Has The BCG Vaccine Saved The Balkans From The Worst Of The Coronavirus?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
The article discusses the title and there is certainly circumstantial evidence.
- The former Yugoslavia hasn’t been badly hid by COVID-19.
- The country had endemic tuberculosis.
- The UK dropped BCG vaccinations in the 2000s.
I’ll be interested to see, if this turns out to be a promising lead or just a coincidence.
Racist Behaviour In Serbia
The disgraceful racist and violent behaviour in Serbia yesterday, when England beat the country, is of course to be thoroughly deplored.
But the Balkans have in recent years not been a place where black footballers seem to be welcomed.
There is the story of how a teenage Titus Bramble, went to play for the England Under-21 in Albania around 2000. He was repeatedly racially abused during the match.
On return to Ipswich, he was interviewed by the East Anglian Daily Times about the match and stated that he didn’t know what the chants were, as he’d never encountered racism in his personal or footballing life.
In a way it shows how well and how early we started to get our act together over racism in football.
i have no idea, if the Albanians were punished for the behaviour of their fans, but the behaviour last night is in my view partly caused by UEFA’s and FIFA’s weak response to incidents like that match in Albania.
He’s Done More Damage and Killed More than Bin Laden
Someone has just said this on BBC Breakfast about Ratko Mladic.
Let’s hope he gets his final rewards in the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, just like Bin Laden should have faced a similar court!
But will the arrest of Ratko Mladic be a force for good? Mark Urban on the BBC has tried to answer that question here.
The Anonymous Widower 