Well, I think it went pretty well - even if some minor celebrity like Ken Livingstone stole a bit of the time away.

You can listen to the broadcast here for the next week - my bit starts 1 hour 19 minutes into the broadcast.

This time, I had a car come and fetch me, and one to bring me back to my doorstep - this was really nice, as I've never gotten chauffeured around before. The drivers are normally contracted to the BBC and drive the radio and TV stars around. Chatting to them I got to hear how Phil Jupitus and Dale Winton are really nice people, while there is a BBC regular who is apparently a right sod to drive around (and is a rarity, as most of the stars are normally nice people).

See, this is what I mean about 'Don't be stupid', (as Robert Scoble puts Microsoft's blogging policy "Be Smart") I can say nice things about people, but unless it happens directly to me, I can't really say nasty things about people.

Today, instead of sitting in a little cupboard on my own in Broadcasting house (as I did with the Radio Scotland programme) I was in the main studio in White City with Victoria Derbyshire. This meant that it was much easier to have an actual discussion, unfortunately Richard Allan wasn't physically there, but he is probably busy being the MP for Sheffield Hallam.

I managed to say some of the things that I think are important when you consider 'work blogs', but then I could talk about it for an hour, and still not have enough time

Listening back to the broadcast I think it went rather well, and I'm grateful for Victoria giving me the chance to mention "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day", which I thought put the whole idea of losing your job over blogging in context.

Everyone at the BBC was really nice, and they were all excellent ambassadors for the Beeb - also their offices look really nice.

It was a real pleasure, and thanks to everyone who made my visit so enjoyable.

Details here and here.

Now listen to me as I struggle to mention it on the radio today.

It turns out that Newham General Hospital had at least 70 people through their doors concerning the food poisoning epidemic. Some patients also had gone to King George's hospital or to Whipps Cross hospital, which, if you add in the number of people who are suffering in silence at home makes a lot of rather sick people

The kebab place has duly been closed and the various public/environmental health bodies are looking closely at the situation. I have heard an unconfirmed rumour that the cause of the sickness was due to Salmonella

At least one person is very ill, and at least eight people were admitted to Newham hospital. This has stretched the resources in the area to near breaking point, Newham hospital and King George's hospital were both closed on Sunday night because the A&Es were full, and there were no beds left in the hospital. It got so bad that Newham hospital declared an internal "major incident" a wise choice I think, as it means that the resources needed to deal with the situation are pointed in the right direction.

Unfortunately, with our local hospitals closed, patients have needed to go further to get to a hospital. Some are quite happy, such as those who get taken to the Royal London (remember, in most people's eyes the Royal London is the hospital to go to. Meanwhile others have been less happy (such as those who have been taken to Whipps Cross

It is my belief that a terrorist network doesn't need bombs to bring London to it's knees, it just needs to spread a little Salmonella around, and then watch the NHS collapse

The government is doing away with Co-proxamol because of it's role in suicide. It is second only to tricyclics (anti-depressants) as the favoured prescribed drug of choice for suicide.

There is also an increased risk of accidental overdose, because one of the ingredients is dangerous in small doses, also if you take alcohol with it (as most suicide attempts do), then the drug is made more toxic.

There has been no proof that Co-Proxamol is any more effective than normal paracetamol in the relief of pain.

There are between 400-500 deaths per year due to Co-Proxamol poisoning. Approximately one fifth of these are due to accidental overdoses.

The Royal Colleges (doctors and the like) were all unanimous in asking for it's removal, while the patients who were asked, were all against it being removed.

And yet...

There are a lot of people who I know, for which Co-Proxamol is an effective painkiller.

More people kill themselves via paracetamol than any other drug (and it is often a much longer, painful death).

If people are going to kill themselves, then they will find a way to do it.

The MHRA recommendation for pain relief suggests the prescription of tricyclics for more severe pain relief - you may recognise 'tricyclics', it's the most popular prescribed drug or overdosing.

I'm guessing (for I haven't seen the report) that many of the accidental overdoses, are actually people who have taken an overdose and then changed their minds about it - or that they haven't realised quite how dangerous these drugs can be.

At the end of the day, any drug can be misused, but a lot of people now feel that the authorities are trying to 'nanny' us. I can only hope that this will mean that GP's will be better trained in pain management. Unfortunately I doubt it.

Please note IANAP (I Am Not A Pharmacist)

I'm saddened by the news that Ivan Noble has died. Ivan was a journalist for the BBC who had been writing about coping with a brain tumour for the past two years. I think that he touched a lot of people with his honest, heartfelt writing. A collection of his diaries will be published later this year, with the proceeds going to charity.

The server problems that have plagued the Bloggies have been resolved, so now would be a good time to go there and vote for your favourite sites. Feel free to vote for whomever you like (at least in the categories that I'm not mentioned in...). There are some great sites mentioned, and in a lot of the sections I was torn which way to vote.

All I can say about the people in the 'Tagline' category, is that you shouldn't vote for Scaryduck, if only because he regularly makes me soil myself with laughter - and I don't think that increasing my laundry workload should be rewarded.

Oh, and can I just say that Jane Perrone is a very nice person, she was the first person to interview me.

Joey made me very welcome in Canada last year - and was also one of the reasons why I got into this blogging lark in the first place.

And my final 'for consideration' should go to Real E Fun, who is just a bloody excellent writer, and shows me up for the hack that I am.

Don't ask me who to vote for in the 'Best British or Irish Weblog'. I don't know myself.

Mum, get Brother to show you how to vote...

