If true: WAY TO GO.
...Even if he does like slightly chavesque.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4432564.stm
The fact that he immediately went on a quest for compo only serves to confirm his chavism, though...
What, you mean that chap that was in Last of the Summer Wine (but is now dead)...?
Strange that he's refusing more tests though.
All smells a bit fishy to me...
Doesn't want any more tests?
mmm I smell snake oil...
Excellent sequel idea.
Last Of The Summer Wine II: The Quest For Compo
He has told the papers he would do anything he could to help find a cure.
....apart, that is, from having any further tests to confirm whether it was true or just a clerical error
Exactamundo.
It sound like somebody has fucked up his test results, either at the first go around, or at his most recent test. His unwillingness to go through any further tests really casts doubt on the story, and I'm surprised it's been a lead story on the news all day.
"I'm surprised it's been a lead story on the news all day."
Yeah... A potentially major breakthrough in the fight against the most devastating and fastest growing disease of recent times. It's mystifying.
Buuuut, I agree there are a lot of "hmmmm" points to this story - I think that's pretty widly acknowledged by all. But he definitely isn't HIV positive now (he's been tested five times), so the only obvious cockup-point is if the original test results were wrong.
And, given that he tried to sue them and wasn't able to - because the clinic had been scrupulous about its results - that's not hugely likely.
In fact the only obvious "hmmm"s left over are a) the miraculous cure itself, and b) his refusal to say any more on the subject. Which I suspect has more to do with the contracts he signed with (IIRC) Mirror and Mail than anything else.
Still very dodgy, but let's not be overly cynical just because something is amazing.
I like how 'miracle' can come like this.
You know,this obviousley well balanced individual may have been touched by a one in a billion chance and is treating it the same way a rapist treats the lottery.
Humans. Genius.
"The fact that he immediately went on a quest for compo only serves to confirm his chavism, though..."
Hospital tells you that you have an incurable disease.
You spend over a year thinking "eventually I'm going to die a slow and horrible death!".
Then your told that that this incurable disease has simply gone away, which does sound like the first test was wrong.
Of course my first thought would be "Well I know I've just spent the last year shitting bricks every morning but what the hell these things happen."
Well either that or I'd be straight on the phone to a solicitor. I'd give Max Clifford a miss though.
Though I'm sure I've read that they double checked his original positive tests and are sticking by that result, so error in diagnosis seems to have been ruled out. Of course they might be saying that to avoid a compensation claim, but they'd be very stupid given the publicity that would obviously surround it
I'm absolutely fascinated to know how a rapist would treat the lottery any differently to the rest of the world.
Is he a lottery-rapist?
How would that even work?
why he would laugh & blame the lottery for wearing a short skirt, why that lottery was asking for it, we all know lotterys are gagging to be won by a real man.
Si --
Fair points. I was pretty cynical, because:
a) All I'd seen on the news reports was that he had tested positive earlier & now tested negative, with no explanation of whether any work had been done to verify that the earlier tests or most recent test had been carried out properly, and that there was no danger of a clerical error along the way.
b) The reports all repeated his contradictory statements - paraphrasing, "I want to help them get to the bottom of this" & "I'm not taking any more tests".
Given those two points, I hope you can see why I thought the story didn't ring true, and why I was surprised to see it leading the bulletins.
If the more detailed info you mention stacks up, then it looks a bit more promising.
Well he wouldn't would he.
Thats my point.The irony that such an unbalanced human being can have as much chance of success in the lottery as anyone and given the freedom such winning can supply is what makes the moral issue of a man winning his life back and going for the golden egg with it rather than have some road to Damascus trip off the event comparable.
As for the point you were driving at. I dont think I was going there. Mine was more of a 'the universe is not infallible'. That being such a deeply morbid point, I only wanted to skirt the point.
It was my observation, I made before thinking whether it was of any interest to the discussion.
Were you suggesting that winning the lottery should be a reforming experience for the habitual rapist, as in "Oh joy! I have won the lottery - no more a-raping I will go..." ?
And by analogy, the fellow diagnosed as HIV+ who gets a reprieve should count his blessings instead of thinking "how can I turn this great boon to my financial advantage?"
Im not suggesting that but in regards to tales of morality and tales of reality these occasions do show the vast chasm.My point is not so grandiose.I was drawing comparisons of two similiar themed stories.
If the guy was an ethiopian for example, would doctors force him to undergo medical testing without testing?
Again this is me comparing with interest.
If I was the rapist I would pay for the best psychiatric help available.
If I was the amazing HIV survivor I would want to know why I was particularly amazing. That I could do something to halt a visceral disease.
Im not saying I could and Im not saying they should because I would want that. Only that the world is always teaching me things have a lot less black and white than print on paper. And it interests me.
Ah, you're speaking not of rapists in general, but of an actual rapist who actually won the lottery having bought a ticket while on release. What did he do with his winnings that was so terrible? Sorry I have so much trouble keeping up with the burning topics of the day.
I think it's about time I paid the BBC news website front page a visit again.
Anyone got any info on the girl stabbed in the school canteen queue while we're here?
Well, I looked that one up, and I was greatly relieved to learn that the horrible injury was to her eyelid, with a pair of scissors, and she didn't come close to losing her sight and apparently had no other injuries. Horrible, horrible.
Yeah, I saw that too, Si. It seems that just because the guy had a test for a HIV that came back positive it doesn't necessarily mean either that he had HIV or that the hospital made a mistake.