🇵🇰 The postal service of Pakistan issued a single stamp on 24 June 2021 to commemorate the Centenary of the discovery of a way of extracting and producing the hormone insulin by the Canadian medical researchers, Frederick Banting and Charles Best. Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery, as was Scotsman Professor John Macleod for his role in developing the preparation of the extract to enable it to be administered to humans. Since it became available for the treatment of diabetes mellitus it must have saved millions of lives. Of course Royal Mail will not be commemorating the anniversary of this tremendous piece of work even though a Briton played such an important role in making insulin available to the world but instead, as we know, it will be commemorating the 70th anniversary of a cartoon character, Dennis the Menace.
The stamp was designed by Liaqat Ali and was lithographed by National Security Printing Company, Karachi and is perforated 13. Rating:- ****.
There may be an underlying contemporary message as well on the stamp - the inscription reads, “Frederick Banting & Charles H. Best discovered INSULIN nearly 100 years ago and sold the patent for just 1$“. I suspect this is a tangential reference to the need for COVID-19 vaccine to be readily available to poorer as well as to the more wealthy countries and that one way of increasing worldwide availability would be for the pharmaceutical companies to make the patent for their vaccines freely available to all, thereby repeating Banting’s philanthropy and likewise saving millions of lives.
🇸🇬 Singapore Post will issue 6 interesting stamps on 1 July 2021 on the subject of Skyrise greenery in the city state. The colourful issue was designed by Wong Wui Kong and lithographed by Secura Singapore Pte and the stamps are perforated 13. Rating:- ***.
🇫🇷 🇬🇧 People may wonder why the English wanted to leave the EU and why the French were glad to see them go. These two stamps both issued in 2021 depicting idealised youth portraits probably explain everything - from La Poste we have Le Petit Prince and from Royal Mail we have Dennis The Menace. Compare the two and reach your own conclusions:-
I remembered Max and Moritz who were two demonic boys. These were very popular here in Brazil with the Latin names of Juca and Chico. I think you're being too harsh and that these demonic characters are a counterpointing the angelic ones (like the Little Prince). Batman's enemies have achieved as much or more success than the hero himself. I think not because people identified with the Joker or the Penguin, but because of the drama of these characters, the other side they represent. Our nightmares, better know them and put them in the place of what happens to others, in the place of the screen while we are protected and sitting quietly in the chairs of a movie theater.
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