Read the following quotations on medicine and choose the one you like most of all.

– One of the first duties of a physician is to educate masses not to take medicine (William Osler, 1849-1919).

– Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic (Thomas Szasz).

– The art of medicine consist in amusing the patient, while nature cures the disease (Voltaire, 1694-1778).

– [Medicine is] a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind (Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821).

– Walking is man’s best medicine (Hippocrates, 460 BC-377 BC).

– Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine. (Lord Byron, 1788-1824)

– The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals (William Osler, 1849-1919).

XIX. Read an extract from the novel " What a Carve Up! " by Jonathan Coe. Dwell on the issues regarding social security system touched upon in the text.

Meanwhile, Dorothy got to work. Taking full advantage of her cousin Henry's parliamentary contacts (on both sides of the House), she soon became a practised winer and diner of all the most influential figures from the Treasury and the Ministry of Agriculture. At exclusive restaurants and lavish dinner parties, she would convince civil servants and MPs of the necessity for ever more extravagant subsidies being paid out to farmers who wished to convert to the new intensive methods: it was through her efforts (and the efforts of others like her) that the government began to step up its provision of grants and tax allowances to help with the laying down of concrete, the putting up of buildings, and the purchase of fittings and equipment. Smaller farmers who resisted these incentives soon found themselves unable to match the prices being offered to the consumer by their highly subsidized competitors.

And as soon as they heard the news that large amounts of public money were being channelled into intensive farming, the financial institutions began to move in. Dorothy had a head start on her rivals in this respect, since Thomas Winshaw was by now well on his way to becoming one of the most powerful members of the banking establishment. When he learned of the direction government policy was taking, he began to invest heavily in agricultural land, and was more than happy to offer Dorothy substantial loans - with land as security - for her various expansion programmes (the size of the debt obliging her, every year, to force higher and higher yields out of her soil and stock). From the outset, her aim was to guarantee profits by controlling every stage of production. She began by buying up all the smaller farms in the county and putting them under contract. Then, once she had established her stranglehold on most of the egg, chicken, bacon and vegetable supplies to the North East of England, she started to expand her sphere of operations. A series of specialist divisions was set up: Easilay Eggs (slogan: 'The Yolk's on Us, Folks! '), Porkers, the bacon curers ('If It's Porker, It Must Be a Corker'), Green Shoots vegetable products ('Are you getting enough, Missus? ') and Pluckalot Chickens ('They Keep on Cluckin' and We Keep on PluckinT). The Brunwin insignia was reserved for what was, in terms of profits, the jewel in the corporate crown: the frozen dinner and instant pudding division, for which the slogan was simply 'They're Brunwin Fantastic! ' Each of these companies was served by hundreds of contracted farmers up and down the country, whose task - if they were to stand any chance of making a livelihood - was to use every growth-inducing antibiotic and every yield-increasing pesticide known to man in order to meet the ever more stringent production quotas laid down by Dorothy from her head office at Brunwin Holdings. These farmers were also obliged to place all their orders for feed with a company called Nutrilite (a division of Brunwin Holdings) and to supplement it with chemical additives obtained from another company called Kemmilite (a division of Brunwin Holdings). In this way, internal costs were kept down to an absolute minimum.

Dorothy's empire had taken a long time to build. By the time of George`s trip to the Lake District, however, it was enjoying its heyday. For instance, figures for this period show that Easilay were now supplying the nation with more than 22 million eggs a week, while the annual turnover of Pluckalot was more than 55 million. That’s chickens, of course: not pounds.

***

'So, ' said Henry, 'what's new down on the farm? '

'The usual, ' said Dorothy. 'Business isn't bad, although it would be a lot better if we didn't have to spend half our time fending off the environmental cranks. These are rather good, aren't they? '

'These' were the fresh quail's eggs, wrapped in roasted green and red peppers, which constituted their hors d'oeuvre. Henry and Dorothy were having supper together in a private dining room at the Heartland Club.

'That was partly what I wanted to talk to you about, ' Dorothy continued. 'We've been getting some scare stories from the States. You've heard of a drug called sulphadimidine? '

'Can't say I have. What does it do? '

'Well, as far as pig farming's concerned, it's invaluable. Absolutely invaluable. As you know, we've made enormous advances in production levels over the last twenty years, but there have been one or two adverse side-effects. Respiratory diseases, for one thing: but sulphadimidine can help with some of the worst of these, you see.'

