| The shortcomings of Charles Windsor May 20th 2012, 15:34 As things are, he could well die before his mother, if she turns out to be as long-lived as hers. But I wonder whether he would be a total disaster as King. People thought the same about Edward VII, who had suffered from a long wait for his overbearing mother to die, and was condemned as frivolous and stupid. But he wasn't too bad during his short reign. I wonder if Charles might mend some of his ways once he gets the top job. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...e-charles-fool Quote:
The fool and the rogue are seen at their clearest in his interventions on public health. I do not believe that anyone who learns how he has endangered lives, and sought to wreck the careers of men who want to help their fellow citizens, can carry on regarding the prince as a harmless eccentric. The "complementary" medicines he has championed are scandalously misnamed. There is only medicine that works and quackery that cannot stand the test of clinical trials.
Last week, the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health was wound up after a jury convicted its former finance director of embezzling funds – a fraudster among alternative health therapists, who would have thought it? The foundation promoted every variety of dubious remedy.
In 2000, the prince backed a guide to "complementary medicines" that claimed that spiritual healing can treat wounds and reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy. In 2005, a report he commissioned about the possible use of alternative therapies by the NHS suggested that homeopathic "medicines" were not sugar pills, but could be offered to treat asthma.
"Alternative medicines" kill. They stop credulous patients from seeking reputable healthcare. I have seen false advertising and wishful thinking persuade good people to suffer and die from preventable illnesses. Professor Edzard Ernst, one of the world's authorities on the efficacy of alternative medicines, saw a draft of the report and sought to warn the public, not least because asthma attacks can be fatal.
Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles's former principal private secretary and chair of the Foundation, complained to Ernst's vice-chancellor that he had breached confidentiality.
Instead of protecting him, the university subjected Ernst to a year-long inquiry that pushed him into early retirement.
The hounding of an honourable scientist may not be the worst of it. Channel 4 showed that, after receiving seven letters from the royal family, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency allowed homeopathic manufacturers to make health claims on their packaging without providing supporting evidence, which was convenient for the manufacturers because there wasn't any.
The prince is Bourbon at heart. He has learned nothing, and is now a supporter of the College of Medicine, set up by senior figures from the Foundation. The name has changed. The belief in magic remains the same.
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