Some people make things. Some people buy them. Because those things serve their needs. You know, Utility and all that. It’s how the economy works, at least according to the basic textbooks, which haven’t really changed much in over 130 years-unlike many other sciences. Which it is why it is so refreshing to consider the views if Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929)[1] who took a different view of matters, without straying into the sterile wastes of Marxism.

In his seminal work The Theory of the Leisure Classes (1899) he lays out the view that many people buy things simply to signal status. [2] To give an example: the difference between not having a car, and having even a small cheap one is very great indeed. The difference between having a small cheap car and Rolls Royce is very slight in terms of what you can do with it. But the difference in status is colossal. And so enormous quantities of human effort, and many long hours, are poured into competition for goods of high cost but dubious value. To the immense cost of the environment. To those who say “ah but the work was penned in 1899” we say: look through the pages of HTSI in the Financial Times every week. Or stand on the shores at Antibes and gaze upon the baroque display of yachts bobbing on the blue waters.

We have our criticisms of Veblen of course. A 1964 Rolls Royce was experimenting with features such as electric windows and automatic gears which only later became standard for us mere mortals. Only the very rich can take the risk in pioneering new technologies like these, because they can take the hit from the inevitable failures in new R & D. This year’s luxury is next year’s utility, and The Rich have some uses after all. But Veblen was aware of this process. And it does not distract from his central observation that much of what we produce is wasteful frippery. And so Veblen’s insight still has value as a bridge to the future. If we cut our lifestyles a little to save the planet, maybe we haven’t lost so much after all.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class

#veblen #conspicuous consumption #conspicuous leisure # #leisure class #economics #utility #waste

Ever feel yourself completely overwhelmed by the flood of information which is reaching you everyday? One senior member of the LSS Editorial Board told us “Every day I get up to the BBC Radio 4. Then there’s the Guardian, the Mail, Nature Briefings, Apple News, the Conversation. El Pais and Radio Nacional (gotta keep up the old Spanish) to hack through. With occasional dips into things like The New European, New Scientist and Private Eye. To say nothing of all my acquaintances. relatives and colleagues bombarding me with their various obsessions and threats of invitations to dinner via things like Facebook, You tube, tik tok what’s app and a dozen other platforms that, in a saner world, would have been left to the young, the poor and the baseball capped”

It was the great Simon Kuper who advised his readers “read less and read better” Think about what you read, too. Apply all those tiresome rules of logic and evidence. Da quod jubis, et jubis quod da as the old Romans used to say. To this end we thought we’d drop our old Weekly round up for a while, as you don’t need yet another “that was good-what was it again? scan feature. Instead we are going to choose, from all the efforts flitting over our screens, a single best piece of the week.

One that makes new connections, tells us thing we truly didn’t know, or solves a problem we’ve been struggling with for years

We hope you like the change.

Every so often you read something and you think “good heavens! That’s answered a lot of questions!” Even better when the are questions you hadn’t even thought to ask. One article which did it for us was Five years on, the world is failing to learn the gilet jaunes’ lesson about class and climate by Oliver Haynes for the Guardian. [1] So instead of out usual round up of the week,* we’re going to devote our Friday slot to this single piece. Here’s why.

For many of us concerned about climate change and pollution, there is one truth that dare not speak its name; It’s a middle class thing. Go on any protest about roads and most of the people in the crowd are graduates. Go to any awareness afternoon in southern England, and its full of educated mums selling eco soaps to Guardian readers. Now we at LSS believe both groups are our people, the brightest and best in the population. But we are a minority. We are still not cutting through. And waiting in the wings are the right wing press and the oil barons, just waiting for their chance when we slip. In England, that chance came with the ULEZ fiasco. In France it was the Gilet Jaunes. Too many of us sneered at these protestors. Perhaps this single quote from Oliver shows how badly we misread them

……Nor is it to say that “the people” don’t want to reach net zero. In my reporting from France, I have met gilets jaunes who care deeply about the environment; they just found that, for them, the end of the month was arriving before the end of the world

And Oliver makes this point in various ways in a short pithy and easy to read article that we strongly urge you to take on.

