Chronic Phyllocontin toxicity…

I was first prescribed Phyllocontin Continus, at 450mg every 12 hours, in 1980. For the next couple of years the hospital monitored my serum Theophylline levels to make sure the dose was both safe and effective (with Phyllocontin, the difference in serum levels between effective and toxic is tiny, hence the testing). I was very [...]

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Poor-quality books at high prices…

My copy of John Sandford’s latest offering, “Bad Blood”, arrived yesterday. Amazon, by the way, still don’t offer this book from stock, nor have they bothered to explain why. Still, back to my book. List price is £18.05, according to Amazon, very little of which has been spent on its production. It’s a hardback, published [...]

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On writing, and on being blocked…

There is a WordPress forum thread entitled “Do you write because you have to or because you want to?” It also mentioned writers’ block, as it applies to bloggers. Most responses were interesting, one or two pretentious – this was mine. Since, ultimately, I write for you – whoever you might be – I thought [...]

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The Labour party time machine…

… taking us straight back to 1987. Well, for all those of us hoping that this weekend would result in a buoyant and effective Labour party emerging from the drabness of the Brown years to form a dynamic (and possibly, if enough LimpDems defected, effective), opposition, we’ve been royally shafted. We simply cannot – and [...]

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Lloyds-TSB phishing alert…

This is a phishing email purporting to be from Lloyds-TSB. As you can see, the

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Atrovent and Clenil Modulite…

Another item from my search engine slush pile – “compare Atrovent inhaler to Clenil Modulite”. Forget it, you can’t. Why?

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Nick Clegg…

“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” – Sherlock Holmes. . How often

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Mobility scooters and staying warm…

Not done this for a long time, because nothing new has appeared, but this is from my search-engine slush pile – “warm covers for disabled scooters”. Only one sensible answer – don’t even think about it! A variety of voluminous, often fleece-lined “garments” are available to cover both rider and machine, and all

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What I’m reading today, September 21 2010 (an occasional series)

Dan Leader’s Local Breads book is an ongoing project (wholemeal – whole-wheat if you’re in the colonies – and sourdough bread from around the world). Right now I have a pair of wholemeal rye-based sourdough

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Problems with Amazon UK…

Amazon UK seem to have rather lost the plot. A new John Sandford book is published today (Bad Blood, latest in the Virgil Flowers series). For weeks Amazon have had this flagged as “Temporarily

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