Northern Ireland's first swine flu fatality

How sad to learn of Northern Ireland's first swine flu death - Lee Porter was only 30 years old. Once again journalists are unquestioningly throwing in the line that he had "underlying health problems" as some sort of reassurance to the public. He was 30 years old, a bombardier in the Royal Artillery and also worked in the fire service. It's hard to see what underlying health problems someone that young and fit could have that would weaken him to the effects of swine flu. The BBC says he is the 28th person in England (surely United Kingdom?) to have died, plus three in Scotland.

On BBC4 tonight (Wednesday, August 5th) at 9pm there is a docu-drama on the Spanish flu of 1918 and that's followed by a documentary on how the world tries to cope with pandemics. Should be interesting if morbid viewing.