A dose of Mailenarianism

The Daily Mail exists to scare the shit out of a couple of million masochists, err I mean readers, with lurid tales about  paedophile-marxist-nazis banning Christmas, Easter eggs and the baby Jesus and cucumbers causing cancer... and  so on and so forth.


Yesterday the Mail was on top form with an article titled Is a super-volcano just 390 miles from London about to erupt?




A sleeping super-volcano in Germany is showing worrying signs of waking up.  It's lurking just 390 miles away underneath the tranquil Laacher See lake near Bonn and is capable of ejecting billions of tons of magma.


This monster erupts every 10 to 12,000 years and last went off 12,900 years ago, so it could blow at any time. It covered 620 square miles of land with ash and rocks and several small earthquakes in the region last year indicate that it could be awakening from its deep sleep.


It’s thought that the volcano is similar in size and power to Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which blew in 1991 and became the biggest eruption of the 20th century. It ejected 10 billion tons of magma, 20 billion tons of sulphur dioxide 16 cubic kilometres of ash and caused a 0.5C drop in global temperatures.


Volcanologists believe that the Laacher See volcano is still active as carbon dioxide is bubbling up to the lake’s surface, which indicates that the magma chamber below is 'degassing'.


Well there you have it. If domination of the Euro won't bring Europe to its knees then those devilish Huns have a dastardly Plan B! 


While the story is not totally ludicrous - the Laacher See is part of a potentially active volcanic region, the Vulkan Eifel, and it did erupt 12,900 years ago with an estimated  power somewhere similar to that of Mount Pinatubo (level 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index) but to initmate that it is ready to engulf large areas of Northern Europe in volcanic ash is just moonshine.


If one wishes to be scared by volcanic activity in mainland Europe, I would remain just a little more fearful for the people of Naples than we hardy souls who eke out existences  in  London....


I wonder what other scare stories the Mail and the rest of the press will have for us in 2012? Another Storegga slide to engulf the eastern coast of Britain or perhaps a hypercane in Hunstanton? I wait with interest....


NB Mailenarianism is a subset of millenarianism in which the earth is purged of the unworthy and ungodly in a terrible and bloody end time. Afterwards 144,000 true Tory believers will establish the New Kingdom on earth in the name of  Blessed Trinity of Margaret Thatcher (PBUH), Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek .

The Daily Mail view on cervical cancer vaccines depends on where you live

For me, Ben Goldacre’s weekly Guardian column Bad Science is essential reading. This week he asks a pertinent question, to wit “Is it somehow possible that journalists wilfully misinterpret and ignore scientific evidence, in order to generate stories that reflect their own political and cultural prejudices?”

The issue is illustrated with reference to the Daily Mail and to a blog called The Lay Scientist.

Daily Mail in Britain

Last January the Mail reported on the deaths of two girls following the cervical cancer vaccination. Reading beyond the headline showed that the cause of death in either case “could not be identified”. According to the European Medicines Agency "No causal relationship has been established between the deaths of the young women and the administration of Gardasil” (the vaccine in question).

On 6 April, under the headline, How safe is the cervical cancer jab? Five teenagers reveal their alarming stories the Mail focused on the severe side effects experienced by these five girls and mentions that (according to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority) 1,300 out of the 700,000 girls vaccinated in 2008.last year had officially reported an adverse reaction of any kind.

Although the article states that this “is a tiny proportion of the girls who have upped their protection against a dreadful disease” the thrust of both of these articles is to cast doubt in the minds of its readers about the safety of the vaccine.

Daily Mail in Ireland

Perversely the Daily Mail is campaigning vigorously in favour of the vaccine. On 29 January the Mail published an article under the headline “Join the Irish Daily Mail's cervical cancer vaccination campaign today “ The Mail called on the Irish Government to reverse its decision to axe its cervical cancer vaccination programme stating that the vaccine combined with the recently rolled out cervical cancer screening programme would cut deaths by 80 per cent.

Goldacre’s jaundiced view is that in Britain the Daily Mail raises questions about cervical cancer vaccine because it is about a government promoting promiscuity (therefore it causes paralysis and other symptoms); in Ireland the vaccine is withheld by penny-pinchers, so it is a lifesaver. I can’t help feel that there is some truth in his take on the different approaches in Britain and Ireland. After all how often do papers manipulate facts (scientific or otherwise) in accordance with their own political affiliations? The Guardian and Observer are of course not exempt from this either.

Ah well, at least the Mail does not describe the vaccine as “Labour’s new sex jab for schoolgirls” as the Express does...

Even the Daily Mail couldn’t object to this one

According to a survey commissioned by the campaign to find Madeleine McCann MEPs overwhelmingly support creating an EU-wide sex offenders register.

97% of MEPs agreed there should be an EU-wide sex offenders register; 95% said police should treat serious crimes involving children exactly the same across Europe. An overwhelming majority also supported the introduction of a common EU policy on child abduction cases. Similarly 84% of British MPs believed sex offenders should be tracked as they move across Europe and forced to register with local police. Almost nine in 10 MPs felt that the UK's Child Rescue Alert - an emergency scheme to publicise suspected child abductions within hours - should be extended across the EU.

Gerry McCann, father of from Madeleine who disappeared in the Algarve in May said he and his wife were heartened by the findings of the survey. "We are pleased to see that elected members of both the UK and European parliaments agree that changes to legislation and greater consistency across the European Union are needed.” He said.

Personally I think harmonisation in this area is a no-brainer. It's heartening to see an arch-sceptic paper like the Daily Mail not spitting fury over an issue where the EU can improve things.. Wonders never cease!