So, before we sneer, before we feel superior, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a van driver, a builder or a farmer and ask ourselves how we would feel. Because here, looking right at us is the ultimate way to win the issue forever. if we only play our cards right.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/17/five-years-gilets-jaunes-class-climate-ulez-london-heat-pumps-germany

#climate change #global warming

Gibbon had a remarkable passage describing the behaviour of the Romans in the age of the Emperor Theodosius (d.395 AD), the last to rule over a single undivided and intact Empire. They seemed to sense that within a few years the Empire would divide, the barbarians swarm over the frontiers and the whole structure would collapse. And so they went on a spending spree, squeezing the last drops of comfort and pleasure from a system that was already reaching tipping-point. Sound familiar?

Two stories today raise the shades of Gibbon and Theodosius. The first, from Scott McGrane and Christopher White of the Conversation records how we have just passed through the hottest autumn ever, and the effect it ‘s already having. The second, from Nature Briefings, just says it all. There is now a major US Climate Disaster every three weeks. Is that more than mass shootings?

The fifth US National Climate Assessment has determined that global warming causes US$150 billion in direct damages across the country each year, and the costs are rising. From 2018 to 2022, the country experienced 89 major climate disasters — equivalent to one every three weeks. The country is also falling short on its goal to slash greenhouse-gas emissions. There are signs of hope: alongside the report, the government announced more than $6 billion in funding for infrastructure, clean energy and climate resilience. “This is not about curling up in a corner in despair,” says climate economist Rachel Cleetus. “There are very concrete steps we can take to cut our emissions and to promote climate resilience.”Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Fifth National Climate Assessment

[1]https://theconversation.com/this-is-the-worlds-hottest-autumn-on-record-and-its-impacting-the-climate-system-and-human-society-216931

Leave aside all our reports on new antibiotics for now, and our incessant appeals for money. One thing we haven’t really covered is: what is the state of antibiotic matters on the ground, in an actual real live population? Well, wiser minds than ours have answered that call. One of them is Nicola Davis of the Guardian [1] whose piece Antibiotic Resistant Infections rise in England is a tour de force of careful science journalism. It gives a snapshot of one representative country (UK) at one time (last five years) But it could stand in for many. We won’t steal Nicola’s thunder, you should read this for yourself. But it’s good idea of how the whole antibiotics thing is playing out beyond the world of laboratory and newsroom.

Covid had an effect severe antibiotic resistant infections are down compared with 2018, but both cases and deaths are rising again as we slowly come back to normal

Things ain’t too good About 20% of blood infections are now antibiotic resistant

Resistance is rising Following the lead of the UK Health Security Agency[2][3] Nicola singles out two organisms which are evolving fast : Klebsiella pneumoniae and our old chum E. coli.

It’s not just bacteria Think about this:

…….. there have also been increases in other types of antimicrobial-resistant infections, with a 23.2% increase in bloodstream infections caused by a type of fungus called candida between 2019 and 2022. Such infections had been falling before the pandemic

There’s much, much more. But Nicola’s meaning is plain. Antibiotics new and old, as well as the other techniques we sometimes cover must in the last resort function in the context of public health. And the key to that is education, not scientific research.

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/15/antibiotic-resistant-infections-rise-in-england-but-still-below-pre-covid-levels

[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/antibiotic-resistant-infections-and-associated-deaths-increase

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency

#bacteria #fungus #antibiotic resistance #microbes #public health

The reason we started this blog, and the Facebook presence that preceded it, hasn’t gone away. There are still not enough new antibiotics in preparation to meet the growing threat of microbial resistance. The reasons-misuses, over-prescription, abuses in farming, to name but a few-are well-known to readers of this blog. And you know by know what the consequences will be.

