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Alive and well in the Scottish Football League.

Valdas Adamkus hospitalised with COVID.

I put it in inverted commas because natural causes is not a scientific term or a “real” cause of death (though note the difference between scientific and legal cause because in the UK “natural causes” or “old age” can be official causes on a death certificate, watch I think is ridiculous in 2022). “Natural causes” is a blanket term for thousands of possible causes. As Toast said, many families prefer to use it in order to keep specific medical details private. “Natural causes” covers anything from 200+ cancers, undiagnosed heart conditions (either genetic eg congenital heart defect, or developed eg heart disease), strokes, haemorrhages and aneurysms, SADS, as well as any form of neurological, viral, bacterial condition etc. And if you think a 53 year old cannot die of natural causes, know that one of my current clients is a 35 year old man on his 2nd heart attack, 2nd stroke, and has narrowly survived double pneumonia, COVID and septicaemia. His body is fucked because he never looked after himself. Lived off of takeaways and never brushed his teeth for a start (which is strongly linked to heart disease). Long story short is you can die of natural causes at any age, but in many cases you can delay it for a very long time by taking care of yourself. Some are unavoidable though – the Nolans clearly have a genetic history of cancer. Laura Branigan and her family had a genetic history of aneurysms. The consequences of genetic conditions can be delayed or reduced by due diligence but they’re harder to swerve completely… it’s best not to think about them too often. Not much you can do.

I hope she lives another 4 months to see 119. That will mean 2 Europeans reached that age. Important we get one up on the Americans and Asians.

Nytimes for Stephanie Dabney (Wiki), American dancer who performed as a prima ballerina with Dance Theatre of Harlem from 1979 through 1994 was 64. Her sister told the press that she died in a nursing home and was living with H.I.V. since 1990. Terrible!

Reports that Mulayam is dead, but it seems premature to me.

Charles Dance, the remarkable and versatile British actor, one of the best of his generation, who joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 29, and famous all over the world for playing the role of Tywin Lannister in HBO's series "Game of Thrones", is 76 today. Bradley Whitford, American film, stage and television actor who won an Emmy Award for his tremendous portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on NBC's critically acclaimed television series "The West Wing", is 63 today.

Sergio Brighenti who was a prolific goalscorer in Serie A has died aged 90. He scored 155 goals in 360 odd appearances which is more than decent and was top scorer with 27 in season 1960/61. Was capped 9 times for Italy scoring 2 goals.

I've written a frank and forthright letter to my (Tory) MP. Sent to their home address because I know exactly where they fucking live, so increasing the chance of it actually being read. I enclosed a copy of the Philip Larkin poem - I particularly like the reference to "crooks and tarts" (and no, that's not sexist). I have said that although there may still be some decent people in the party, they are all complicit in this shit as long as they stand by and allow it to continue.

I was about to.... However, I do think that this year's list, and I think I said that at the start already, was okay-ish. Lots of people on the list are okay-ish. Not a lot of terminally ill people, but also not easy to drop. If I had to choose, I'd probably drop Dick Van Dyke, Harry Belafonte and David Attenborough instead - even though they are totally A-List. Sandy Gall wrote a book this year.

Three of the sickest people on the list! Never change, Biblio!

But on the photos she doesn’t look that bad for her age so Who knows…

Here are my suggestions for which 16 to drop for 2023 1. Dick Cheney 2. Mel Brooks 3. Nigel Starmer-Smith 4. Bobby Charlton 5. Emperor Akihito 6. Ted Kaczynski 7. James Whale 8. Denis Law 9. Prunella Scales 10. David Crosby 11. Silvio Berlusconi 12. Linda Ronstadt 13. Joss Ackland 14. Shane McGowan 15. Michael Gambon 16. Jean Marie Le Pen The bottom two would be the first to be reinstated if there are any more hits and then probably Nigel Starmer-Smith

Ahem... almost time for a Christopher Lloyd vs. Michael J Fox poll.

A cheery Monday morning thought for those of us with family histories! iirc Ashok Kumar had heart issues.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63113938

Pretty much everything outside of accident, murder and suicide is "natural causes". Some people prefer to keep the details private.

Cleatus Lebow dead. Harold Bray is the last survivor of the USS Indianapolis now.

British diver Edna Child (Wiki) turns 100 today She won a gold medal at the 1950 British Empire Games and a bronze at the 1938 European Championships.

Confirmed .

David Lee Roth, "the other guy who's singing in Van Halen", is 68. (For those who don't get the reference)

Peter Asher, of Peter and Gordon fame, is recovering from emergency brain surgery

Former British television presenter Judith Chalmers, best known for presenting holiday and travel show Wish you were here, celebrates her 87th birthday today. Gavin Newsom, the Current Governor of the US state of California and rumoured to be one of the likely future Democrat Partys Presidential contenders or nominees , celebrates turning 55 today.

Patriarch Kirill's health has 'sharply deteriorated' according to a Ukrainian news blog (who admittedly might not provide the most neutral of commentaries on this)

It's absolutely miraculous that he's made such old bones and survived pretty much all his contemporaries.