Even Eton is closed due to the flu

Public school Eton will close for a week after a pupil tested positive for swine flu, a school spokesman has said.

The Berkshire boys school, which was attended by Princes William and Harry, was informed on Wednesday that a 13-year-old boy had tested positive.

Health authorities advised the school to shut until 7 June.

A Dose of Medical News #3.1.2 - Inquest Into Patients' Death in Hampshire Suggest Morphine Overdose

Five patients who died at a hospital in Hampshire in the late 1990s were prescribed too much medication, an inquest jury has ruled.

Three of those patients were given inappropriate medication, the inquest at Portsmouth Coroner's Court found.

The inquest panel of five women and three men looked at the deaths of 10 patients at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1996 and 1999.

The patients' families are now calling for a criminal investigation.

Some of the relatives had long believed morphine was being over-prescribed.

One wait for the outcome of the inquest as it will have a big impact in medical practice in the UK especially in the thinking behind 'Do Not Resuscitate' decision and the notion of 'dying with dignity'. The population are getting more elderly and similar inquest is just a matter of time. Hopefully there will be ground rules laid out for doctor's future action in this grey area.

A Dose of British Affairs #1 - James Bond Got Caught

It's pretty obvious my British influence is thick. Having studied there for 13 years one can't help but to have affinity to the place. In fact every weekdays I will listen to the BBC News Podcast on my way to work, recorded merely 4 hours prior to my morning commutes. I will also look at the BBC RSS Newsfeed, not to mention my undying support to my beloved the red half of Manchester. I even download Chris Moyles' weekly Podcast for good measure.

From my reading, the Police is UK are currently in hot water (again!). One of the senior officer, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick lost his job yesterday when a piece of paper he was carrying into 10 Downing Street prior to a briefing was inside out. The paparazzi with long lens in front of the Prime Minister residence managed to snap clear photo of a top secret document he has with him.

The paper unfortunately have details of some important intelligence data, to be used to raid a few residence in the North East of England which was suspected of harboring terrorist. As a result, there were frantic phonecalls made to the press the embargo the pictures, and the execution of the raid had to be done the same day.

The next morning, during a live telephone interview, the Mayor of London went to publicly announce that he had accepted the officer's resignation, much to the dismay of the Home Secretary who I thought is in charge of such matters! She must have steam coming out of her ears by then. Will somebody from Bukit Aman resign from such a blunder? Hang on! They either don't brief the ministers or they have their minions carry their papers from them. The thing is, the officer concerned have a long and distinguished career thus far.

Another police incident involved a protestor at the G20 summit in London last week. A newspaper seller on his way back from work was caught in the commotion with protestor and was turning to walk away from the riot police with his hands in his pocket. CCTV footage caught the riot officers striking down the gentleman who later managed to run away. Unfortunately not far from the place, he suffered what suspected as a heart attack and died at the scene. Investigations are now under way to look at the connection between the incident and the death.