For those that are interested, I've joined the team at Heardsaid. It's a blog that contains little posts that are like one-two punches. Things that we have heard that are probably true, never proven, but always interesting.

...They could literally be about anything or anyone but the really compelling and dangerous aspect is that corroboration isn't necessary. We'll present this stuff just as we heard it and it's up to the reader to decide whether it's true or not. The only basic rule is that we can't just make things up ourselves and that generally there isn't a structure. That's what encyclopedias are for -- its chatty and conversational -- like a personal weblog about answering questions which haven't been asked yet.

This reminds me, I need to write more for Lingual Nerve (the other writers are much better than me).

I also need to work out how to get paid for all this writing...

There is an excellent little article over at the Guardian here.

Sandra Laville
Monday December 20, 2004
The Guardian

As an icy wind blew in a flurry of snow, broken and discarded umbrellas rolled down St Mary Street like tumbleweed. In a doorway of the Walkabout bar, six Santas, four angels and an Elvis Presley huddled together to shelter from the cold.
From inside his Mercedes van, Mike Loveless watched as a man stumbled towards him, his white shirt soaked in blood, dripping from his smashed up nose.

A few metres away another young man, his shirt sleeves also stained blood red, slumped against a parked car and punched uselessly at the keyboard of his mobile phone.

All around others staggered; dazed and confused, some crying and bloodied, like survivors in the aftermath of a disaster. But there had been no bomb, no train crash or motorway pile up. This was the fallout from the last Saturday night before Christmas when hundreds of young men and women, their flimsy tops no barrier to the freezing temperatures, swarmed from bar to club to bar in search of pleasure.

Parked on a strip of Cardiff city centre known as "animal farm", Mr Loveless, a paramedic with 18 years experience, had the unenviable task of picking up the pieces.

In a pilot scheme running in south Wales, Mr Loveless spends his 10pm to 4am shift at the heart of the Christmas revelry answering 999 calls to leave the main fleet of ambulances free to answer serious incidents elsewhere.

He assesses the patients at the scene, carries out treatment and, if necessary, sends them to hospital in a non-emergency back-up ambulance.

As part of the Christmas crackdown on anti-social behaviour, Mr Loveless works with police officers who roam the streets of the city centre. They call on his medical skills when needed, and in turn go to his aid if the crowd becomes hostile.

"I am linked into the police radio for security," said Mr Loveless. "There are a lot more people carrying weapons these days. A lot feeling they have nothing to lose, all drink and drugs fuelled.

"I've had my arm broken and I've been given a black eye in this job, so I am in constant touch with the officers."

The night is still in its infancy when the radio crackles to life with a 999 call to the Old Borough pub, where a young woman has fallen head first down some steps. A group of young women, fuelled by the festive offer of any three bottles for £5, chants: "Get your kit off for the girls."

It takes half an hour to check the young woman over, lay her on a spinal board and lift her up the stairs and into a waiting ambulance to be ferried to hospital.

Moments later a call for assistance at Edwards bar comes in from the police - "male assault victim hyperventilating".

At the scene, two girls dressed as Christmas tree angels weep and hover over a young man, lying flat on his back on a bench, his face a mess of blood. As the casualty is put into the back-up ambulance for treatment, a teenage boy runs across the street screaming and sobbing to the paramedic: "Pentwyn, pentwyn, pentwyn, I need to get to Pentwyn, please I only got a £1, please."

"Listen mate, I'm not a taxi service okay. Go away or I'll call the police," Mr Loveless responds. "You have to be a bit assertive with them sometimes," he says. "Because otherwise it is like the lunatics running the asylum."

Throughout the night the rapid response van races up and down the street and its offshoots, where every second building is a late night bar, dealing with everything from intoxicated, weeping girls who have fallen off their high-heeled shoes to testosterone-fuelled men with bloody faces, suspected heart attacks and broken legs, and female victims of assault, like Sophie.

Her Christmas celebrations came to an end when a man in The Yard bar punched her in the face, splitting her cheek and plumping her eye out in a black, blue and red mess.

"I've never in my life had a mark on my face, oh my God, look at me, my mum is going to kill me," weeps the 20-year-old, before being ferried away to the University College hospital, Wales.

As night becomes early morning the response team flies from one call to another.

As Mr Loveless treats his patients, around him more police pour into the street, blue sirens flash the length of the road, a fire engine adds its wail to the mayhem and the ambulance control sends a message over the radio to all crews: "A lot of fighting going on in the city centre, it's very dangerous, be careful."

"Merry Christmas to you all," shouts a reveller as the response van pulls up to a ruck outside the Chip Shop.

A well dressed businessman, out with his wife, slips and spills curry sauce over the T-shirt of another man. "He just went for him.

"He went ballistic, and headbutted him," said the businessman's wife.

Then there is the 20-year-old subject of three 999 calls; one over a broken leg which turns out to be a grazed knee, another for an assault and the third when she collapses shivering and drunk in the street.

"I've had enough of this," said the paramedic, sending her to hospital.

Heading back to police HQ at 4am - after answering 21 calls and treating nearly double the number of patients - he adds: "Roll on New Year's Eve."


I'm working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day 18:00-01:00 on overtime and 07:00-19:00 on New Years Eve and New Years Day. Nothing to do with the extra money at all...

It just goes to show that some people can survive a hell of a lot, being shot, falling 5 floors and nearly being cremated. Value judgments about whether he should have lived or not are welcome.

Once again, from the unsurpassed Boing Boing