'So where's the problem? '

`Oh, the Americans have been testing it on rats and they reckon it causes cancer. Now apparently they're going to legislate.'

'Hra. And are there other drugs you can Use? '

'Nothing as effective. I mean, we could probably cut down on these diseases by stocking less intensively, but...'

'Oh, but that's absurd. There's no point interfering with anything which helps you to stay competitive. I'll have a word with the minister about it. I'm sure he'll see your point of view. Tests on rats don't prove anything, anyway. And besides, we have a long and honourable history of ignoring the recommendations of our independent advisers.'

The main course consisted of glazed loin of pork, with garlic potatoes. The meat (like the quail's eggs) was Dorothy's own: her chauffeur had brought it down in an ice-box in the back of the car that afternoon, and she had given the chef detailed instructions on how to prepare it. She kept a small herd of free-range porkers in an enclosure at the back of the farmhouse, for her personal use. Like Hilary (who never watched her own television programmes), Dorothy had no intention of ever consuming the products which she was happy to foist upon an uncomplaining public.

'These environmentalists get up our nose just as much as yours, ' said Henry, tucking in with gusto. 'They've wrecked the veal trade, for instance.'

This was true: Britain's largest retail producers of veal had recently scrapped their narrow crates and gone back to straw-yards. In response to public pressure, the managing director had admitted that the intensive system had been 'morally repugnant'.

'Well, I shall carry on using crates, ' said Dorothy. 'We can still export them, after all. Besides, there's so much stupid sentimentality about veal calves. They really are the most filthy creatures. If you don't give them anything to drink for a few days, do you know what they do? They start drinking their own urine.'

Henry shook his head incredulously over the vagaries of the animal kingdom, and refilled their glasses of Sauterne. Meanwhile Dorothy was cutting the fat off her meat and carefully pushing it to one side of the plate. 'We've got to watch out for the lobbyists, anyway. I've a suspicion they're going to get more and more vocal.'

'You've got nothing to worry about, ' said Henry. 'The newspapers are never going to run stories about anything as boring as food production, and even if they did, the public wouldn't be interested, because they're stupid. You know that as well as I do. On top of which, most of the data's protected by the Official Secrets Act. Absurd, but true. And anyway, whenever one of these boffins in white coats starts popping up with some crackpot report, what's to stop you getting your own people to produce a set of figures which prove the exact opposite? '

Dorothy smiled. 'You're right, of course. One's inclined to forget that not everyone's as sceptical as you...'

`It surprises me to hear you say that`, said Henry, leaning back and loosening his belt with a pleasurable grimace. 'I'm not a sceptic by nature. If anything I'm an idealist. And besides, I happen to believe most of what the nutritionists are saying at the moment. The difference is that I tend to be heartened rather than alarmed by the social implications".

'Meaning? '

Henry paused, absently wiping gravy from his plate with a finger. 'Put it this way: did you know that over the next five years we were planning to scrap free school meals for more than half a million children? '

'Not calculated to be a very popular move, I wouldn't have thought.'.

'Well, there'll be an outcry, of course, but then it'll die down and something else will come along for people to get annoyed about. The important thing is that we save ourselves a lot of money, and meanwhile a whole generation of children from working-class or low-income families will be eating nothing but crisps and chocolate every day. Which means, in the end, that they'll grow up physically weaker and mentally slower.' Dorothy raised an eyebrow at this assertion. 'Oh, yes, ' he assured her. 'A diet high in sugars leads to retarded brain growth. Our chaps have proved it. He smiled. 'As every general knows, the secret of winning any war is to demoralize the enemy.'

The meal concluded with apple-quince bread pudding, smothered in a honey and ginger sauce. The apples, as usual, were from Dorothy's orchard.

Discuss the questions:

1) What steps are undertaken by Dorothy to promote her business? Who supports her in it?

2) Is the Government able to perform efficient measures in economics to make the social situation bearable? Why?

3) What facts expose the cynical attitude of the authorities to people?

XX. Study the article. What risks do borrowers undertake applying for considerable loans?

ALARM OVER LOANS
THAT CAN MAKE DEBTORS HOMELESS