Fortunately, the world is far more aware of this problem than it was in 2015. A World Antibiotic Awareness Week(18-24 November) has been launched, and we hope you will try to find ways to help in your country, wherever that might be. One useful jumping off point might be the site of Antibiotic Research UK [1]. This marvellous organisation, originally founded by the great Professor Colin Garner, was an early pioneer both in raising awareness and starting to look for solutions. So here we shamelessly lift some ideas from their site. We hope they might be of use.

1 Go Blue This one is in partnership with the World Health Organisation. You could wear blue clothes, plug it on your screensaver or on your media feeds-even get your colleagues to do the same. Here’s the ideas link:

https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-amr-awareness-week/2023/go-blue-campaign?mc_cid=db33f56188&

2 Bake some cakes We scraped this straight from their page. Good ideas, though

Take inspiration from the students at Strathclyde University and University of Glasgow who have set up their own AMR Societies and will be holding bake sales and themed lectures to raise money. While the UCL School of Pharmacy Society will be helping with an educational stand in the Great Ormond Street Hospital canteen………….

3 Visit their website via this link

 Our website hosts a range of downloadable resources including a fundraising pack with lots of fantastic ideas and tips

4 Donate. They have already kicked off some great research projects. And the more you give, the bigger and better shall these become! So, go on, especially UK readers. Here’s your chance to make a real difference to future generations.

https://app.donorfy.com/form/E0FRP4SFP9/VHIZF?p=yes&mc_cid=db33f56188&mc_eid=bf695b5527

What’ stopping you?

[1]https://www.antibioticresearch.org.uk

#health #medicine #antibiotics #pandemic

Dengue fever. Chikungunya. West Nile Fever, and many more. When we were young, they were things you read about in geography text books, or heard in tales told by old Empire hands returning from a working life in the tropics. Not any longer. There’s pretty strong evidence that, thanks to our old friend climate change, these diseases are spreading north. So are the insects that spread them, both into Europe and into the United States. [1]

Our base line reference today is Nature Briefings which links to an excellent article from their main Journal. [1] Here is an excellent summary from Briefings

Climate change, international trade and travel are bringing the vectors of debilitating and sometimes deadly pathogens to Europe. And other parts of the non-tropical world that have previously had the luxury of not worrying about neglected tropical diseases — including the Gulf Coast of the United States — are experiencing similar issues. (Nature | 11 min read)

But the real joy of both these pieces is the infographic which they have provided, which lets you follow the progress of these organisms over the last few years.

Now, it’s not all gloom and doom- yet. Only West Nile Fever seems to have established itself so far. Other nasties like Chikungunya and Dengue are still only occurring as isolated incidents, although the trend is undoubtedly worrying. And there are steps we could take, like developing new vaccines. But the real answer is simple. Get rid of fossil fuels. As soon as possible.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03476-7?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=85aaf6620a-briefing-dy-20231113&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-8

#climate change #gobal warming #neglected tropical diseases #dengue #west nile fever #mosquitoes

We love it here when someone shows us a truth we’ve missed. One that was staring us in the face all along. And Professor Erwin Reisner of Cambridge University is just such a man.

We all know that burning fossil fuels is starting to kill us. We all know we’ve got to look for new technologies-fusion, solar, wind, that sort of thing. And we all know how difficult it will be for certain industries, especially transport, to make that transition. Because nothing is quite like breaking carbon bonds to release the sudden bursts of energy you need to push a planeload of people from Paris to New York. What if there were a way to make combustible fuel, at least enough for say aviation and shipping, without producing vast tonnes of CO₂ as a by product?

Well, the Professor and his team appear to have done just that, according to Robin McKie of the Observer[1]. By using materials called perovskites [2], they hope to create huge floating leaves, a bit like those giant water-lilies you see in Kew Gardens, which will convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into precursors of combustible fuels. We won’t spoil Robin’s article-it’s a great read, and he once replied to one of our fan letters! But get this killer quote:

……..”we use sunlight to power these transformations,” said Reisner. “And the chemicals that we make this way have already been used to manufacture feedstocks, though it is fuel – like diesel or petrol – that we really want to target. One goal would be to make green sustainable kerosene for the aviation market”.

