A recent clearing out of some of the contents of Dalrymple’s library leads to a joyful act, the tossing out of copies of The Lancet:

Week after week, when I subscribed to the print edition of The Lancet, I used to read on the cover messages such as the following:

The right to the highest attainable standard of health is an asset and an ally, which is at the disposal of all health workers.

Or:

Despite formidable challenges ahead, a shift towards an equitable distribution of energy based increasingly on renewable resources has the potential for major health dividends.

They used to make me feel slightly sick, as if I had eaten too many rich chocolates, as I pondered the question as to the quality of a mind for which such sentences, with so many flatulent connotations without denotation, are deemed worthy of emphasis.