ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

As it turns out

Comments

1. At 05:19 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Big Sister wrote:

   Poor you! But, why?

   Did the clouds come over? Had the coffee machine broken down? Were you too tired after your sleepless night to enjoy your day? You do sound tired, by the way. Slightly croaky voice.

   Ah well. It is the weekend. Cheer up, Eddie! Another hour or two and you'll be home.

2. At 05:23 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Big Sister wrote:

   There are two other people with you in the studio when I popped in briefly on the webcam. And the time was one hour ahead.

   Spooky.

3. At 05:32 PM on 09 Mar 2007, J Beirne wrote:

   It was advertised on R4 this week, Dispatches last night on Chnl 4, the about global warming!!
   I have not heard any comments on any media re the CO2 global warming not being the guilty party, its the sun spots heating and cooing the planet.
   So why is the media misrepresenting the cause of the global warming.
   Can someone in the media now report the global warming cause and step aside from the misreporting as we do rely 2like it or not” on the accuracy of reporting particularly on R4 as our elected representative don’t seem to be able to reflect accuracy on any topic.
   Yours,
   Jmaes.

4. At 05:36 PM on 09 Mar 2007, wrote:

   Joan Bakewell made me frown but the lightbulb lady amused me :-)

5. At 05:53 PM on 09 Mar 2007, chLuke wrote:

   What a delight to listen to your beautifully conducted interview with Geoffry Robinson this evening, on the subject of crime godfathers.

   You asked just the right questions with commendable brevity and Mr Robinson's replies were succinct, informative and revealing.

   I suspect that his comments on certain sections of the Judiciary, the Crown Prosection Service, and free loading barristers reflect the feelings of many like myself so let's hope that they and the politicians were listening.

   With a few more people like him in senior judicial positions and the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Office, perhaps we will hear less whimpering about reducing the sentences of killers and drug barons and replacing it with community service!

6. At 06:00 PM on 09 Mar 2007, wrote:

   As it turns out, the coma doctor was the most interesting item on PM, & I could have lived without the weather!

   For your glass box. X

7. At 06:02 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Philip wrote:

   I thought the Catalan porn story was suitably bizarre. But really not totally different from the 'Watershed' cinema in Bristol getting a subsidy for showing 'art' films including foreign subtitled ones like 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' and 'Bad Education'.

   Okay, a slightly different thing, and we aren't learning Spanish, but you get my drift.

   Or what about the public funding which Welsh telly gets ? Ok, it isn't quite as 'racy' as the Catalan videos, but some of it is post-watershed stuff, and it is technically 'public money' ?

   But I loved Eddie's line about whether there actually was much 'dialogue' - a little too knowing there, methinks...

   Have a great weekend folks - I'm off to see 'A Guide to Recognising your Saints' tonight before it is banned for having an ex-druggie in it.

8. At 06:02 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Eric Harris wrote:

   The hypocrisy of sacking Patrick Mercer for alleged racist comments that pale into insignificance compared with the goverment's racist treatment of the Guerkas.

9. At 06:18 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Rob Thorne wrote:

   In your item on the Catalan language, you asked the truly wonderful question, "was there much speaking in a catalan porn movie". Now what prompted you to ask I wonder... priceless.
   thank you

10. At 06:18 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Aperitif wrote:

    That US Dr was very irritating. Talk about not answering the qusetion! You had no need to apologise for cutting him off Eric -- if he'd answered your questions rather than doing excited rambling he could've told his story, said three Hail Marys for the coma/not coma woman and still had time to bid you good day. But you are so polite.
    

11. At 06:22 PM on 09 Mar 2007, jacques wrote:

    Re J Beirne @ 3

    There is a book about the effect of the sun's changes affecting the long term weather on earth. I have not yet read it.

    "The Chilling Stars" Svensmark & Calder

12. At 06:34 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Karen wrote:

    HelenS (6)

    I thought I was probably alone but I completely agree!

    I've been longing for a dreary day - I've had the day from hell. Full of frustrations. If it hadn't been for espressochoc I'd never have made it to PM.

    The story that stopped me in my tracks - the one I HAD to listen to - was the American doctor. Then he was cut off in his prime by the weather. Another frustration!

    Get him back next week! I want to hear more.

13. At 06:50 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Aperitif wrote:

    Rob (9), Yes, I rather enjoyed that too. :-)

14. At 07:22 PM on 09 Mar 2007, nikki noodle wrote:

    
    I understand that you can wonder how a day will be like at 7:10 am, and that it can turn out to be dreary, BUT how could it possibly still be dreary at 5:01 pm ?!?!?!

    That's the start of best bit, surely?!

    n-n
    xx

    PS voice a bit husky
    

15. At 07:36 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Humph wrote:

    If only we had found out the Catalan for: "oooh, oooooooh, yeeessss, yyyeeeeeeeeeeessssss!" this would have been an excellant programme giving the correct balance of information and world culture. On this occasion, Mr. Mayor, one thinks that you might have missed an opportunity.

    NOT!!

    Honestly I thought that it was a good programme this evening. Did I miss something?

