Indians run most independent pharmacies and form the backbone of staff at hospital pharmacies in the UK. Representational pic/AP
From the challenges being faced by UK’s pharmacists to Priti Patel and Boris Johnson’s unpopularity, a roundup of what’s making news at this time.
- News18.com London
- Last Updated:December 30, 2021, 4:19 pm IS
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Big burden: Pharmacists are again at the centre of the new medical crisis, and that means primarily Indians who have taken a particular fancy to pharmacy for a profession. Indians run most independent pharmacies and form the backbone of staff at hospital pharmacies. This means they have the responsibility for delivering lateral flow test kits for checking virus positivity in the face of patchy supply and increased demand.
The flu bite: Pharmacists are also at the heart of a new boost to the vaccination programme. With GPs and hospitals preoccupied with running the vaccine booster inoculations, it’s Indian-run pharmacies that people are turning to increasingly for the flu jab. And that is in many ways no less a danger than Omicron. Flu kills thousands every winter. Now it is Indians at the front line of defence against flu as people queue up at pharmacies for the flu jab in addition to the Pfizer booster jab at dedicated centres.
The Ronaldo row: A vibrant Goan community has come down strongly on the ‘yes’ side of the dispute over the statue of Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo set up in Goa. There have been some critics of the statue, calling the erection of the statue a colonial legacy (Goa was a colony of Portugal), and on the grounds that a Goanese footballer should have been honoured. But many Goans see him as a symbol to aspire to, and no doubt Goa is emerging as a new powerhouse for football in India.
Priti and Boris out of favour: The unpopularity of Home Secretary Priti Patel in a Daily Mail poll should surprise no one. She got a score of minus 2 per cent. Nor is it a surprise that Boris Johnson is the most unpopular member of the British parliament, with a score of minus 34 per cent. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the most popular with 74 per cent, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is the sixth most popular, at 49 per cent.
Short and sweet: Aamir Nawab’s film ‘The Writer’ has won the Best Short Film award from the London Academy. Aamir began his career as a dance assistant with choreographer Ajeet Dutta in Mumbai before taking to filmmaking. Short films have of late become popular viewing and inevitably have had a new category dedicated to them.
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