Month: December 2006

[Clive]

Is universal health care firmly back on the agenda? Ezra Klein makes the case in the LA Times:

The U.S. healthcare system cannot, in its current form, go on forever, or even for very much longer ‚Äî employers can’t afford it, individuals can’t handle it and the country’s conscience won’t countenance it. And change may come sooner than most think. Across the country there are unmistakable signs that the gridlock and confusion sustaining our sadly outdated system are coming to an end and that real reform may finally emerge, possibly even starting in California…

As for the British model, all I can say is that I’ve had very mixed experiences, as have most of my friends and acquaintances. Yet I ought to stress that my eldest son, who has a heart condition, has always received excellent care from the NHS.

For a little more perspective, I recommend this 2005 piece by the Fox News journalist David Asman. His wife suffered a stroke during a trip to London, and was treated at London’s Queen’s Square before being taken back to the US. As he followed her progress, Asman had a chance to consider the strenghs and weaknesses of both systems:

When I received the bill for my wife’s one-month stay at Queen’s Square, I thought there was a mistake. The bill included all doctors’ costs, two MRI scans, more than a dozen physical therapy sessions, numerous blood and pathology tests, and of course room and board in the hospital for a month. And perhaps most important, it included the loving care of the finest nurses we’d encountered anywhere. The total cost: $25,752. That ain’t chump change. But to put this in context, the cost of just 10 physical therapy sessions at New York’s Cornell University Hospital came to $27,000–greater than the entire bill from British Health Service!

There is something seriously out of whack about 10 therapy sessions that cost more than a month’s worth of hospital bills in England. Still, while costs in U.S. hospitals might well have become exorbitant because of too few incentives to keep costs down, the British system has simply lost sight of costs and incentives altogether.

[Clive]

My favourite Dylan-blogger has been listening to the singer’s festive radio show. I enjoyed these lines from Mr D’s script:

This week, we start being heard in England. So, we want to wish everybody a very merry Christmas, and for the duration of this show, anytime I use the world "humor", "color" or "favor", I’ll be adding an extra "u."

[Clive]

Over at Cinematical, they’re mulling over the largest turkeys of the year, "Basic Instinct 2" chief among them, and inviting readers’ suggestions. Having been burned many times in the past (the hype business seems to be getting worse and worse) I’ve become a very reluctant cinema-goer. I’d really rather watch at home. But I did venture out to see "Casino Royale", and was duly punished. I really should have taken the advice of my colleague, Cosmo Landesman, and given it a miss. Unfortunately, as a hard-core fan of "Goldfinger", I fell for the claims that this was a return to the golden era. No such luck. Daniel Craig is very good, though. "The History Boys" was an even bigger dud. (I say that as a long-time Alan Bennett admirer.) I’m amazed to see it getting such good write-ups in the States. Proof that the concept of the snob hit never dies?  One other recent let-down  was the French thriller, "The Page Turner", which attracted the kind of breathless reviews that slightly pretentious, under-nourished French films invariably get.

Meanwhile, my expat American friend, Jo, has been going on so much about how she loathed "Children of Men" that I was thinking of suggesting therapy. Yet it’s one of Cinematical’s picks of the year. I think I’ll play safe and wait for the DVD. On the brighter side, I enjoyed "The Queen" and "The Squid and the Whale", not forgetting the harrowing but excellent German film about the ill-fated anti-Hitler campaigner, Sophie Scholl. (I think it was actually released at the end of 2005, but I caught it late at my local art-house.)

[Clive]

The BBC’s man in Washington is visited by a couple of Mitt Romney’s co-religionists, and finds himself warming to them:

I offered them coffee and began a learning process. You may already know that Mormons do not drink coffee or alcohol but what you might not know is that their religious ban is on "hot drinks". And that cocoa has been decreed "not hot". And, furthermore, that Coke and Pepsi and the like exist at the moment in a doctrinal grey area.

All these things I learned that morning.

