I’m starting this very late in the day and I’m not quite sure whether I have been deliberately procrastinating or I, genuinely, have been busy? Suffice to say, I spent about an hour and a half on the beach this morning, going straight there after the food shop. It feels satisfying to have ‘been there and done that’ – not a task I relish – but my provisions insist on shrinking while the price keeps hiking up. What do you know?! May I add, that that is without anything barely resembling a bottle in my stash – and, actually, that never fails to irk when, routinely, I remember that no alcohol may be purchased, in Scotland, before 10am. One has to ask why? What is the logic in that? I mean, who shops before 9am, the town’s alcoholics or mothers who have just dropped their children at school? Of course, the comedians amongst us would say they are one and the same but … The ruling makes no sense at all. Hang on, let me Google it!
‘In 2009, a health bill duly changed the law to prevent the sale of alcohol before 10am. The SNP Government’s Health Secretary, at the time, was none other than Nicola Sturgeon.’
Well, who would have dreamed? I promise, I was not in full knowledge of that fact. Granted, I suspected but … At least, her time has not been wasted. Something to be remembered; compensation for a broken dream.
Still with me? For those who are prone to a short attention span – or, merely, for the benefit of those who prefer to read something a little more sanguine – perhaps I should start every post with a brief synopsis of the content. I shall admit that there is an element of Russian Roulette involved depending on my mood or the week’s news content – and, of late, I have made a concerted effort to steer clear of controversy, in the main – but nothing is forever. I have an eclectic little pile of notes beside me so … those of a strong constitution, stay with me! The following is likely to contain sarcasm and a propensity for self-deprecation. Please, also, heed a leaning towards tongue in cheek. Topical – and therefore, by nature, controversial – I shall state my opinion with honesty, confident in my argument and conclusion. Freedom of speech and opinion, after all is still permitted – if hanging by a thread!
Let’s start at the very beginning, then … I think it was last week, I woke to the news on the radio that the results of a new study had been published concluding that those who succumbed to Covid-19 – particularly in the first wave – are at an increased risk of developing a serious blood clot in the ensuing six-month period. A study carried out in Sweden involving just over one million people who tested positive for Covid-19 between February 2020 and May 2021, it was recently published in the BMJ. Still half-asleep, I couldn’t help but smile at the inevitable. For, in the wake of the increasing number of unexplained ‘sudden deaths’, what better cover? Too cynical? I don’t think so. Shane Warne, aged 52? Heart attack. Complaining of chest pains before he went to Thailand, in the aftermath, I heard the ridiculous suggestion that a liquid diet he had been following could be responsible! Then, there was Jamal Edwards. A mere thirty-one years old, he died of a ‘sudden heart attack’ at the end of February. Out of the blue. Seemingly fit and healthy. The number of young, supremely fit footballers who have dropped down or complained of sudden chest pains … I, myself, can cite several cases of death from a ‘sudden illness’. What is going on?
‘Blood clots can occur after vaccination but the risk is far smaller, a major UK study found.’
BBC News Online (7 April 2022) reporting on the study, going on to quote the inevitable conclusion:
‘For unvaccinated individuals, that’s a really good reason to get a vaccine – the risk is so much higher than the risk from vaccines.’
Anne-Marie Fors Connolly, Principal Study Investigator, Umea University, Sweden.
Here we were thinking there was light at the end of the tunnel: no more talk of mandates, restrictions curtailed and no more obligatory masks. Hallelujah! No more relentless pushing of the vaccine, then? Obviously, that memo went missing. I did find interesting, though, a paragraph in the BMJ:
‘This is an observational study, so the researchers cannot establish cause, and they acknowledge several limitations which might have affected their findings.’
One such ‘limitation’ cited happens to be that ‘information on vaccination was not available’.
Maybe I am cynical but with good reason. We have no idea as to the true numbers of vaccine injuries and fatalities. The Yellow Card System, here, and its equivalent in the US – VAERS – what do we know of these? Are/were these figures reported 24/7 on the news? Negative. Under-reported – suggested – by a factor of 20, the number of fatalities on the VAERS website (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) up until 8/4/22 is 12,000. Multiply that by 20!
Only yesterday, there was another alarming news item: namely, a further rise in children being diagnosed with Hepatitis. There are now 108 cases across the UK and, of these, eight have received a liver transplant. Health officials are said to be investigating the cause of the liver inflammation in children under the age of 10 but, up front – and in the absence of any proven evidence – they say it is not linked to the Covid vaccine as, according to the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency), ‘none of the children are known to have been vaccinated’. I find the use of the words ‘are known to’ interesting, precluding a statement of fact … Meanwhile, it should be noted that unexplained cases of Hepatitis in children have, also, been reported in Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and the US.
What’s the saying? It’s not over until the fat lady sings? I think one can assume she has a very bad dose of laryngitis! Yes, one can bury one’s head if one so wishes – most, it just sails over – but the red flags are waving and the dots are there to be joined. Of course, most would rather not and who can blame them?
Ending on a lighter note, it was reported this week that Liam Gallagher is in need of a double hip replacement due to arthritis. In daily agony and struggling to sleep, he, nonetheless, is refusing to have the operation citing the attached stigma. Apparently, he’d rather be in a wheelchair. So utterly ridiculous. So Liam. So rock’n’roll! Can’t help but love him …
‘If I wasn’t a musician, I don’t know. I’d be God, maybe? That would be a good job.’
The inimitable Liam Gallagher.
This is Trish, signing off.
