Disqus - Latest Comments for bentoth

Re: Zeller & Moye arranges timber house around pine trees in German forest

bentoth — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 02:31:56 -0000

I hope it didn’t cost much - it looks like 5 rather sterile boxes. acres of unfinished pine boarding is not minimalism or interesting

Re: A Major Milestone in Consumer Health Empowerment

bentoth — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 09:30:26 -0000

The latest evidence (Lancet Oncology February 2018 ) is that survival is the same in BRCA and non BRAC breast cancer. So it is hard to regards the claims in this PR announcement, especially about saving lives, as accurate or helpful.

http://www.thelancet.com/jo...

Between Jan 24, 2000, and Jan 24, 2008, we recruited 2733 women. Genotyping detected a pathogenic BRCA mutation in 338 (12%) patients (201 with BRCA1, 137 with BRCA2). After a median follow-up of 8·2 years (IQR 6·0–9·9), 651 (96%) of 678 deaths were due to breast cancer. There was no significant difference in overall survival between BRCA-positive and BRCA-negative patients in multivariable analyses at any timepoint

Re: Pete North Politics Blog: I don't like this Brexit, but I will live with it

bentoth — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 02:03:11 -0000

I came here via the Financial Times...

A recent blog by Pete North, a founder of the Leave Alliance, beautifully sums up many of these attitudes. North, who favoured staying in the European single market, predicts Brexit will send Britain into “a 10-year recession”. He writes: “After years of the left bleating about austerity, they are about to find out what it actually means.” And yet, he continues, “My gut instinct tells me that culturally it will be a vast improvement on the status quo.” He says modern Britons have become “spoiled and self-indulgent . . . in the absence of any real challenges or imperatives to grow as a people”. As the psychiatrist says of the TV character Basil Fawlty, there’s enough material here for an entire conference.

Re: Alt-hate: Who knew the left had so much venom?

bentoth — Sat, 17 Jun 2017 13:03:59 -0000

Can you name a successful capitalist country?

Re: Grenfell Tower and the politics of needless death

bentoth — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 17:48:43 -0000

The requirement wasn't for flammable panels though. And the *apparently* in your post suggests you're getting this second hand.

Re: Why you shouldn’t vote for Jeremy Corbyn

bentoth — Thu, 11 May 2017 17:45:21 -0000

I checked the evidence to support the claim in first bullet point. Both links are to opinion not evidence. This sort of error wouldn't be acceptable in a sixth form essay, so its an E for accuracy Mr Cohen, though A+ for bile.

Re: With Community Input, Health Centers in France Experiment With a Holistic Model

bentoth — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 17:27:34 -0000

A good idea, which was tried successfully in London in the 1920s (The Peckham Health Centre https://en.wikipedia.org/wi... . Unfortunately it did not survive the coming of the National Health Service, and it is by no means certain that per-person funding leads to the provision of holistic health centres.

Re: This NYC Startup Raised $1.5M to Make Scientific Research Easier to Write

bentoth — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:48:04 -0000

cool, good luck, please don't sell it to elsevier!

Re: GPs aren't private companies - but the private takeover is nearing

bentoth — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 10:58:48 -0000

GPs occupy a strange in-between world, where they enjoy some of the benefits of being small businesses, some of the benefits of being monopoly suppliers, and some of the benefits of being part of the NHS family. They are not Virgin Healthcare. They don't have shareholders. They are regulated professionals. But they also have distinct financial interests as small businesses, and the suspicion is that these don't necessarily coincide with the broader interests of an integrated NHS. I'd be pleased if OpenDemocracy took a critical look at primary care accountancy, including sale and lease-back, notional rents, and the question of publishing practice income. As long as the complex arcane system for reimbursing GPs is in place the suspicion will be that the system is designed more for the benefit of GPs than it is for patients. GPs are wonderful in the main. But perhaps it would be better if they were fully inside the NHS as the unions are calling for.

Re: Addressing the resignation of the Lingua editorial board

bentoth — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 02:16:28 -0000

you should also amend the statement regarding "we"

Re: Tesla Model S is No. 1 on Consumer Reports’ top 10 list

bentoth — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 14:43:31 -0000

84 mpg of what?

