Towards the end of his life, suffering from culminating decades of decadence and subsequent ill health, Benjamin Franklin penned a humorous dialogue between himself and a personified interpretation of the source of all his ills: gout. Gout, taking the personality of a scolding schoolmarm, chastises Franklin for his indulgence and sedentary lifestyle, pointing out that he ‘ate and drank too freely, and too much indulged those legs of yours in their indolence’.
Britain’s welfare state today supports more weight than George IV’s trouser braces
Gout had a reputation for being the disease of kings, a form of arthritis largely caused by a diet only achievable in past eras by the wealthiest and most culinarily liberal members of society. It produces a swelling and pain so unbearable that it often rendered its historical sufferers immobile. But it now seems to be a plague of the poor.
Much like large televisions and Range Rovers, what used to be viewed as something only available to the wealthy has now appears to be becoming the preserve of the less fortunate parts of our society.
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