Up Close and Personal
The monthly commentary from Phillip Day

Dear All,

Here we are in the run down to Christmas! First of all, many thanks to the thousands who turned out for my Simple Changes tour Down Under and helped make it a resounding success. And a special thanks also to the dozens who organized, hosted, ticketed and book-tabled - none of it would have been possible without your blessed enthusiasm and selfless dedication. Bravissimo!

Phew! Time for Samantha and I to return home to the Fourth Reich (God and Osama willing), pay some attention to family and put up our feet before we start the whole process all over again. A strange thing this touring business, like being in a tunnel, and no real news of home for the better part of three months, though I understand the insanity continues.

Radio 4's Farming Today recently reports that trading standards officers in Powys have told butchers they will have to change the name of their 'Welsh Dragon' sausages. Apparently this is misleading the consumer as to the nature of the product (sigh). Whilst on the subject of blithering idiocy, Ross Clark's new book, How to Label a Goat, is sure to get the blood squirting out of your ears. It's a catalogue of the most asinine legislation and sticky-beaking of which British and European bureaucracy have thus far been capable (and they still have the capacity to astound me). The only thing I can see Ross has omitted is a heartfelt plea to the Iraqi government to have Abu Ghraib prison re-opened for the sole benefit of these liberal, pinko-wallah insects, and invite Lindy England back with her specialist piece of rubber hosing. Oh, don't get me started.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will go all out during Germany's forthcoming six-month EU presidency to make Adolf Hitler's dream of a German - whoops - European integrated state a reality. Actually, if the Treaty of Berlin wins through, the EU will be more communist that fascist (though no-one's been able to tell me the difference), and actually a Kremlin victory, should Vlad-the-Impaler Putin put on hold his newfound interest in isotopic toxicology and think about Russia joining the fold. America the Great Satan? Ha! Europe dwarfs the US by population with its unaccountable, incompetent, tell-'em-it's-a-democracy approach and is by far the more scary. Might have to rely on another Normandy landing, fellas. At least with The Simpsons America can laugh at itself. There's not much self-parody in the hallowed halls of Brussels, you can trust me on that one.

Right, health. Came across some marvelous online videos from Dr Matthias Rath posted on the Alliance for Health Freedom Australia website (an organization all Australians and New Zealanders should join). One short film explains the marvelous workings of vitamin C and other nutrients in preventing and treating heart disease - information previously covered in Dr Rath's landmark book, Why Animals Don't Get Heart Attacks But People Do (see also Health Wars).

Sex increases longevity - official - though judging by Hugh Heffner and Peter Stringfellow, it sure makes your hair go funny. A special section this month on mobile phone warnings for children. Also click here for an online trailer for the Cell Phone War to give the more stubborn a chance to see where the problems lie. You can survive without a mobile phone. It's Telstra and Vodafone who cannot.

In this month's EClub, a piece on the failure rate of Australian surgery - a continuing theme of Health Wars (am working on a new edition of this book, by the way, which will be available from 20th January 2007). Garlic (allicin) can help with cancer - official. With the AWB crisis raging in Oz, a timely reminder of the dangers of eating white bread. Merck allegedly scamming diabetics (corporations have neither bodies to be punished nor souls to be damned). And a follow-up on a recent Weekly Health Tip on the problems infants have with cow's milk squirting out of their nostrils and all down your Dolce Cabanas.

Well, I'm afraid that's it for another year. Have a great Crimbo y'all, and many thanks, Australia, New Zealand, Mr Howard and Ms Clark for your hospitality. I leave you in the capable hands of Freddie Flintoff and his intrepid ball-bashers. As the proverb states: Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Then again, set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride you to the devil.

Ta-ra,
Phillip