The Way it is

This morning The Guardian's G2 supplement ran an article that suggests that (cow's) MILK might be bad for us!

Yet another in a long line of products that are now 'potentially' harmful to human beings. I don't give a shit what the mortality rate in 1930 was, I think people were probably a damned sight happier smoking filterless cigarettes, drinking beer, eating lard sandwiches and generally wiping arses with anything remotely papery that came to hand.

Many years ago I remember joking with friends that they should avoid using pink toilet paper, because the dye in it has been known to be carcinogenic. Many of them actually believed me.

I'm trying to rack my brains for something that hasn't been classed as bad for us at some point in my 42 years. I get really amused when I hear that something is bad for us and then several years later we discover it is actually good for us after all.

I'm also amazed by people who get ideas in their heads that specific things are bad for us. One stupid posh bint I knew reckoned that garden peas were 'good for man nor beast' and were just something we ate because they tasted nice... ???? There was this apocryphal story floating about that turmeric was a pointless food colouring in Indian food. Curcummin, which turmeric is, is one of those natural spices that is just dripping in good things. Run a google on it if you don't believe me. There's an irony involving saffron here, but you'll have to work it out yourself.