HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Uncle Eric Bahrt

Whatever next?

Erik Sing-a-Song remembered

It’s great to be British

Milk revisited

Tree hugging for amateurs

Uncle Eric Bahrt

Dear Editor,
Eric Bahrt says my letter is “outrageous” and calls me “ignorant” (Mailbag 03/04/09). I must say I prefer Eric when he is being entertaining; i.e., when he had a hissy fit and called hospital workers “monsters” for asking for payment! Or in the national newspapers saying that people who want to drink beer in Thailand during Songkran are not welcome here! Eric, Eric, Eric you really must try to stick to entertaining and leave the serious stuff to the grown ups!
In a study by Tim Key of Oxford published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition it was found that vegetarians in the group studied had a higher risk of getting colorectal cancer. How ignorant is that Eric? How outrageous is it?
The internet is chock full of studies and research on every conceivable subject and a lot of these statistics can be tailored to match whatever it is that you want it to match. Your letter says it all Eric, some people smoke and drink and eat puffer fish testicles and live until they are 93! Some don’t make it to thirty. Oh, and by the way, a US study by Michael Coleman suggests that whites are less likely to die of cancer by a margin of between 7 to 14% over African-Americans.
One final word of advice to Eric and his friend ... some people do not need to advertise what their qualifications are or were and it really is not clever to talk down to someone who you think is “out of their depth”, unless of course, you really are omnipotent!
Regards,
Dick Turpin

Whatever next?

Dear Editor,
I’m on the edge of my seat already, eagerly awaiting the next thrilling installment in ‘Mailbag’ concerning the domestic developments from your regular contributors.
What will it be this week I wonder? A squeaky hinge on the bedroom door? Perhaps a blocked drain? An unbearably long queue at the supermarket? Who knows? The anticipation builds...
What with the KFC saga and the dispute with a bank over transfer of funds I can barely contain my excitement.
Obviously Yasothon is a place for the true adrenaline junkie. Thank goodness for the peace and quiet of Pattaya!
Yours Sincerely,
Harry Flanagan

Erik Sing-a-Song remembered

Editor;
Friday, April 3rd marked the “Tamboon Roi Wan” traditional 100 days remembrance, of the passing of Erik Sing-a-Song of Norway, legendary former day manager of the Scandinavian Bar, Beach Rd. near Soi 13. Friends all over the world during this memorial will never forget Erik’s unique gift of spontaneous outbursts of joyous song that brought uncontrollable laughter and smiles to so many. Rest in Peace Sir.
Brian
U.S.A.

It’s great to be British

Editor;
I see we had a visit from the UK Director of Consular Services, in charge of 150 consulates world wide. After some concerned questions on our zero access to the NHS, even though we have paid into it, his answer was ‘we are not your mum’. Very true. But the UK government seems to act like a mum regarding other Eastern European & world immigrants. They get all the benefits, credits, free NHS, with zero contributions. It’s great to be British.
Matt Jomtien

Milk revisited

Dear Sir,
Mr. Turpin’s letter (27th March) left me rather bemused since the thrust of his original missive was decidedly in support of milk consumption. It was more than mildly disingenuous to dismiss smoking and coca cola on the grounds of their not being foods! Isn’t milk a drink? Or does Dick eat his milk? Incidentally, in Sinhala (Sri Lankan) one ‘drinks’ a cigarette!
His thinking is all the more strange since he conveniently ignores the fact that I specifically mentioned sugar, or doesn’t he think sugar to be a food? Had I anticipated his being so pedantic I would have quoted white bread and polished rice; both popular foods with nutritional deficiency. Margarine, an ersatz food made popular by dishonest advertising is not only revolting (my opinion of course) but also one of the most hazardous things you can eat on account of its high trans fat content.
Cows’ milk is meant for calves who double their weight every few months; so no wonder infant milk drinking may lead to obesity. The real problems with milk today is the way cows are fed and pasteurisation which has a very detrimental effect making the calcium and magnesium mostly unavailable or unabsorbable as well as a number of other adverse changes.
As for Mr Turpin’s personal remarks I can only say they are quite extraordinary. To make out that a Jew is an evangelist is an oxymoron. I mention this since I know that Eric Bahrt is a Jew who is not afraid to tell the truth about the behaviour of Israel as well as in the field of nutrition.
Dr. M. Nightingale

Tree hugging for amateurs

Dear Editor,
I have enjoyed reading Dr. Iain Corness’ columns over the years, and found them amusing, but I’m afraid that in “Tree hugging for amateurs”, he goes too far. Is he aware that term “evidence-based medicine” was a ploy to discredit all alternative treatments, since it implies that everything outside traditional medicine is not “evidence-based.” The reality is far different.
The dream of all pharmaceutical company CEOs is developing a drug that people will need to take for a lifetime in order to control their condition. The statin drugs have fulfilled that dream, but few physicians who prescribe statin drugs know that the link between elevated cholesterol levels and strokes has never been established.
Studies have shown that a number of articles appearing in some of the most prestigious and often-quoted journals have actually been completely written by scientists employed by pharmaceutical companies.
I’m afraid that Dr. Iain and his colleagues are in for another ‘Thalidomide apology’ some time down the line, with an “oops” we got Statin wrong too!
Best Regards from a happy and healthy reader,
Larry

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.