Two slices of red meat a day can kill you!

According to new "research" BBC, 25th February 2011, more than 500g of red or processed meat per week can give you bowel cancer. I abhor these scare-mongering stories that crop up from time to time. Once upon a time red wine was a definite no-no - until another bright spark (probably paid equally handsomely for a new research project) claimed the contrary: not only was red wine not bad for you, it was positively good in moderation. And there, surely, is the key. Too much of anything, with too little variety of diet, may be harmful; I personally would would want to see real empirical proof, obtained from a statistically-significant sample before according these latest findings much credence.

The Fox & Grapes, Wimbledon Common

I've just come across this preview of a pub I used to work in about 30 years ago. The Handbook, 19th January 2011

It's definitely come up in the world since my day!

I'd dropped out of catering for a while to do a "proper job" but it was well and truly in my blood by then - and my usual saviour, The Dog & Fox was fully staffed. Thus, I ended up in Camp Road - I kid you not! Even in 1981 it was 30 years behind the time, run by Mr and Mrs Horder:  I think his name was Peter but I can't remember hers - she was the epitome of Hyacinth Bucket and the staff were certainly not allowed to be familiar.
Ozzie Osbourne, who lived over the road then, was a regular - and boy did she fawn! The current poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who was a couple of years younger than me, came in a few times while I was working - not so long ago I wrote a poem about her! But that's another story....

Mrs Bouquet  (sorry, Horder) was inordinately proud of her "platters" - just like Hyacinth and her "candle-lit suppers" - which were just slightly-large plates of butties or Ploughman's with a bit of tortoise-chewed lettuce. Having said all of that, it was a pub with character and I certainly wish the new French team every success.

True to type?

It doesn't take a lot to distract me from work - particularly on a miserable Monday morning - so I chuckled when I read the heading "SHATfesbury [my caps] to acquire £10.25m Enterprise package".
Morning Advertiser, 21st Feb 2011 Wonder how long it will be before their typographers get it right (or did they)?

Enterprise culture at Pubco giant?

In a story which demonstrates the bizarre nature of current Pubco operations, an  Enterprise lessee has bought, at auction, the freehold of the pub he rents - and now receives income on - from Enterprise.
Morning Advertiser, 17th February 2011.
Even factoring in the barrellage kick-back the Pubco receives, it must appear to any sane person that so-called "sale-and-leaseback" is another junk-bond debacle waiting to happen when the sub-tenant pays substantially less than he receives from his tenant.

Any excuse for a ceilidh....

Planning early for St Paddy's day:
Morning Advertiser, 14th February 2011

The voice from Irish-America says:  "They have tried to make it into a week here - just what we need, more drunks p****ng in the streets....."

A tax or attacks on boozing at home?

Hands up if you think that piling more tax on off-licence booze is going to magically cure pre-loading and binge-drinking!

Morning Advertiser, 10th February 2011

 I, personally, couldn't disagree more! The complex issues of pre-loading and binge-drinking are social ills that will not be affected by price at all - in fact, as disposable income is diverted from other purchases, we may see different social ills growing. There is no quick fix and I am getting more and more irate at reading, without transparent empirical evidence, the words of "experts" whose jobs and little empires depend on making this sort of glib proposal.

When is a carvery not a carvery?

Hands up, anyone who has ever heard of a Curry Banquet Carvery?
Morning Advertiser, 9th February 2011

This is a masterclass in  how to fill a Press Release with a load of waffle. "We're offering a carvery but we're not turning into carvery venues....and, actually, the equipment is just a mobile bain-marie that we'll use for other purposes when it suits us!"