Up Front and Personal
This month's interview with CTM founder, Phillip Day

ECLUB: Hey ho.
PD: You survived the holiday celebrations then.
ECLUB: Not as well as you, apparently. You've started your new tour already, haven't you?
PD: Yes. Very excited about it actually.
ECLUB: How does this year's talk differ from last year's? They're both The ABC's of Disease, aren't they?
PD: Last year, in ABC's 2003, we examined a whole spread of diseases from acne to varicose veins. We just blasted through them and people hopefully were able to get a sense of how many of these ailments have common causations which can easily be turned off.
This year in ABC 2004, we're examining health from the standpoint of the things we should and shouldn't do, as well as those things that affect our happiness and joy of life. We're looking at the dangers in our home, our thought processes, our environment, our habits, relationships, the effect money, or rather the lack of it, can have on our well-being. We're looking at passion, motivation, addiction, loneliness, creativity. We're looking at sleep, air, water, the wicked drug industry, the wicked food industry, the wicked TETRA masts and the curse of the warbling mobile. In other words, we're looking at life in the 21st century, and what we can do to survive it and positively thrive. I love this new talk because it has the effect of a spring clean of our attitudes and priorities.
ECLUB: How well do you feel your mission is penetrating the 60 million people in Britain, for instance?
PD: We've barely begun, but making good headway. There are some who have come to my meetings several times and brought new faces along. They, in turn, tell others, and really that's how the whole thing spreads. What I find amazing is that newspaper and radio advertising cost a lot and don't really get people along. If folks are not engaged with the subject, they really won't want to know until, God forbid, they, or a loved one, become ill.
ECLUB: What have you got for us this month?
PD: Our lead article comes from Australia where The Age newspaper has completed a study on the extent to which drug companies back supposedly independent patient advocacy groups.
ECLUB: Explain.
PD: Let's say you have arthritis. You search the web, go to your doctor or hospital, and they recommend a patient advocacy group, called something like Arthritis Is Us. You assume they are independent of drug company involvement, so you will get solid, well-researched, unbiased information to help you on your way. Unfortunately, a high percentage of these groups are not only sponsored by drug companies trying to flog you their specific arthritis medications, they were actually set up by these companies! The Age article is great, since it looks at a small spread of conditions and the reader gets the idea very quickly of what is going on.
ECLUB: What else?
PD: We've got multiple sclerosis this month and its involvement with fungal infestation. Bad farmed salmon, fluoridation. Naughty anti-perspirants, etc. etc. etc. The ludicrous mark-ups on common drugs…
ECLUB: All things you've been banging on about for years now coming to the surface?
PD: Some of them.
ECLUB: What about the EU?
PD: What about it?
ECLUB: Is this the year you drive the stake into the heart of the dragon?
PD: Drinking Red Bull certainly makes you more poetic, Brian. Actually, last year we formed Credence Film and have just put the finishing touches to our new documentary, The Real Face of the European Union.
ECLUB: Who directed it?
PD: Me.
ECLUB: Any good?
PD: I think it's great, but then I directed it. It's in the style of a Channel Four documentary and lasts around 45 minutes. It's fast-moving and features the contrary arguments and dangers of the whole European program that are simply not being explained to the public. It's an ideal film to show friends or groups. You can play them the film and then have a discussion of the points covered after it has finished. It makes shocking viewing.
ECLUB: Do you push any political party in it?
PD: Now you know better than to ask that…
ECLUB: I have to ask for our members.
PD: No. We are politically independent and do not subscribe to any party, which of course gives us our edge. We do however cover the views of several groups in the film and viewers can contact and join their causes if they wish. This is not a pro-and-con documentary. We've all been buried in pro-EU nonsense for years. This program simply points out the cons and dangers, and explains what the citizen can do about them.
ECLUB: Are you paying any of these groups proceeds from the film?
PD: No. It's going into a jar above the fireplace.
ECLUB: When's it out?
PD: Middle of February.
ECLUB: Are you generally upbeat about 2004?
PD: Very. Lots of challenges, but life's all about facing your mountains and overcoming them, isn't it? We get the future we deserve, one way or the other.
ECLUB: Thank you, Phillip.

Further Resources
Phillip Day is currently touring the UK and will be covering Ireland in May. For more information or to purchase tickets, please click here.