MMR is in the news again - Mothers lose MMR battle. Lord Justice Sedley said the evidence presented by the mothers in the earlier hearing that the MMR vaccination was dangerous and untenable was "junk science". A bit of sanity, at last.

In general, the Media's coverage of MMR is appalling. The impression given to the public is that the jury is still out on MMR, whereas in fact the scientific consensus is that it is totally safe.

To any parents out there who are wondering about MMR, I say this: Do some reasearch. Don't rely on newspapers to tell you what's going on - they are, uh, misleading, to say the least. "MMR Controversy" is a story, "MMR Safe" isn't, and the papers seem to value a story more than they do the truth. Don't trust me, either. Do some reasearch.

Speak to your GP. Visit the NHS's MMR - The Facts site. Do a bit of on-line research, being careful to stick to reliable sources.

And don't get me started on Carol Bloody Vorderman...

Bloglines was out of action for two or three hours yesterday. I don't know if it was just my account, or the whole thing, but I certainly couldn't see it!

I contacted Mark Fletcher, and he fixed it very quickly, and got a very nice email back. Very good service - especially considering that I'm not paying for it!

Even though I've only been using Bloglines for a couple of weeks now, I really missed it. It's amazing how quickly it's become an essential. What's more, even in so short a time, it's noticeably improved, notably in the subscription management screen.

How could it improve further? Well, I already mentioned that I'd like to be able to configure the text size, and to nest subscription folders within folders. One other thing has occurred to me since; when you select a subscription folder in the left hand pane on the 'My Blogs' screen, it both shows all new posts in the left hand pane, and expands the folder. I'd prefer the folder not to expand unless I click on the '+'.

Keep up the good work, Mike, and good luck. Bloglines deserves to succeed, and I hope it does.

Update August 13th: The folder thing is fixed now. ;-)

Python 2.3 final was released yesterday. Go get it.

I pointed out the cool new stuff when the 1st beta came out.