A month of temperance is a detoxing mistake: abstinence makes the liver no stronger

None of Alf’s mates is foregoing booze for a week or two to rectify the medical mischief done by over-indulging over the Christmas-New Year holiday. Nor is Alf.

But it seems some people do go to the other extreme in January and lay off the grog for a month to try to clean out their systems after drinking and eating too much during the festive party season.

Ha! This temporary temperance won’t detox them as they seem to think.

British doctors say the so-called ‘Janopause’ – when drinkers cut out alcohol for only the first month of the year – is ‘medically futile’ and fails to rejuvenate the liver in the long term.

Another spending-cut idea for Bill: put the brakes on those zealous farm-bike inspectors

Just a few more, then we'll go home on the quad bike.

Alf agrees with his good mates at Federated Farmers: the tossers at the Labour Department are indulging in overkill in their efforts to deal with quad bike accidents.

Many more Kiwis die from drinking too much booze than from quad bike accidents.

But the bloody Labour Department – no doubt desperately looking for work to to do to justify its existence and avoid budget cuts – is preparing to get tough on farmers who flout safety guidelines.