Help is on its way

Three of the world's most intractable problems are about to be massively alleviated to a degree that merits global street parties - but the bunting is being withheld by a surprising number of misery-gutses.

- JANE CLIFTON

Much vested interest, smugness and ideological puritanism have greeted the pending revolutions in obesity treatment, emissions-free personal transport and an end to the seeming inevitability of going gaga in one's old age.

Until recently it seemed impossible that the progression of Alzheimer's disease could be drastically slowed, that weight loss could be made exponentially easier with a simple regular injection or that electric vehicles (EVS) might be produced affordably from more sustainable resources.

Most people are therefore elated at news of donanemab, a veritable bollard against Alzheimer's if it's detected early, the highly effective weightloss injectables - Ozempic, Mounjaro and others - and the impending flood of cheap Chinese EVs onto the world market.

These are far from magic bullets, but why so much indignation about breakthroughs that'll improve life for a probable majority?