Letters - Friday January 29, 2021

Over the past few months I have been learning more about type 2 diabetes. It would seem this condition amongst society is increasing year on year. People are developing it at a much younger age than say 20-25 years ago.

The lack of regular exercise and an undisciplined diet is definitely the primary cause.

Twenty-five years ago the internet was in its infancy, also fewer people had mobile phones. Could it be that the sheer volume of time people are sat down looking at digital screens combined with a lack of exercise has contributed to the diabetes global epidemic? I think most likely.

My advice to anyone who like myself is fortunately able bodied but suffers from this self inflicted condition called ‘laziness’ is to do just a small amount of physical exercise every day, instead of doing too much and then giving up because you can’t be bothered .

Some people love doing strenuous physical exercise. I’m shamefully honest in the fact that I don’t find it enjoyable nor do I ever look forward to doing physical workouts. However a brisk 20-30 minute walk, short cycle or jog every day is better than doing nothing at all and this realistic regime works best for me.

Some poor folks have to deal with type 1 diabetes from an early age. Type 2 diabetes can be pretty much preventable with some small lifestyle changes. Laziness and complacency is equally a dangerous condition to develop ... but in most cases is avoidable!

Because of my pre-diabetes diagnosis last November, I’m now on schedule to lose around two stone by April and enjoying the challenge. There must be a lot of people on the verge of developing type 2 diabetes and perhaps unaware of this condition leading to other health risk complications. Walking away from diabetes should be encouraged and can be done with discipline and determination.

It’s quite a nice feeling but also embarrassing when you realise you have lost some weight and your trousers start to fall down whilst walking in the street !

Stephen Pierre

via email

Politics

Boris and chums are just... incredible

The utterances of Boris Johnson and his ilk are liberally sprinkled with ‘incredible’ and ‘incredibly’ when referred to just about anything.

Are they aware that the literal meaning of these words is ‘unbelievable’?

I cannot praise too highly the work of the NHS and the scientists during this pandemic, but I do believe it is really happening.

As for the efficacy of Boris and chums; now that really is incredible.

John Stopford

address supplied

Response

Vaccines have been properly reviewed

In a letter published on December 7, 2020 (Covid vaccine is being rushed out) the letter writer claimed the Pfizer/BioNTeach and Moderna vaccines had been “rushed out” and were “experimental”.

We have been asked to point out that, according to the independent Oxford Vaccine Knowledge Project, this is not the case and both vaccines have been through a very extensive testing process, involving tests on 10,000s of people across five continents.

The letter writer also claimed phase three of the safety and efficacy trial of the Pfizer vaccine was still underway and would continue for a further 24 months.

Pfizer’s final phase three safety and efficacy results were actually published by the New England Journal of Medicine on the same day as the letter appeared in the Express.

Pfizer plans to continue its study to collect safety and long-term outcomes data from participants for a full two years. It also intends to submit its data for peer review. Both of these processes sit outside of the phase three trial period.

The letter writer also described anyone having the vaccine as “human guinea pigs who are volunteering to be experimented upon.”

We have been asked to make clear that, according to the Oxford Vaccine Knowledge Project, the Covid-19 vaccines currently approved have been thoroughly reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

This authorisation means people getting the vaccine can be assured they are not considered “guinea pigs” in any way.

The Editor

Blackpool Gazette

Society

We must never forget all the dead

Holocaust Memorial Day understandably focuses on the estimated six million Jews, including 1.5 million children, murdered by the SS, ordinary German soldiers, police battalions, allies of Germany such as Lithuania, in extermination camps, by gassing in vans, shooting, medical experiment, and deliberate starvation.

We must, however, never forget that the odious and evil Nazi regime also murdered by similar means some 11 million non-Jews; sadly they are frequently forgotten even by historians.

They included: Quakers, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, blacks, prostitutes, catholics, the intelligentsia, homosexuals, the disabled and mentally ill, slavs, communists, and just about every ethnic group deemed by the warped German philosophy to be sub human and therefore capable of contaminating the Aryan race.

The Holocaust must never be forgotten.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys