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The following is a summary of a BBC article on the publishing of the report of ‘The Infected Blood Inquiry’.

* The infected blood scandal inquiry has published its final report – concluding that the treatment disaster could and should have been largely avoided

* The report says that patients were knowingly exposed to “unacceptable risks”

* The five-year investigation also accuses doctors, the government and NHS of trying to cover-up what happened

* “Now the country knows, and the world knows, there was a deliberate attempt to lie and conceal”, campaigner Clive Smith says at a media briefing

* More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions – about 3,000 have since died

* Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to issue an apology later on today.

Under the headline:

NHS AND GOVERNMENT COVERED UP INFECTED BLOOD SCANDAL

the BBC coverage of the scandal contained these words:

“Authorities covered up the infected blood scandal after knowingly exposing victims to unacceptable risks, a long-awaited report, external says.

The five-year investigation accused doctors, government and the NHS of letting patients catch HIV and hepatitis.

More than 30,000 people were infected from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions.

About 3,000 have since died and more deaths will follow.

The Infected Blood Inquiry said victims had been failed “not once but repeatedly” by doctors, the NHS, government and others responsible for their safety. (more…)

Two articles from the ‘Belfast Newsletter of Monday, 20th May. 2024.

The following two articles reminded me of the famous response of Lord Nelson to the signal from his commander in chief, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, to ‘disengage’ during the battle of Copenhagen. Nelson’s response was to say to his flag captain, who had reported the Admiral’s signal, ’You know, Foley, having only one eye it’s my right to be blind sometimes.’ Then he put his telescope to his blind right eye, said, ‘I really do not see the signal,’ and carried on fighting with his own signal, ‘Engage the enemy more closely flying.

His deliberate act of ‘blind disobedience’ to a coward signal, resulted in a most admirable victory.

The present ‘self-inflicted blindness’ of the DUP to that which is plain to everyone else, friend and for — that their arrangement with the British Government to end the  Irish Sea border has always been a sham and they have been taken for fools by London! No admirable victory will come of this ‘blindness’. The next election in Ulster I feel may well prove this to be so!

Read the two articles carefully.

Owen Polley: The DUP’s interpretation of the deal over the Irish Sea border is being shown up repeatedly in the most embarrassing ways

It was a week of contrasts last week for the DUP.

Writing in today’s News Letter, DUP deputy leader Gavin Robinson says his party’s agreement with the government ‘goes further than ever before to undo the damage of the NI Protocol’. He adds: ‘The arrangements we have secured not only restore but safeguard Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and its internal market’ (more…)

“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant,” Psalm 25:14.

“Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him,” Daniel 2:20-22.

There has been something of a controversy of late in the columns of the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ regarding the future of Northern Ireland as part of a united Ireland. It was sparked by the comments of one, Mr Wallace Thompson, a retired civil servant and who it is said was a foundation member of the DUP. Mr Thompson is a professing Christian who terms himself a staunch witness to the truth of God.

He has, on a number of occasions, put forth the view that there will be a united Ireland in the not too distant future. For saying this he claims he has been called a ‘Lundy’, a reference to a well known figure, who during the time of the Siege of Derry (1689), was the first Governor of the City (during the siege) but who sought its surrender to the forces of the Romanist King James II. He was expelled by the citizens and the cause of King William III prevailed.

To be termed  a ‘Lundy’ is the basest sobriquet that can be directed toward a Protestant here in Ulster. Mr Wallace Thompson rejects such a name as a slander. He says of himself: ‘I supported Terence O’Neill for a period in the mid-1960’s but, once the civil rights movement began, I feared the worst. Ian Paisley was giving voice to my concerns and fears, and I became a Paisley man, both in political and spiritual terms. I remain so to this day.’ ‘In relation to allegations of some people that I am a Lundy  . . . some of those denouncing me now said the very same things when I supported the DUP decision to share power with Sinn Fein in 2007.’

There can be no doubt that a majority of Unionists will reject what Wallace Thompson says on the subject of a ‘united Ireland’ but how many of them know anything about what the Bible teaches regarding the future of these islands?

I think it fair to say that Mr Thompson argues that a united Ireland is drawing on when one reads the direction that local political developments are taking and also the very obvious evidence of London ‘abandoning’ the cause of the Unionists of Northern Ireland.

I personally would find little to object to in such a surmising!

However, I take issue with Mr Thompson’s proposition for the simple reason that as a professing Christian he leaves God and His Word out of the case he presents. (more…)