The Importance of Being Idle

It's The End Of The World As We Know It, And I Feel Fine

I'm not saying that the bird-flu epidemic is gonna be the end of modern civilisation or anything, but it does have that potential, and nobody really seems to be all that bothered about it. It's constantly there on the news, bubbling away just below the surface, always fourth or fifth item (you can't escape the notion that the media wish it'd really kick off and that lots of people would die, just cos it'd be more exciting), but I get the distinct feeling that certain governments (and I'm thinking of the UK's here) just aren't taking it terribly seriously. Didja know, for instance, that there is only one company in the whole world who is capable of manufacturing the necessary vaccine, and unsurprisingly they're order books are full and they're making out like bandits. Of course, because there's only one company there is a bit of a waiting list, and the UK won't be receiving its stock of bird-flu vaccine until February, which could well be a case of slamming the stable door after the horse has bolted, caught a contagious disease, spread it to its neighbours, and eventually died.
The trial of Saddam Hussein: if you don't want to know the result, look away now. Seriously, does anybody think that he is getting anything even remotely like a fair (or even legal) trial? I am in no way saying that he is a decent guy, or deserving of fairness or anything, but c'mon! Actually, I do think he deserves a fair trial, in fact he absolutely needs to have an obviously fair and clean trial, devoid of bias or suspicion of same so that we (and particularly the people of Iraq) can put this whole mess behind us and try and move on. Very little about the situation in Iraq is pleasing or satisfactoty at the moment, so it'd be nice to get some sort of resolution out of the whole mess.

posted by BadMonkey @ 10:57 PM