We want she-Bobbies, with faults and all

Have a little think about the Police. Who comes to mind? A man in uniform, likely.   Quickly imagine a police detective? That'll be Rebus, Maigret, Wallander, Frost, Zen, Morse, or Columbo then? Yes there's a theme here. We think of the police as men, yes we do. And the women who come to mind are probably …

Hedonism and fame, those fickle friends

Did you know that two Nobel prize winners, a great tenor and a former head of the National Trust all died last week, the same week as the socialite Tara Palmer-Tompkinson?  Probably not, it was Tara's death that dominated our headlines. The others who passed us by were; Nobel prize-winning Sir Peter Mansfield (below, bottom right), the physicist who …

We all should be a Valentine

"All you need is love", sang The Beetles in 1967.  In a world that seems focussed on power and money and politicized religion, we probably need to think about love some more. Really think about love you know; the what, the why, the how.  And then consider how we are without love. It's easy to be cynical about …

In an age of loneliness

As detrimental to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Increasing the risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke. And the likelihood of developing  dementia.  That's how feeling alone, reportedly, effects us. And it's spreading amongst us, more than nine million people – a fifth of the UK population – privately admit they are “always or often lonely”. Rachel Reeves, …