It’s clean. it’s green and it’s already been tried. Obviously we would like to know about things such as safety, scalability, toxicity and the resilience of the systems in a strong coastal storm. But never say we spend all our time here gloomily preaching doom, like some latter-day Salvian. For here is real hope.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/12/floating-factories-artificial-leaves-green-fuel-jets-ships-carbon-dioxide?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskite_solar_cell

#clean energy #perovskites #global warming #cliamte change #aviation #shipping #transport

Simon Kuper At last common sense on the interminable conflict in the Middle East! Fortechno/ legal reasons, we may not adduce a direct link to his article What George Orwell could teach us about Israel and Palestine (those are the names the combatants have chosen for themselves). But we can praise its cool objectivity, and have dared to offer this tiny extract in the hope it will whet your appetites

…….”Those now treating the Israel-Palestinian conflict as an emanation of themselves aren’t seeking truth. They know the truth before it happens, because they picked their team long ago. Everyone on Team Israel is sure Israel didn’t bomb the Gaza hospital; Team Palestine is sure it did……….

we urge you instead to put “SIMON KUPER ISRAEL FINANCIAL TIMES” into Google or a similar search engine and it should give you unfettered access to his full text

We feel pity for the sufferings of those on both sides. But we feel greater pity for the lost opportunities and the utter retardation of economic and intellectual progress which their mutual quarrel has inflicted on them both. It’s a twentieth century conflict in a twenty first century world.

Frank Borman For those who were alive, and watching TV, during that fate charged Christmas of 1968, the voyage of Apollo 8 will remain one of the most moving memories of their lives, as Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell broadcast their message in one of the earliest collective experiences which technology had gifted to humankind. Yet the best was yet to come. On returning to earth, it turned out that Anders had snapped what has been generally acknowledged to be the greatest photograph ever made. Sitting at what was then the pinnacle of human achievement, it showed a distant world: at once small, vulnerable, crowded and incredibly precious. It is still the symbol of hope that one day reason may prevail, and we could yet achieve that sunlight world which human learning offers us.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/earthrise-apollo-8-photo-at-50-how-it-changed-the-world

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/10/frank-borman-obituary

What do people really want? One answer is to live as long as possible-and to have that time free of pain and illness. Alright, it won’t please every philosopher and wannabe theologian, but it’s a good rule of thumb for practical people. And is it achievable? Sometimes yes-if we follow the following rules. 1 Find evidence. 2 Analyse it logically. 3 Spend money on #1 and #2, and apply the results. Our researchers have come up with two examples for you this week.

Diabetes is a terrifying disorder that keeps its sufferers only a few hours from death-at all times. Think about that one. The advent of insulin was certainly a game changer, but that was over 100 years ago. Now sufferers are to be offered an artificial pancreas which not only monitors blood sugar levels, but delivers just the right amount of insulin exactly when needed. In the UK it should soon be available on the NHS, and we hope it will be coming soon to your country, gentle reader. Don’t take our word for it- try the thoughts of Stephen Matthews of the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12721521/Get-artificial-pancreas-NHS-150-000-type-1-diabetes-sufferers-set-gadget-hailed-biggest-breakthrough-discovery-insulin.htm

Nothing is worse than seeing a woman’s life torn apart by breast cancer. Years of research have been poured in, and at last we are seeing results. Anastrozole is not only to be used as treatment, it is about to take its place in the UK as a preventative drug, which could avoid the condition in thousands of women. Emily Stearn of the Mail gets the credit for this one

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12719713/61-year-old-watched-mother-battle-breast-cancer-hails-gift-breakthrough-4p-day-pill-HALVES-risk-getting-disease-major-step-forward-300-000-women-given-prevention-drug.html

Lets pause to thank all the scientists, IT experts, health workers and charity donors who made this possible. What would have happened instead if we had told them they hated each other, put them in uniform, and sent them off to war?

Will they read this in the Middle East?

diabetes #insulin #pancreas #breast cancer #anastrozole