Pathologists must love the rat poison. I’ve just become an unpaid lobbyist for a pharmaceutical company and how the pathologists must be worrying about it. After years of taking Warfarin to thin my blood I’ve moved on to some new fangled drug called Pradaxa, that’s being provided free-of-charge via my GP, that apparently does the same kind of thing as my daily dose of rat poison. The big advantage for me is that I don’t need to go and have a monthly blood test to check something called my INR levels so I hope that by the time the free trial runs out next June Pradaxa is covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme.

The pathologists will surely be hoping otherwise for conducting hundreds of thousands of blood tests each month on Warfarin users must be a nice little earn bulk-billed as it is to Medicare. Not that the economics are as clear cut as they might seem which is why the German manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim has gone to the expense of providing thousands of free doses. Clearly the Pradaxa team hopes that users like me will help persuade the health bureaucrats that paying for a new drug that’s 10 times as expensive as the old one (before adjusting for the saving from pathology testing) is worthwhile.

It will surely be an interesting battle between the respective health lobbyists.

The really worrying story. I am as fascinated by the saga of the Murdoch empire’s troubles as the next person but I fear the really important drama from the northern hemisphere is the continuing sovereign debt crisis.

Two weeks ago there were sighs of relief that the Greek Parliament had voted to accept the draconian terms imposed by the European Community and the IMF to receive a few billions to pay back some loans. See what has happened since:

A yield of nearly 36% on two year Government bonds? Now that represents a real crisis.

A US heat wave but no records so far. Record high temperatures across large parts of the United States are sure to revive the interest in that country in the dangers of global warming but the just updated figures from the US Government’s NASA suggest that so far this year world temperatures have been below record levels.

Temperatures do continue, however, to be significantly higher than during NASA’s base period of 1951 to 1980.

There’s still a 19th hole. In this day and age of super fit sports people dedicated to their pursuit of the winner’s cheque, how refreshing to see in the Irish Times this morning that British Open Golf winner Darren Clarke still believes in the wonderful golfing tradition of the 19th hole.

If it looks like Vegemite, tastes like Vegemite … Then it could be Brekkie Mite. Yes, I’ve tasted a cheaper substitute for Australia’s favourite spread and it has passed the test.

The German owned Aldi chain now has its own brand version of the yeast spread on its shelves so perhaps Vegemite will soon disappear as one of the very few major brand names it feels obliged to stock. The growth of house brands is surely making life difficult for food manufacturers.