Re: Copyright from the lens of a lawyer (and poet)

bentoth — Wed, 13 May 2015 03:44:05 -0000

The origin of copyright law is as much about power, control and monopoly as it is in a balance of interest. Which is why a lot of people distrust Elsevier. And the last chorus of Gillian's wonderful song is very relevant.

Re: How Hamas Shapes the War We See

bentoth — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 12:20:43 -0000

There is something more at stake in this episode - you were quick to dehumanise the men in the photo, and just as Yochanan Gordon, you are embracing the idea of genocide as a solution.

Re: My war of independence with American English

bentoth — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 02:03:05 -0000

let me reach out to you with a bunch of thoughts on this

Re: Trending: Where rhyme and reason part company

bentoth — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:54:11 -0000

Not poetic. But direct - a bit like Brecht

Re: They. Just. Don’t. Get. It…

bentoth — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:53:04 -0000

The creation of the Copyright Licensing Agency in no way sets a good precedent for what should happen to text mining. Essentially, the CLA has obscured user rights and brought in large sums from the public sector by creating a curious organisation that indemnifies licensees against prosecution from itself.

Re: Let’s just admit it – the NHS is a rotten way of doing things

bentoth — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 03:06:42 -0000

Your analysis is wrong, in important ways, which happen to expose your prejudices and blindspots. What you overlook is the fact that the NHS was born from the second world war as much as state socialism. I'm sure you like to reflect on the second world war in other contexts. You should reflect on what is was in that war that gave rise to a desire for a better world. You're wrong also on what motivates people to value the NHS. It's not fear. It's good old fashioned altruism - of wanting other people to have what you have. Perhaps that's what you hate so much about the NHS. You'd rather have a world driven by self-interest and greed.

Re: Legislation to Bar Public-Access Requirement on Federal Research Is Dead

bentoth — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:45:53 -0000

It's a bit depressing to see Elsevier claim they are not reacting directly to the strength of feeling expressed in the Boycott.

Re: HubLog: Open Access Author Manuscripts in PubMed Central

bentoth — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:56:33 -0000

Here is a list, supplied by Elsevier, of sponsored articles deposited in repositories in 2010 http://www.elsevier.com/fra...

I'm not sure that this list is accurate. And in response to the question above I wonder at the complexities that have developed around what could be a simple proposition.

Re: Open Source Tackles Healthcare In Places Microsoft Can’t

bentoth — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:27:22 -0000

great - but the server would be more secure in the cloud

Re: Locked in the Ivory Tower: Why JSTOR Imprisons Academic Research - Laura McKenna - Business - The Atlantic

bentoth — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:32:33 -0000

Disagree - it's not a bad summary, and has the benefit of highlighting some of the worst features of the current system. I do think that libraries should have been a lot more assertive on this matter over the last twenty years, then we'd be further along to having a sensible system.

Re: Has the Bishop of London lost the plot?

bentoth — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 02:35:58 -0000

James - you're right. I can find no, repeat no, reference to Credit Default Swaps in the KJV.

Re: Baby boomers with 80pc of UK wealth shouldn’t feel guilty about younger generations' problems

bentoth — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:22:03 -0000

Not only smug but wrong. Neither house price inflation or foreign travel were driven by the behaviour of our generation. It was our simple good fortune to float through our adult lives on a tide of cheap money and cheap goods. We haven't done anything interesting with our good fortune. But as is plain to see, we've left a huge mess for our children to clear up as best they can.

Re: NHS patients 'will be able to view medical records online'

bentoth — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:15:10 -0000

I can't agree with Ross's overly cynical analysis.

Nor is it easy, as 3sixty1 suggests, for patients to see a comprehensive record of their interactions with the NHS.

A recent survey in the US has shown significant interest in patient held records, more so among patients than clinicians. We could expect similar levels of interest in the UK.

The technology to enable patients to become the owners of their own health records is not particularly complex or expensive and is available now.

But most importantly, current NHS IT systems are likely to remain pretty dysfunctional without the sort of outside pressure to improve that patient held records will bring.

Re: Does hospital IT need airline-style certification?

bentoth — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:04:47 -0000

Definitely. Hospital IT systems are complex and mission critical. They can cause harm. And while no amount of inspection will guarantee their safety and correct use, a system of certification will be good for patients, hospitals and system suppliers.