by Jimena Page and her husband Jimmy (of Led Zepplin fame). It aims to provide help and support to the many thousands if not millions of Brazilian street children who are neglected by their own government and communities. This includes finding them safe shelter so that they don’t end up dead: murdered by death squads. An ABC Trust report highlights-

“It is estimated by child care agencies that up to 5 or 6 children a day are assassinated on Rio’s streets, even conservative figures put the number at 2 killings every day.”

Whilst Britain is humming and hawwing and gazing intently at its own navel over the accidental death of an unfortunate Brazilian in London, there is a massacre happening today in Jean Charles’ home country. And where is the news coverage?

The sad conclusion is that if you die in Stockwell underground, the whole world will know and mourn. If you die in the gutter in Rio, you’ll be forgotten.