Mood:

Topic: health
Picture: Today's press front pages in Sydney tell a story, with most including Australian Financial Review (not shown) carrying the real news prominently page 1 of a big federal ALP health policy, but the Daily Telegraph aka cartoon book go spoiler on a tangential health headline about sick bus drivers, who probably really are sick, and not joking.
Bus drivers get paid about $20 an hour we hear. We think they deserve danger money too this winter.
70 out of 300 at Ryde depot are reporting 'flu' sick leave (about 23%) says the Telegraph at their page 9 spill over from front page headline here "Sick Joke" when the rival Sydney Morning Herald reported recently 20% flu rates in some workplaces here in Sydney far less exposed to public germs. Indeed there has been an avalanche of such worrying stories here:
Don't soldier on - take a sickie and spare the city your germs ... by shrieker Miranda Devine with this image.
Public health measure ... wearing a mask in Tokyo is a sign of respect.
And here Toddler dies from flu - National - smh.com.au
and here Sydney flu epidemic kills 150 | The Daily Telegraph
So the poor old bus drivers are being smeared in a front pager, which has the very useful dual purpose if you are conservative Coalition paper of crowding out a big health/hospitals policy announcement, which could be the pivotal election winner for Kevin Rudd's federal ALP.
Meanwhile Virginnia Trioli of abc prime time 702 radio ... is off sick for a whole week now and this writer has delivered vitamin C and vegetable soup packs to our disabled buddy in the Eastern Suburbs down with the same lergie.
Have the Telegraph and stingy Iemma no shame at all?