Sell-by Dates

I've always thought sell-by and use-by dates are an insult to our common sense.  We have eyes to see and noses to smell whether food is bad or not, and for things like biscuits, well, it's a question of whether you don't mind them a bit soft.  Out-of-date biscuits, for example, aren't going to do you any harm.

What does do harm to the whole world is the amount of food waste this creates as children are raised who take them seriously.  A young neighbour whose whole family lives on benefits came to borrow some bread.  She said, on reading the label, "You'd have had to throw this away anyway tomorrow, it's out of date". When you come across one such opinion you know that it must be that of many more and I find that very distressing.

But this was meant to be on a lighter note altogether, because I saw some envelopes that had a sell-by date.  I thought it was a joke.  However, now they are past that date, and of course they were self-stick and don't self-stick any more.  Did the manufacturer hope I would now throw them away and buy some more?  Well, I'm not, of course, but have to look for the cellotape every time I use one.  Never saw what was wrong with licking them myself.  At least my tongue is always where I know where to find it!

Cheating Tycoons

Asil Nadir is evidently facing a lengthy jail term for stealing £29 million.  If he goes to jail he'll just make himself comfortable and he is not a danger to the general public.  What he loves is money.  Let him be fined instead of costing the country even more.

Vicious Dogs

How daft to put the owners of vicious dogs who have bitten people in jail!  This will make them even more aggressive than they already are, make it difficult for them to get jobs when they are released and cost the taxpayer a whole lot into the bargain.  They need to be fined.  They obviously have money, they need it to even feed a large dog.  And banned from keeping animals.  Throwing all offenders into jail is just a stupid non-solution to the problem they present for society.

Cycle paths

What a good idea Boris Johnson seems to have had about cycle paths along the railway lines!  Alongside most lines there is some space and obviously they are going just where commuters and others need to go.  Sometimes whole disused lines could be used for this purpose.Certainly there are probably lots of people busy thinking up how difficult this would be and the huge cost.  Perhaps cyclists could be recruited to volunteer to clear undergrowth and do other unskilled preparatory work?

Congratulations to the Post Office

What a good idea the Post Office had to produce stamps so quickly honouring the Gold Medal winners! I have bought some for my young relatives who have been excited by particular sports in the Games.  Most of them won't want to use them as they don't write many letters, but they are attractive to own and can be kept for a few years and sold when a bit of cash is needed.  Also, wish we had a medallist round here so we'd get a gold-painted letter box.  Proves there are imaginative people in P.O.H.Q. somewhere.

Who cares if there was life on Mars millions of years ago?

If anybody ever asked me if I wanted any part of our taxes to be spent on finding out whether there was life on Mars millions of years ago I'd say "NO" and I rather imagine half of us at least (the female bit) would do the same.  But nobody ever asks, they just go ahead and do it.  I wish those billions could be spent on developing renewable sources of energy and preserving our own lovely planet instead.

Should homeless women be "bribed" to have contraception implants?

In a programme on Radio 4 on Thursday  "Inside the Ethics Committee" a doctor had proposed that homeless women should be offered £20 to have an implant which would keep them from conceiving for three years.  This was considered very, very controversial, but what struck me about the discussion was the it concentrated on the rights or otherwise of the women and did not at all address the rights of the unborn child which would, almost by definition, be taken into care at birth.  Some of the women mentioned had had five or six children, all taken away from them.  Surely it isn't fair to let a child be born knowing that it will not have a family and a home.  I find it totally moral to offer this £20 and wonder if others feel the same.