7 minute read
Feature
16 DECEMBER 2021
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From the front line…
Cancer is once again set to be the runner-up to Covid.
BY JACQUELINE CURZON
J K Rowling has spoken, nay shouted out, at the trolls and trans activists who continue to put her down over her views on 'women.' She apparently said by way of response, 'I could paper my walls with the amount of vitriol and numbers of death threats I have received' and - of course - she is neither going to retract nor alter her views. Quite right! On the back of the departure of Professor Kathleen Stock, it is time we reigned in these verbal minorities who want to rewrite the world according to their blinkered, woke-ish vision. We pride ourselves in the UK as a democracy with our immutable right to free speech, but it seems that only the minority are truly permitted this luxury. Recent protests at Durham - one of the most elite university populations - have seen a backlash over a decision to invite columnist Rod Liddle to speak at a formal dinner. As South College principal, Professor Tim Luckhurst who upholds the right to free speech, and cried foul at the resultant student heckling, has now been barred from public roles, with students threatening to transfer away from the University, unless he is removed from his post. Across the country many similar minded students seem more fixated with their new found political causes, focusing more on discrimination and societal wrongs, rather than on going to university to acquire knowledge from those more educated and knowledgeable than they. They seem happy to wake up to woke- suddenly in this perverse society, Joe Know-it-all is the expert, and the professorial staff are there only with the tacit blessing or approval of a bunch of activist students. Is this not an example of the lunatics running the asylum?
In Kentucky, a swarm of tornadoes hit the region of Mayfield, creating utter devastation and leaving around 70 dead. Governor Andy Beshear confirmed that around 30,000 homes will be left without heat, water and electricity at a particularly inclement time of year. The tornadoes took a path of around 250 miles, destroying homes, factories and places of worship, pulling down power lines and throwing vehicles around in the streets. Amongst the buildings totally flattened was a candle factory, where employees claim they continued to work through the night. Of the 110 working that night, 90 have since been rescued with eight currently confirmed dead.
A woman in Michigan is facing a jail term for contacting a website with the intention of having her ex-husband liquidated, and I don’t mean financially. She filled in a form on the spoof website rent-a-hitman.com, and officers posing as assassins were offered a $5,000 fee and a $200 downpayment to murder her former husband. The police were amazed by her naivety in thinking a transparent website for assassins -for-hire could be legitimate. The joke has totally backfired as Ms Wein now faces up to nine years in prison for solicitation for murder and use of a computer to commit a crime.
Another story concerning money caught my attention. A NatWest bank in Bradford has got itself in trouble by accepting a huge amount of cash brought in in black bags. Fowler Oldfield, a jewellery business ostensibly specialising in gold bullion, deposited £700k in one day alone. The business had an estimated annual turnover of £15 million, but managed to deposit £365 million over a 3 year period, with £264 million of that paid in cash into NatWest. At Southwark Crown Court Mrs Justice Cockerill said, ‘although in no way complicit, without the bank’s failings the money could not have been laundered.’ She ordered the bank to pay £4.3 million in costs, fined them £264 million, and made a £460,000 confiscation order. It’s the first time a bank has faced criminal prosecution by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority).
Omnipresent in the UK is the continuing fear of covid. The rising numbers of omicron cases, and the government’s knee jerk response to it, only serves to underpin that modelling trumps evidence, every time. Not content with encouraging us to have jab 1, jab 2 and booster, we could be looking at boosters from now until the covid cow comes home. Except I don’t think it ever will. As I suggested months ago this coronavirus is unfortunately here for keeps and I think we will have to learn to live with it. There will be unvaccinated people out there with naturally high levels of immunity who may dodge the bullet every time, but many others are playing Russian Roulette: as the barrel spins, which of the 4 or 5 known variants might they get? The unluckiest may find they get a particularly deadly variant, perhaps one not even on the shores yet, but it’s a gamble either way. As to the cost to society - the £2 billion monthly cost to the economy? Michael Gove has indicated he will take whatever steps are necessary to quash the omicron, but read very carefully, and you’ll see he is not averse to imposing another Lockdown. What say the hundreds of thousands whose cancer will be missed [AGAIN] whilst we encourage GPs to deliver booster vaccines? I think the human cost - actual versus projected - is too great to allow the NHS to slide like it did during the two lockdowns. My own treatment was left in abeyance whilst all seemed to look left, right and backwards, ignoring the obvious in front of their eyes. Back on the oncology floor, I’ve had several roomies with completely different backgrounds. Vicky* (36), arrives with recently discovered lung cancer and secondaries to her spine and brain. It’s heartbreaking just to even think about the journey ahead for her. Next to me lies Penny* (44), diagnosed a year ago with advanced bowel cancer. Her story is sobering; she opted for surgery, by which point her cancer had returned and spread with a vengeance. Clearly she has not got much time left, and I’m totally humbled by her quiet resignation and inner strength. Of course I sit on my bed feeling a total fraud; compared to these people I’m in perfect health. So where am I up to? Being off treatment for many months, whilst being assured I was in good shape and stable condition (plainly untrue), I discovered the tumour has been growing round my stent, now also blocked with food debris and bacteria, and it’s migrated from its original position. So this unhappily causes sepsis, an urgent matter, and I spend over a week in hospital on heavy-duty antibiotics. {*……. names have been changed.} I am still hoping to be out, if not actually ‘up and running,’ by the time my Siberian trip is scheduled to begin.
Now with the festive season approaching, police in London have accused
retailers of exploiting customers by selling e-scooters, as the retailers know these are not road legal; they can only be used on private land, a detail still seemingly oblivious to most riders. The Metropolitan Police has seized more than 3,600 scooters this year, a number set to rise in 2022. Researchers revealed that in crash tests a rider falling off a scooter at 15 mph would sustain a moderate injury, whilst there was a 90% chance of fatality for head injuries in knocked down pedestrians. Almost 30% of riders admitted to driving faster than the permitted 15 mph, with some scooters being capable of being modified to reach speeds of nearly 70mph. Half of respondents in the survey knew it was illegal to ride these scooters, but three quarters who broke the law never thought they would be punished. Meanwhile TfL have forthwith banned electric scooters on tubes, buses and trains over fire risks from defective batteries. This will apply, even to fold down models. The London Fire Brigade has already been called out Jacqueline Curzon to more than 50 cases involving e-scooters PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY and bikes. Scooter owners could now be refused entry to public transport or receive a fine of £1,000. I’m sure I read similar scare tactics over mask compliance, but I bet nothing much happened over those defaulters. Moving onto travel of a different type: A woman has crossed Australia with the help of her five camels. Sophie Matterson (33) set off from Shark Bay just before the pandemic hit in 2020, walking more than 3,000 miles arriving in Byron Bay, NSW. The photographer left her life in Brisbane, because she fancied having an adventure. She said the now Famous Five - Charlie, Clayton, Delilah, Jude and Mac, had become her ‘five best mates.’ Presumably the Five were her ‘desert sherpas,’ carrying her supplies and probably scaring off any troublemakers. And finally, Juan Carritos (2) has been deported to a remote area of the Apennines in Italy. The two-year-old had been running amok, drinking from fountains, causing havoc, breaking into shops and bakeries and literally taking the biscuit! The bear had beaten all of Paddingtons antics and ransacked Dolci Momenti {Sweet Moments} bakery, breaking the window, taking metal trays with freshly made biscuits from the oven before leaving trays and biscuits all over the floor. Wildlife officials decided to act as the ski season was about to start and the bear was becoming too habituated to humans. He was tranquilised, airlifted back to the wilderness where it’s hoped he will hibernate and wake up with less of a sugar craving.
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