Peter Rhodes on jabs, flying taxis and the quest for the truth about Lockerbie
A reader has a good old rant at “pensioners who turned their noses up at free flu jabs and are now blocking hospital wards.”
Hang on. Is there any evidence yet that the patients admitted to hospitals with flu are more or less likely to have had the jab than society at large? My sympathies are with people like my wife who has been floored for a fortnight with a flu-like illness, despite having the jab last October. The real scandal may turn out to be not pensioners refusing jabs but the NHS administering millions of vaccines that don't work.
Catherine Swire's sister Flora died in the Lockerbie disaster of 1988, the terrorist outrage examined in the new Sky TV drama, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth. She says she has never met the writer of the series and that the film company refused her request not to be characterised. She alleges the script put words in her character's mouth, distorted her memories of Flora and perpetuated the family's trauma. It has to be said that her campaigning father, Dr Jim Swire, is reportedly pleased with the series. But his daughter's account creates the suspicion that the “search for truth” maybe didn't search hard enough.
Just under a year ago I doubted the claim that proposed flying taxis would be quiet. History repeats itself. This week brings a claim that one suggested design, resembling a flying saucer, would be no noisier than “the light patter of rain.” But what if these new-fangled devices took off in every sense? One or two passing over your home might be bearable; 20,000 would turn the light patter of rain into the ear-splitting thunder of Niagara
I referred yesterday to a poll which revealed that millions of voters don't expect Keir Starmer to last more than a year as prime minister. But the statistic that caught my eye was that, while 62 per cent of British adults believe we should take fewer immigrants, 11 per cent want more. Really? Who are these 11 per cent who contemplate our overcrowded, traffic-jammed, riot-torn Britain with hundreds of small boats arriving every week, and think: “Know what this country needs? More people.” I am genuinely curious..
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