Good news for once?

Well, I think that this bit of research, reported in the Chicago Tribune, which indicates a potentially major breakthrough against one of mankind's longest established and most effective killers, influenza, probably is just so. The newly developed monoclonal antibody even appears to be effective against H5N1 (that's the much touted, very scary bird flu, for those of you that have forgotten about it).

OK, so it has only been tested on mice so far, but isn't it a little odd that the UK press appears not even to have spotted this?

Ohhh, silly me. Alongside the likes of global warming, the credit crunch, global recession, wars, food shortages, etc. etc., it would have to be regarded as good news, wouldn't it.

Maybe I'm being a little hasty and overtly critical, as I've just spotted that it HAS been mentioned in the Express ('Wonder jab to cure all flu') and the Telegraph ('Flu Vaccine Breakthrough') [though technically, it is not a vaccine].

Mankind, the virus on our planet?

Another mention of the 'policy that dare not speak its name', this time from outspoken MEP Chris Davies, as reported in the Cumbrian News & Star, who reckons that "young couples should have no more than one child in a bid to stop global warming."

"While every individual should be cherished, mankind’s reproduction is akin to the replication of a virus. We are swamping the planet and devouring its resources."

In a sense it's difficult to disagree with that last statement, but who is ever going to propose 'population growth control' as a mainstream policy? Perhaps, if H5N1 (the virulent strain of avian flu) ever mutates to a human to human transferable virus, such a policy may not even be necessary?