But as 10 minutes became half an hour and an hour and more, I made a much more profound discovery about this faith: that its adherents are bright and intellectually open, and have a sense of humour, of humanity, that is sadly lacking in other strands of American religious life.

[Clive]

That captivating singer, Lila Downs goes on another journey across the Mexican border in this performance on the KCRW show, Morning becomes Eclectic.  "Agua de Rosas" comes from her latest album, "La Cantina".

[Clive]

Our seasonal series continues. Dave Hill [below], one of the UK’s best left-of-centre blogger-journalists, pays tribute to the indefatigable Studs Terkel:

October 17th was the date chosen by the National Trust for its brilliant "One Day In History" project. Ordinary Britons were invited to post on-line their experiences during and reflections on the twenty-four hours in question. The result was an instant wealth of online oral history causing me to be drawn again to the master of the art in the book medium, Studs Terkel. I like all his collections of interviews with everyday Americans, but my favourite is "Working", in which people talk about their jobs. It is candid, sad, inspiring and at times almost unbearably moving. The very last paragraph in the final entry in the book chokes me up every time I read it. This is a fireman talking:

"I worked in a bank. You know, it’s just paper. It’s not real. Nine to five and it’s s**t. But I can look back and say, ‘I helped put out a fire. I helped save somebody.’ It shows something I did on this earth."

One of the saddest things about journalists and historians alike these days is that so few seem interested in hearing those kinds of stories any more.

[Clive]

Happy holidays to all of Andrew’s readers. Thanks for putting up with me. I hope to do some light posting tomorrow. In the meantime, have a peaceful day, undisturbed by arguments over Bush and Blair, Pelosi and Putin. Maybe we should all try to learn a lesson from this old French cartoon, published when the controversy over Alfred Dreyfus was at fever-pitch.

"Above all, let’s not discuss the Dreyfus Affair!"

They’ve discussed it…

[Clive]

I wasn’t planning to add anything else today, but… Awful, awful news about James Brown. One of the last of the true giants.

At least he’d packed several lifetimes into his 73 years. Was there ever a song as funky as "Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag"?

Bayview, Wisconsin, 3 pm.

[Clive]

The greatest modern jazzman of them all, Miles Davis, captured in his pomp in a 1959 TV performance of "New Rhumba". Gil Evans is the conductor. (Yes, they used to allow jazz musicians on the small screen in those days.)

That kills two birds with one stones, as the tune was composed by my favourite jazz pianist, the arch-minimalist Ahmad Jamal, seen here doing some sweet improvising on a blues.

All of which is as good an excuse as any for one of the silliest musical Christmas jokes of all time. I first came across it in bass-player Bill Crow’s priceless collection of anecdotes.

A guy walked into a pet store looking for a Christmas gift for his wife. The storekeeper said he knew exactly what would please her and took a little bird out of its cage. "This is Chet," he said, "and Chet can sing Christmas carols and songs."

Seeing the look of disbelief on the customer’s face, he proceeded to demonstrate. "He needs warming up," he said. "Lend me your cigarette lighter." The storekeeper lifted Chet’s left wing and waved the flame lightly under it. Immediately, Chet sang Oh Come, All Ye Faithful.

"That’s fantastic," said the customer.

"And listen to this," said the storekeeper, warming Chet’s other wing. Chet sang O Little Town of Bethlehem.

"Wrap him up," said the customer, "I’ll take him!"

When he got home he greeted his wife: "Honey, I can’t wait until Christmas to show you what I got you. This is fantastic." He unwrapped Chet’s cage and showed the bird to his wife. "Now, watch and listen."

He raised Chet’s left wing and held him over a Christmas candle that was burning on the mantlepiece. Chet immediately began to sing Silent Night. The wife was delighted. As Chet’s right wing was warmed over the flame, he sang Joy To The World.

"Let me try it," said the wife, seizing the bird. In her eagerness, she held Chet a little too close to the candle flame. Chet began to sing passionately:

"Chet’s nuts roasting on an open fire…"

Well, I did warn you it was silly.