View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Tuesday 22 September

Changeable day in Stornoway, with frequent showers, a strong westerly wind and intermittent sunshine. Wind should abate after touching galeforce through the night and earlier this morning. Our freight ferry, the Muirneag, has not done its customary overnight crossing to and from Ullapool, leaving me thinking the shops will be empty today. The normal ferry is due in at 1.15pm, with supplies.

The River Clyde in Glasgow is the scene of a whale or dolphin rescue this morning. It was reported that a northern bottlenose whale of 5 metres / 17 feet in length had been spotted under a bridge a mile west of the city centre. Equipment is being brought it to aid with the rescue efforts.

The BBC reports that autism rates in children appear to be the same as those in adults, dispelling fears over the safety of the MMR vaccine. Ten years ago, a now discredited scientist published a report, linking MMR with autism in children. It led to a dramatic drop in the uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, causing an upsurge in the incidence of those diseases. It is worth stressing that these 'childhood' illnesses can carry serious complications both in children and adults, and those can be life-threatening. Although the scientist behind the MMR scare has been discredited in his field, uptake of the vaccine continues to be below the rates what they were prior to 1998.

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