Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

20 March 2020

Is Coronavirus a wake-up call for humans not to eat exotic animals?

The practice in Asia of keeping live animals at market because some people like to buy "warm meat" is the probable cause of the current  pandemic. The market trader of wild animals slaughter and butcher the creatures there and then, which runs a risk of contamination. These zoonotic viruses then become human viruses, just as measles started in animals. In a global world we have to change how we farm and eat meat. Coronavirus is a wake-up call and thankfully, with a the death-rate currently running at rate at 2%, does not appear as great a health risk to humans as some others, e.g. Ebola, which has 50% death rate or Nipah virus that kills 70% of those exposed to it.

Hopefully, lessons will be learnt from the Corona experience and humans will now think twice before eating wild animals.

Referencing: Professor Andrew Cunningham (expert in zootonic diseases) after listening to him on the BBC Monday 16th March 2020.

3 July 2018

Nurses flee NHS for Lidl wages


Isn't it ironic that not only are Nurses leaving the NHS to get better pay at Lidl, if they get sick while working for the EU supermarket, they won't have to wait months in NHS queues either.

I was told this after talking to a chap working the Lidl checkout who had to ask me why I was buying  three packs of pain killers.  I explained that I'd had tooth ache on and off for eighteen months and was on a three year waiting list for an NHS dentist.  The checkout guy had a similar story and sympathised, but said his dental problem was sorted out quickly as Lidl provided private health cover for their employees.  

So why is it that German companies care so much about their staff?  Paying relatively high wages and providing excellent terms and conditions for their staff could be pure altruism, but, more likely, they are generous  because they have the wisdom to realise that a healthy and fairly paid workforce is happier, more loyal, works harder and, above all, staff are less likely to have to have long perperiods off sick if they are looked after properly.

It's interesting what you learn about a business when you talk to people at the checkout, so when you next go shopping, why not ask them what they think of the company they work for  and then compare how employers differ in their approach to the welfare of their employees...

You might like: Is the NHS being privatised by the back door?