The Flabber Ghasts itself

This piece of Churnalism-at-its-best came out last week amid much ballyhoo, whatever "ballyhoo" might be; I suspect it to be a small town in Ireland. My gob was initially too smacked to comment while the story was doing the rounds of the Murdoch Press. :

So the Sydney-based team spent three years demonstrating that mice live longer when their food intake is similar to the seed-based diet for which they have evolved, rather than, say, raw steak. Which is good to know if you want to maximise the life of your murine pets.

Unfortunately the head researcher was not satisfied with offering veterinary health advice, and insists that the results are equally applicable to humans. When I become World Dictator, any mendacious researchers (and their fluffers in the media) found conducting meaningless 'studies' to pander to the public's dietary obsessions will incur punishment of the most condign form. Possibly "Execution by beating with Joseph Beuys fat-&-felt art-works".

"Why Joseph Beuys?" Another Kiwi vouchsafed.

"It will be the coup du gras", I explained.