    H.

16. At 07:54 PM on 09 Mar 2007, wrote:

    Aperitif (10),

    I with you on that US doc. To give a blow-by-blow account of the heart attack was not relivent to the story. Just the fact that her coma was induced by heart attack/stroke would have been enough. Perhaps the said doc thought he had a ten minute slot? Karen (12), I fear the doc was just rambling...

    However I took one of Eddie's comment to mean that they had tried to record an interview, in which case I guess it would have been edited.

    Since this is nearest to the Glass Box this week, I thought that the light bulb issue was very briefly covered, since this is something that will affect everybody. I'll write more on my blog for anyone who has insomnia tonight.
    

17. At 09:28 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Karen wrote:

    Deepthought (16)

    What actually came through was a practitioner genuinely interested and excited about his patient with a passion for his profession. I'm a healthcare professional and it's wonderful to see that in a fellow HCP. It is very easy (with all the Gov't targets) to become cynical and lose sight of why you bothered with all the training.

    I can understand why it may have come across as rambling but what he was actually doing was giving a nice case history with the appropriate background and setting the context. I wasn't so sure about the, "Next time it happens, bring her in," bit since it could be construed that he was getting the plaudits for her experience. Perhaps the interview was better suited to "Case Notes" rather than 17:55 on PM.

    As I said, I've had a dire day and haven't really had a meaningful interaction with my patients all day - I've been busy with audit paperwork, appraisals and pointless targets. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much...

18. At 10:14 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Belinda wrote:

    I'm also a 'healthcare professional'...and the guy was rambling. He was asked a basic question by Eddie and didn't answer it. We didn't need a big background here - a blow-by-blow account of the woman's symptoms and collapse was unnecessary to the actual story, nor do we need to have the case likened to something we see on ER.
    Part of healthcare is answering questions appropiate to the audience, and he didn't - which is why Eddie was forced to cut him off.

    I'll give him a break though- appearing on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ is a big thing ...in the US, and he was probably nervous, while swinging his bat around a little, as my family like to say.

19. At 10:45 PM on 09 Mar 2007, wrote:

    Karen (17),

    In my own professional field I sometimes have to just put forward relivent information - I cannot afford to give any account of the development of the unit I'm describing, however fascinating.

    Did the doc really need to describe the fact that they had used defribulators (sp) "as in ER" during the original heart attack? As a case history being presented on a news programme, I think this was one detail of many that was not pertenant. I agree that it would be a suitable case study for "Case Notes", or any other medical programme, but still wonder how much of the interview that we heard (being only the start of a whole interview) would have survived to broadcast. You say the doc had passion for this job, I would argue that he might be identifying too closely with this case. He surely would not go into this detail at a conference of health care professionals?

    I would have been far more interested to learn whether this was a case of a revival from a coma due to medication - you probably have the better of me here, but I think it's some kind of sleeping drug - that has anecdotally been shown to temporarily revive people in a coma to wakefulness.

    There was a recent case of a woman in a coma given the drug after a lot of controversy, to no effect (as I recall). Was this a case of a successful treatment? Will we ever know now?

20. At 11:38 PM on 09 Mar 2007, Karen wrote:

    I agree we didn't necessarily need to know about the family party that delayed them telling the good doctor that she'd woken up. With regards to the collapse - a prolonged coma following a heart attack and a stroke has a very poor prognosis. Was the doctor going to attribute the patient's periodic wakening on the fact that she was given effective CPR immediately and this tipped the balance? If so, there's potentially a lesson for all of us.

    I cringed when he was trying to liken the experience to ER - maybe he didn't understand the audience he was talking to or the time slot he had. That came across as slightly patronising.

    He did remind me of a consultant neurologist I know. He will also give you a flood of information and let you decide what you need to tune into. Maybe it's something about that specialty ;-)

21. At 05:44 PM on 10 Mar 2007, Anne P. wrote:

    J Beirne (3) The sunspot theory of global warming is not generally accepted by mainstream science, although this latest book and associated Channel 4 program have had a lot of coverage.

    It is certainly true that CO2 is not the only, or the most powerful greenhouse gas - methane for example has a much greater effect - but it is the easiest to measure, and probably to control.

    However, leaving aside the two contrasting theories, what seems to be generally accepted now are the following:

    1. the climate is warming with what impact we yet do not know
    2. fossil fuels are finite in supply
    3. human activities, including burning fossil fuels cause pollution which is harmful
    4. industrial scale agriculture is heavily dependent on oil derived fertilisers

    Therefore, it would seem prudent to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, to reduce the amount we pollute, to be careful with all natural resources, to develop more sustainable farming methods and to recycle what we use where possible.

    One point which struck me forcibly from the Ch 4 program was the plea that developing countries should not be held back because of the profligacy of the industrialised world. We need to work together to ensure that others are not held in poverty so we can maintain our lifestyle.

22. At 11:29 PM on 10 Mar 2007, wrote:

    Karen, I'm still with you on the doc, maybe he could have been edited, but his was an interesting narrative & all that stuff about the heart attack was v.informative for a non-medic like moi.