Dreaming of Simplicity

The Guardian today leads with a fascinating story on the true rate of water consumption in Britain today. By calculating how much water is used to grow our food, as well as how much we consume otherwise, the report by the WWF reveals that the average person in Britain uses 4,645 litres of water A DAY! The report is released ahead of a water summit in Stockholm.

Full story here.

A Californian court has ruled that doctors must provide treatment to all regardless of their personal beliefs. The case was brought by a lesbian women who was refused fertility treatment because of the religious beliefs of the clinics doctors.

Justice Joyce Kennard said that the two Christian doctors could not refuse treatment on grounds of free speech and had no religious exemption. The plaintiff, Guadalupe Benitez, 36, said that the two doctors treated her with fertility drugs and told her how to inseminate herself at home but said that their beliefs prevented them from inseminating her themselves. One of the doctors refered her to another fertility doctors who had no objections to treating her.

Benitez and her lawyers used a law originally intended to prevent hoteliers and restaurateurs that had since been extended to include sexual orientation.

Robert Tyler, a lawyer for the clinic accused the court of furthering the supreme court's "radical agenda"

The Chief of the British health watchdog NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has hit out at pharmaceutical companies in an interview with the Observer. He attacked drug companies, which include GSK (GlaxoSmithKline); Astra Zeneca; and Pfizer, for making huge profits on the back of high prices in order to meet 'perverse incentive' targets.

Share prices were driven by profits, he said. 'Pharmaceutical companies have enjoyed double-digit growth year on year and they are out to sustain that, not least because their senior management's earnings are related to the share price. It's not in their interests to take less profit, personally as well as from the point of view of the business. All these perverse incentives drive the price up.

NICE has come under fire recently for refusing access to kidney drugs on the NHS, despite their availability elsewhere in Europe. He did, however, agree that pharmaceutical companies do invest hugely in new drugs.

'Of course, pharmaceutical companies make a huge investment into public health when they develop a new medicine: it costs on average £550m, and takes more than 10 years, to bring each new treatment to patients,' she said. 'Naturally companies will look to recoup such costs through the final price.'

A recent report by the Office of Fair trading has called in to question whether drug companies price treatments correctly.

Full interview here.

It's been an impressive weekend for the UK, Team GB has leaped from 7th to 3rd in the medal rankings. Over the course of the weekend, Team GB has gained 8 Golds, 4 Silvers, and 6 Bronze. Well done Team GB!

Elsewhere, US Swimming prodigy Michael Phelps has finished the 2008 Olympics with a record 8 Gold medals. That puts him level with Australia, Korea and Japan in terms of number of Golds. Well done, Mr Phelps!

Every now and then I come across articles on blog sites criticising the BBC and claiming that it stifles competition. Well I've just found this, which paints a much different picture.