Rarely does a day go by without a shocking National Health Service (NHS) story appearing in the British press.

The theme is familiar across the whole country. Hospitals that seem to induce more illness than they cure; incompetent doctors or nurses who regard themselves as technicians rather then carers; staff that treat patients with contempt, especially the elderly; foreign doctors who don’t speak English, and nurses untrained to use specialist equipment.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown doubled the amount of money going into the NHS. Most of it went into higher salaries and perks for staff. What did trickle down to the patients was either misallocated or inefficiently spent. It was recently reported that an American heart pacemaker that was sold to US hospitals for $50 was bought by the NHS for £5000 a unit.

The case of Stafford hospital has become totemic for the service as a whole. Hundreds of unnecessary deaths were identified in a report last year caused by neglect, bad practice and sheer incompetence by staff. It was dubbed a “third world institution”, which is probably an insult to the third world.

A consequence of the collapse in public confidence is that many people are flocking to private schemes such as Bupa Healthcare Insurance to give them and their families peace of mind. Left-wing MPs condemn this, of course, although quite a few of them go private themselves.

Isn’t it time the nation woke up to the desperate need to allow the private sector to take up much more of the strain in the country’s ballooning, dysfunctional healthcare sector?

Novelist Fay Weldon’s famous advertising slogan for eggs back in the last century is being revised again.

Despite worries about cholestrol, nutritionists are now saying that eggs are one of the most nutrient-dense foods and are suggesting we need one a day for optimum health.

The study, which has been released today and will be published in June in the science journal Nutrition and Food Science, analyzed 71 research papers and documents about eggs.

Eggs are low in calories and a rich source of protein. They contain nutrients essential to good health, like vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium and choline. They have the richest mix of essential amino acids of any other food.

Antioxidants in eggs could help prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, especially in the elderly.

Dietician, Dr Carrie Ruxton, said: “The health benefits of eggs would appear to be so great that it’s perhaps no exaggeration to call them a superfood — they are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. Eggs are not only low in calories but are packed with nutrients that are essential to healthy living. They are an ideal food at every stage of life, as well as being easy to cook and enjoyable to eat.”

Eggs are an important dietary source of vitamin D. One egg provides more than 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance. Low levels of the vitamin have been linked with medical conditions, including poor bone health, cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, immune disorders and mental health problems.

Dr Ruxton said, “There are clear nutritional benefits to eating eggs on a regular basis. Emerging evidence suggests that eggs may be beneficial for satiety, weight control and eye health. With previous limits on egg consumption lifted, most people would benefit from a return to the days of going to work on an egg.”

The work was funded by the British Egg Industry Council.

Research published in the American journal Science shows that a serious source of unhappiness is a wandering mind.

Most people spend nearly half their waking lives thinking about something other than their current activity. Researchers at Harvard University found that mind wandering occurred around 47% of the time.

Participants in the study reported that they were distracted at least 30% of the time, except when making love, which seemed to concentrate minds wonderfully.

Many spiritual techniques, such as meditation, train the mind to focus on one specific thing or activity, especially breathing. These techniques are said to improve well-being.

Now there is concrete evidence that “being present” does indeed increase happiness and general performance.

Hiccups, or hiccoughs as it was once spelt, is an annoying condition, especially if you are at a social occasion or in a business meeting.

It is caused when the band of muscle below the ribs, the diaphragm, contracts suddenly in a spasm.

Here’s a sideways cure that requires nothing but a glass of water and a drinking straw.

1. Put one-third of a pint of water in a glass, together with the straw.
2. Press the tips of your index fingers into the hollows behind the earlobes where the neck meets the jawbone.
3. Keep the pressure on while drinking as much of the water as you can through the straw.
4. It is claimed that when the glass is empty the hiccups will be gone.