Is the flu vaccine making people sick? I know of two people in the 1960s and 70s in Melbourne who had very bad reactions to their annual flu vaccinations in the past month. One was so bad that the person was admitted to intensive care for several days and the doctors thought he had some sort of brain disease. It wasn’t; it was put down to a “bad batch”. Do the authorities know? Have they warned anyone about this batch?

The Oz‘s loss a Tele gain? Some journalists at The Australian won’t mourn the loss of Paul Whittaker, who will defect to editor The Daily Telegraph. As one former Australian hack said: “Just when The Daily Telegraph couldn’t get any worse…”

The friendly speed cop. About six weeks ago a woman was booked for speeding on the Hume Highway at Lansvale in NSW. The demerit points would have caused her to lose her licence. After she contacted a senior police officer he put pressure on the booking officer to reduce the speed of the offence to a lower level, allowing her to still hold the licence while reducing the fine by about half.

Good luck to the woman, but this cop shouldn’t be allowed to operate for the police force. This has been reported to the Police Corruption Commission, but as you expect, nothing has been done.

Water: man’s greatest invention. Have a look at the cover page of the Adelaide Brighton annual report. I always thought water was a naturally occurring product…?