Dr John Clarke has become the latest unlikely character to go viral. The Long Island doc's H1N1 rap is one of the finalists in a competition to find the best swine flu public health advert.

Click to view

Swine flu has disappeared from the front pages of late, so perhaps Dr John's rap will give us all a salutary sanitary reminder.

As I'm in an Irish frame of mind, this piece by Dublin poet Nessa O'Mahony struck a chord

Accident & Emergency
That is no country for old men;
the youth get sloshed
and stagger through double doors,
tattoos on their arms,
eyes stoned.

The old men wait,
knowing their turn
is a moveable feast,
despite the bluecoat's promises
they are eighth on the list.

And ( Read more... )

Does anyone remember the swine flu pandemic of 1976? I have no memory of this, even though 40 million Americans were vaccinated against the outbreak.  Public health adverts warned people to get innoculated:

"A swine flu epidemic may be coming... it could make you very sick... you'll want to be protected".

In the event, more people died from ( Read more... )