Pandemic flu vaccine is here…

Swine flu vaccine, Pandemrix, from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has been approved by the European Medicines Agency. Another, made by Baxter, is being evaluated.

The plan is to vaccinate 1,000 children between the ages of six months and 12 years over the next few  weeks to see which of the two vaccines performs the best. Professor Andrew Pollard, from the University of Oxford, told the Press Association that the trial will compare the two vaccines head-to-head to see which one works best in children and causes the fewest side-effects.

Really? And just how

Old Farmer Clarkson…

Jeremy Clarkson has bought a farm. No, not the farm – don’t get your hopes up – and now he’s finding out that running a farm is beset with rules and regulations, and he’s not at all happy because, ah, diddums, he doesn’t like rules. And who does old Motormouth blame for this? Why, Gordon Brown, of course.

In Clarkson’s royal blue world, everything

I’ve bought a lemon and I want my money back, part 4…

Update, September 26:-

I have, subsequent to my email to R2M, in part 3, received a letter from them saying exactly the same thing (so what’s the point?). It did, though, give me the opportunity to write to them at length, expanding on my email and on the subject of the increasing number of defects (used only indoors, now, things are still going wrong), and criticising their taking sides with the dealer, which is wholly improper (they should be entirely impartial), on September 21.

I have also sent a report to Trading Standards, who are coming to talk to me, and check out my chair on

Pain in COPD….

Recently I’ve been suffering greatly from previously transient COPD symptoms becoming permanent – specifically, pain, often severe, in the intercostal muscles (the muscles between the ribs), either on lying down or after a night hour in bed. This can persist for several hours after rising or, as with today, into the afternoon.

Searching the Internet for a cause, I kept getting answers from Google Books popping up, and I have to say that some of the books, which actually look as if they should hold accurate information, are

WTF?

A new survey has shown that poor eyesight can impair sporting ability. No, really? Nothing like stating the bleedin’ obvious, is there? And they got funding for this crap.

More censorship at the Times?

India Knight, in the Times, has written a column, today, called “And so I say chin-chin to all you tiresome moralisers,” about the death of Keith Floyd and drinking in general.

Inevitably, despite the title, the tiresome moralisers arrived in droves to post comments bitching and whining about drinkers, and how Britain has a massive problem with them**. So I wrote a rebuttal. Polite, well-argued, and above all meeting the terms and conditions imposed on posters. And it wasn’t published.

**No, we don’t, we have

The FIA is dishonest…

So the FIA World Motorsport Council has imposed no penalty whatsoever – in real terms – on Renault. Frankly, that sucks.

McLaren were seriously screwed by the FIA over the behaviour of staffers and ex staffers, even though the company wasn’t responsible for the actions of any of them, any more than Renault were. So, how come

Should teachers be able to spell and punctuate?

In the Times Comment Central, a debate is raging over whether teachers should be able to spell and punctuate. Well, of course they bloody should! It’s a no-brainer. And hey, so should bloggers!

One person, though, gave me pause, by saying “I also think that teachers should be drawn from the ranks of the very best graduates.”

It doesn’t work that way, though. People who WANT to be teachers may not be “the very best graduates”. However, they may well be the most committed.  I believe the

Renault Race Fixing…

We all know by now that Renault have effectively entered a plea of nolo contendere regarding the upcoming “trial” over their race-fixing in Singapore last year. They’re apparently hoping that, by shedding Briatore and Symonds, they’ll be treated more leniently by the FIA. But should they be?

I don’t believe they should. Just as McLaren were held

I’ve bought a lemon and I want my money back, Part 3…

The first item in this chain of posts can be read here and part 2 is here.

Part 1, stripped of any profanity, formed the contents of my first faxed letter to Route2Mobility, who are Motability’s Scooter and powerchair division. Sadly, it appears to be run by retards, as you shall see.

This is the email I received this afternoon, from Route2Mobility. As you’ll see if, like me, you have been suckered into buying a totally unsuitable and misrepresented scooter or powerchair, you will get no help from R2M.

Now read on (by the way, previously, names have been deleted; given the current circumstances, I see no need to continue with that, because anyone responsible for such crap deserves to be named:-

Dear Mr Graves,

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