Only the NHS can save us now

We're all waiting in trepidation in the UK for the winter version of swine flu- particularly as we will only have the NHS to protect us. The Americans are discussing our NHS at the moment as they discuss whether to switch over to that type of health system (have they never watched the film Sicko?!). It's a tough call unless you're one of the millions of Americans too poor to get health insurance. The NHS has many problems but it's still good to know that if I fell ill as I typed this blog I could walk into a hospital and get sorted for 'free'.

Anyway, back to swine flu and the latest figures show a continuing fall in the summer swine flu outbreak. Yesterday's statement by the Health Protection Agency (never going to win a Plain English award) says that 49 people have now died from H1N1 in the UK and "gives an estimate of 25,000 (range 15,000 – 60, 000) new cases in England in week 32 compared to an estimated 30,000 cases in the previous week. The estimated number of new cases has decreased in all regions and age groups."

On TV last night was reassuring footage of the new vaccine being tested on patients in the Midlands. It didn't make it clear whether people would be forced to have the vaccine. However, the BBC website is voicing the concern of some experts about the rushing through of the vaccine. Generally though, the assumption of the TV news is that of course people will rush to get the vaccine - why wouldn't they? I think they might get a bit of a shock!

Jane Burgermeister

There have been some half-hearted attempts at swine flu conspiracies (it was spread by Al Quaeda, the manufacturers of face masks etc) but for the genuine article you need to Google Jane Burgermeister. She's a journalist who has filed criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization, the UN and others for deliberately spreading swine flu in an attempt to commit mass genocide against the people of the United States. But it's not the swine flu she believes will kill everyone, it's the 'vaccine' being prepared to fight the swine flu.

Who's behind the conspiracy? President Obama, bankers David Rockefeller and George Soros and numerous other world figures.

Why would they want to kill much of the population of America (and the western world)? She claims to gain access to the natural resources of North America and reclaim the houses, property etc of the dead.

How is the plan being carried out? By deliberately spreading swine flu (a man-made virus, she claims, that was unleashed in Mexico during a trip there by President Obama). Then forcefully injecting everyone with the 'vaccine' that is in fact designed to kill them. The blame will then be put on swine flu being much stronger than first thought.

It's all nonsense of course but I would say that because, according to Jane Burgermeister, the media is also involved in this conspiracy. And if you think this can be quickly dismissed as bonkers, just bear in mind her Facebook group has more than 6,000 followers already.

• You can read her complete lawsuit filed with the FBI online.
• She has her blog online.
• And her Facebook group.

Where there's muck...

Swine flu may be pretty frightening but it's not going to stop some people making a quick buck. How about swine flu T-shirts, the swine flu fridge magnet, or even the swine flu hat! Let me know if you've found a swine flu tacky novelty.

The ghost of MMR returns

Oh dear. Here we go again. The nightmare of the MMR scandal has returned and one suspects the only losers are going to be the poor members of the public who are now confused and concerned about giving their children Tamiflu (children remember are those most likely to get swine flu).

It all started with a piece of research in the British Medical Journal. I've linked to the research article but in brief: "The analysis was based on a systematic review of seven clinical studies looking at use of Tamiflu and Relenza in seasonal flu outbreaks in 2,629 children aged 1 to 12 years... The authors conclude that it is difficult to know the extent to which their findings can be generalised to children in the current swine flu pandemic but, based on current evidence, the effects of antivirals on reducing the course of illness or preventing complications might be limited."

Fairly reasonable and the first news headlines simply stated "Benefits of swine flu drug questioned", "Flu drugs unhelpful in children" or "Drug use discouraged". But it wasn't too long before they darkened into headlines like "Don't give children swine flu drugs - says doctors", "Swine flu drug Tamiflu 'does children more harm than good'" and "Swine flu cure a danger to kids, says docs".

I think you will be hard-pressed to find any parent rushing to give their children Tamiflu at the moment. So what is the real story? Unfortunately science appears not to be an exact science. So journalists will start playing off one against the other. Oh for the days when a man in a white coat would come on the evening news and tell you exactly what was what. There's good discussion on The Guardian story and of course Bad Science will no doubt be discussing this issue.

Once again it seems that journalists aren't prepared to give readers enough precise information for them to make up their own mind - perhaps they don't think readers will understand it, or perhaps journalists can't convert science-speak into plain English. Shameful really - that's supposed to be a journalist's job. One wonders just how long it will be before a child dies unnecessarily because the parents wouldn't give them Tamiflu.

Nothing changes

This statement by Dr R Lumb, onetime medical officer of health to Whitehaven, was found during a trawl of our archives in the January 20 1870 edition of The Whitehaven News. But it will ring bells with many town centre residents today.

"I wish to call attention to an evil of a very dangerous nature, viz, the emptying of refuse matter into the streets, and allowing it to remain there till the town's carts are ready to remove it. This exists to a great extent in the high parts of the town, many people having complained to me of this abominable evil."

People today living in the town centre where the streets and alleyways are almost continually littered with rotting food, soiled nappies and other detritous pecked out of thin plastic bags by seagulls will wonder why, 139 years on, little has changed.
At the time Dr Lumb made this statement, the town was in the grip of a typhus epidemic that became so bad a Government Inspector visited the town and was, of course, suitably horrified, describing it as having "a stagnant foulness of atmosphere hardly to be surpassed in any English town". Things are not quite so bad today but we still don't seem to have made the link between disease and our streets being covered in the ripped-open contents of bin bags, urine from late-night revellers realising there are no public toilets in this town, dog dirt from lazy or ignorant dog owners and spit.

How do you illustrate swine flu?

I've been keeping an eye on the logos used by newspapers and websites to illustrate swine flu. Many of them use a pig even though there's very little pig in swine flu. And many go for the dark, dramatic and slightly scary look! See what you think..

Welsh whisky

There appears to be a story doing the rounds in foreign newspapers and websites that Welsh whisky is a miracle cure for swine flu. Now, even the Welsh would admit that it takes brave person to drink Welsh whisky and it may be responsible for many things but miracle cures aint one of them. It seems this story got started when a Russian sports team was visiting Wales and they were advised to drink whisky as a way of avoiding getting swine flu (you may recall that Wales at one time looked immune to swine flu but has now rapidly caught up). And from this small beginning the internet rumour began. Welsh whisky may not cure you but its taste will almost certainly take your mind off the flu.