Peter Rhodes on the Queen's health, the danger of super-colds and religious broadcasts that should carry a health warning
We don't yet know much about Emad al-Swealmeen except that he converted from Islam to Christianity four years ago. So we can assume he took his faith seriously, was a product of religion, and that his suicide bombing in Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday was possibly rooted in the belief that he would go straight to Paradise.
And why should he believe otherwise when the doctrine of afterlife is not only promised by some of the world's major religions but enthusiastically pumped out on the BBC's Thought for the Day (Radio 4)?
In a free country we can't control what is said within churches, chapels, temples and mosques. But as citizens and licence-payers, we can demand that any religious broadcast is clearly signed as a matter of one individual's faith or opinion, not proven fact. Many other TV and radio programmes are routinely introduced with warnings about sex, violence and inappropriate language. Isn't it time for religious broadcasting to carry a similar health warning?
Does anyone seriously believe the Palace announcement that the Queen was unable to attend the Cenotaph service on Sunday because of a sprained back? She is a tough lady. Obviously, some conditions could keep her away from her beloved armed forces and Commonwealth friends. But back sprain? Come off it.
So is the Queen in worse health than we are being led to believe? And if so, why is there so little discussion about it? I can only point out that the Treason Act of 1351 specifically forbids “imagining the death of the monarch.” And although the penalty for treason has been reduced from hanging, drawing and quartering to life imprisonment, this is still one subject we tend to avoid.
The worst of my so-called super-cold seems to have passed. Believe me, from my experience there is nothing super about it. The scariest moment was suddenly going deaf in my left ear. It's not that you can't hear anything (my right ear still worked perfectly), it's that all the sounds appear to come from the right. Thus, the pip-pip alarm on the washing machine (on the left) seems to originate from the cooker (on the right). Crossing the road becomes a nightmare. Hear right, look right, entirely miss bus on left. It makes you wonder how many unexplained pedestrian deaths may be caused by mishearing.
