Global worming

When we relax/meditate at the end of yoga classes, if you're lucky Hayley chooses you as one of the people whose neck gets a relaxing balm (which feels like a mentholated mild Deep Heat type of thing) and whose head gets a quick massage. This, coupled with the lovely background track May All Be Blessed, created quite a powerful and moving moment after today's class. I decided I'm not totally devoid of emotion when up early on a Saturday.

I bundled to meet Elizabeth at the John Lewis café (free voucher so it was a steal - otherwise to be avoided). On the way I decided to buy some deworming tablets as friends have acted horrified when I have told them I've never dewormed myself. My stomach is behaving very oddly, so there's nothing to lose.

I hadn't realised these tablets could be bought over the counter in this country. I decided to go to Superdrug because Boots was listed as buying advertising space in the Daily Mail edition that contained the antiquated (at best) / bigoted (at worst) article about gay parenting. A small stand against regressive journalism.

It turns out the profits Boots makes from advertising in such rags may allow them to employ better pharmacists.

The conversation went something like:

'Hello, I'd like some deworming tablets as I've travelled a lot and never used them'.

'I am not licensed to sell you these because if you go travelling you don't just get threadworm, you get tapeworm around this <holds out fingers 15cm apart> big'.

'But you don't know where I've been to. I don't know that I have tapeworm, I just think I should take something to clean the system'.

'When you travel because of things like salad washed in dirty water, you can get tapeworms <this> big and bigger'.

'I'm aware of the hazards of salad but I don't think we can deduce what size of parasite I may be harbouring, if any. It can't do any harm to take it'.

'I'm not licensed to sell these, because they would not be effective against such a large tapeworm'.

Even though she didn't know whether I'd ever left Western Europe (some people term going clubbing in Ibiza as travelling) it was like she had a mental chart of parasite length per country with infestation guaranteed after crossing the Cambridgeshire county boundary. I didn't mention South Sudan as I didn't think it would boost my chances of walking away with the tablets.

I had to resort to Boots anyway, thereby indirectly funding bigoted journalism. However I will pay more attention to companies who are less discerning in their advertising than they portray in their marketing, as it's a small attempt to exercise consumer rights with the potential to impact companies where they least like it: profits.

One such company is the Coop. They can stock all the ethically sourced tea bags they like, but they are one of the biggest advertisers in the Daily Mail and are resisting pressure to engage with this mismatch in values.

Stop Funding Hate is an excellent campaign that has the potential to weaken the stranglehold that right-wing tycoons have on politics. It's hilarious seeing the reaction to this group from media bods. Usually totally committed to free market capitalism, when informed consumer choice threatens to affect profit margins, they suddenly become much more protectionist.

An afternoon of cleaning the flat and welcoming Timothy, visiting for the night from London. Beer and burgers in a backstreet pub with the always-scintillating Mulligans. Followed by some gin, before I couldn't hack the pace any longer.