The blossom is out in full now, it's plum tree but it looks like apple blossom but it's white. It's the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that ever could be and I can see it. Things are both more trivial than they ever were and more important than they ever were, and the difference between the…

Scotland has a much higher suicide rate than England. Part of the explanation is that the Procurator Fiscal system here involves an investigation into the death, after which the outcome is reported to the family directly. In England, the Coroner's report is a public document – it is believed that this puts pressure on the…

BMJ article suggests that the high death rates among drug users explains about a third of the excessive mortality rate in Scotland compared with England. So that still leaves diet, alcohol, smoking… [BMJ aug 08]

Research into the vasopressin receptor in humans found that men with a 334 allele were less likely to be marrie and scored lower on the partner bonding scale; whereas men with 2 copies of the allele were twice as likely to have had a marital crisis in the past year! [Proceedings of the National Academy…

Aside from the issue of paternalism, the government is always being asked to apply policies to protect us from some threat or other. These good intentions can often have unintended consequences, not least because we always overestimate rare incidents and underestimate common ones. For example, in the first month of the blackout in the second…

Barack was preferred by 95% of black voters, and the majority of Hispanic voters, but slightly less than half of white voters. Among the under 30s, he was preferred by two thirds. Women were more likely to vote for him than men.

Pets "nurture a sense of responsibility, caring and duty… It is an opportunity often denied to our "have it all" but "have nothing" children. And ultimately pets convey an understanding of the cycle of life and death in a sanitised and medicalised world. "So when I find my 3yr old asleep in the dog's bed,…

Article in the BMJ by Dr Iheanacho saying that the NHS should be more like Lidl. They may be unfashionable, and lack choice, but as supermarkets they offer consistent quality at low prices. The NHS too should aim to cater affordably for most people's needs, most of the time – and always keep an eye…

Saw this film, starring Angelina Jolie and produced by Brad Pitt. Have been mulling over it since. First, I think it is an important film, as well as a great film. You wonder whether anyone said to Pitt/Jolie at the start, "What's the point of a film about the hunt for a kidnapped journalist, when…

So we're trying to encourage Reuben (5 months old, nearly) to sleep better at night. This now involves us taking shifts on the sofa in my trusty old sleeping bag (used daily in India in 2000). I take over baby duty at 4am. R woke up at 4.45, and after taking a small feed fell…