Swine flu round-up

A deadly strain of swine flu is said to be spreading across the world. More than 100 people have died in Mexico. The country’s leading daily, El Universal, talks about how different timetables have been set up for workers to avoid hundreds of people working together at one time in a bid to try and halt the spread of the disease. An article in the Economista says the flu will affect the country’s economy, which has already been badly dented by recession. The finance minister says he’s now very pessimistic. 

The Washington Post lays out the facts about swine flu aimed at trying to help people understand this disease, what it is, whether you can catch it from eating pork (WHO say you can’t), what are the symptoms and if the flu jab will protect you – officials say it doesn’t.

In the UK’s Independent there’s an interesting article saying that we must be gullible to keep falling for these scares. At the time of writing 80 people had died of the flu in Mexico – the writer says that compared to the 200,000 that die every day in the world, 80 dead shouldn’t spark a world panic. It says there is a ‘pandemic of headlines.’ He says we should look on the bright side - we haven’t had a major flu outbreak in Britain for 40 years. The article talks about the fuss over bird flu which, for Britain, turned out to be nothing at all. In the end, says the author, we provide a receptive environment for looming disaster.

Libération (France)
Société Générale’s next scandal

The French bank Société Générale is at the centre of another scandal. The French left-leaning paper Libération has been investigating the bank for some months following last year’s fiasco where a trader, Jerome Kerviel, lost 5 billion euros for the bank. The paper claims the bank has since then lost the same again and maybe more. Up until now the bank has said last year’s scandal was isolated, but the article says their investigations show it was not. They say this time it’s not the fault of one isolated trader but a whole department – but no-one has been held to account. The article says around a hundred people could lose their jobs.

 
The bank hasn’t confirmed or denied any part of the investigation.

Daily Telegraph (UK)
Sunday Times Rich List 2009: Who cares if Robbie Williams is worse off?

A day after the Sunday Times published its rich list, the Telegraph wonders just who cares in these troubled times. A lot of those named are less rich than in previous years - they’re said to be about a third less well off. Robbie Williams is 25 million pounds worse off, but as he’s already got 80 million pounds, the article asks does it matter? Apparently it does. The richer you are, the more you worry about money, and worrying about losing money is as bad as worrying about not having any. In times of boom the list may have been seen as aspirational but now it’s pointless and vulgar as we are redefining what we admire.