In my professional career I was very concerned with the problem of the competing interests of doctors and others who had received rather too much 'hospitality' from drug companies (I have to confess I did once go on a skiing weekend in Austria, but the company's drug for stroke was hopeless and I never prescribed it). With the inevitable result — over prescribing, and inappropriate over emphasis on expensive drugs rather than others. As far as I can tell, mostly from reading Private Eye, the situation is far worse in central and local government with lobbyists lining the corridors of power, and ministers revolving all too easily into the private sector. It is hardly surprising that the water supplies are in such a mess (not in Scotland where Scottish Water is owned by the government), that we crawl towards 'net zero', and so much of our food is hardly healthy. But here on this website there are no commercial interests at all, no payment has been made to anyone, no lavish dinners have been eaten, no sponsorship has been asked for or received — and there is no advertising (apart from my own book). How can this be? Because writing it is pure fun, I have the time, and I am lucky enough to be on a final salary pension. Remember those?