Yokel wrote:
my brother ( a youthful 50) has been bald since his mid-20s
Strewth! And there was me thinking that a pretty much full head of ~1% grey hair was bad for my age (they stick out like a sore thumb when the rest of your hair's almost black...oh well).
I agree entirely with what you say though, with the caveat that anyone unfortunate enough to have "abnormal" problems (e.g. a bald woman, whether through cancer or naturally) is probably better off doing something about it.
What I do think people have every right to complain about is dodgy eyesight. Touch wood I've been lucky, but children should not routinely be short/long-sighted any more than they've routinely got poor hearing IMHO. People should be able to expect to see without correction until their 50s. Eyes are poorly-functioning and unreliable compared to the rest of the body. I realise that our full-colour, incredibly detailed eyesight is a wonderful, amazing and complicated thing, but if humans were manufactured artificially, I'd consider sight to be the most unreliable "module". It must have been a real PITA for our ancestors (although at least they didn't live long or need to read much).
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Paul Smith: a legend.
"The freedom provided by the motor vehicle is not universally applauded, however: there are those who resent the loss of state control over individual choice that the car represents. Such people rarely admit their prejudices openly; instead, they make false or exaggerated claims about the adverse effects of road transport in order to justify calls for higher taxation or restrictions on mobility." (
Conservative Way Forward:
Stop The War Against Drivers)