Tag Archives: VNU

Boffins give verdict on my life span

Posted on November 22, 2012 | 3 comments

A VISIT  to the quackeria elicited some interesting information about my state of health – based on chemistry, of course.

After collecting my blood last week, I tipped up at the Jericho Health Centre at 10:40 today to see the doctor and to have the nurse review my hypertension, or blood pressure as it is better known.

My BP is quite high – obviously I am not doing enough meditation and working too hard – and my cholesterol is quite high too – obviously I am eating too many bacon sandwiches although I do the five a day that’s demanded in terms of fruit and that. Though I won’t touch many vegetables, I am a fan of fruit.  My renal function is fine – unbelievably so is my liver function.

So the GP showed me a bit of software that demonstrated if I continued smoking the few fags I now smoke, drinking the few beers that I now drink, and if the BP came down, I would have a 28 percent chance of having an “event” in the next 10 years. “Event” is a doctorish euphemism for a heart attack or a stroke.

So, if I continue the way I am, I have a 48.2 percent of having an “event” in the next 10 years. Well we all die, don’t we? And 10 years of only having a 28.3 percent chance of having an event sounds really boring! Who wants to live forever? I was at Incisive Media’s Channel Awards this time last week. That was an “event”. ♣

3 Comments

Posted in Home

Tagged , , , , ,

Lights go out at Personal Computer World

Posted on July 2, 2009 | 2 comments

TO THE CLACHAN in Kingly Street to attend the wake of British magazine Personal Computer World (PCW).

Practically every hack that worked for the mag over the years was there – Guy Kewney, Simon Crisp, Barry Fox, Manek Dubash, Clive Akass – heck the packed gig was full of people and I was there because I gigged as a freelance for PCW in the early 1990s.

The magazine was a real force to be reckoned with for many years, and it’s a shame to see a fine publication go.  It’s another example of the schizzy problem big publishers have – they know that online is the way to go but are fettered with existing paper publications with all the overheads, including distribution and printing, that go with that.

It was great to see some familiar faces again, and I wish all the guys the best in the future.  The magazine was latterly owned by Incisive – that company bought the assets of VNU UK, the publishers that bought theinquirer.net from me a few years ago.

* Guy Kewney said Peter Jackson tipped up. I missed him. I don’t think Felix Dennis, the founder of PCW who has a gaff on Kingly Street managed to make it. He was on the flannel panel until the end.

2 Comments

Posted in Home

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,