Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com 
Photo by Matthias Oben on Pexels.com 
Photo by Public Domain Pictures on Pexels.com
Our weekly look at what our readers are telling us- and what we saw that never had time to make it into the blog this week.
Have you ever met his Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York? According to Nigel Cawthorne, writing for the Daily Mail, you may not want to. In this warts-and-all biography, we are given a picture of a man who, apart from brave war service, seems to have little going for him. Is it the whole picture, we wonder?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8324925/The-making-Prince-Andrew.html
From Hertfordshire, Mr Peter Seymour wonders what is happening in Africa, which many predicted would suffer a devastating outbreak. He tells us
There hasn’t been much reporting of C19 (or anything for that matter) in Africa. Some reported that it has not yet become the pandemic that it had in Europe and US. The reason given for this being the lower average age in African countries being lower leading to a lower R. This article forecasts what is likely to happen longer term.
Nature, that beacon of rational and enlightened thought discusses the problems science companies face in How to Make enough Coronavirus drugs
Dozens of coronavirus drugs are in development (for example, there were encouraging drips of data from a large clinical trial of the antiviral remdesivir last month). Next, we face the challenge of ramping up complex manufacturing processes to produce sufficient quantities of successful therapies to treat everyone in need. Drug manufacturers face supply-chain weaknesses and sourcing issues. And each treatment will face different challenges when scaling up production. (Nature | 7 min read)
Most commentators agree that both the Internet and the world wide web are becoming filled with hatred and misinformation. It’s a pleasure to see that the majority of our facebook pals are full of good cheer, hope, and selfless altruism. We have seen them rescue cygnets and restore them to their families. We watch the tireless way they support charities, especially animal charities such as Cats Protection , but also ones that support dogs, wildlife, and donkeys. Unfortunately, we can’t go back too many days. So here are a few honourable mentions of the last five hours
Mr Tony Kirkness, who has discovered a wonderful library of old BBC comedies, including Round the Horn and Hancock’s Half Hour. (Not Matt!)
Lesley Brackley for helping with so many lost pets. We have friends going through this currently, and it can be heartbreaking.
Douglas Nakaya and Maddy Mead, two friends from very different parts or our life, both like Greenpeace and their campaigns against one use plastic
And finally …our old friends Jill Lee from Fulham, and Steve Smith from Reading. Who during their lockdown perambulations have provided unforgettable images of our old River Thames and its nooks and reaches. We wish them and all our readers on Facebook, twitter and this blog a happy wweekend.
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long
TS Elliot
#nature #greenpeace #catsprotection #nature #princeandrew
Learning, Science and Society 