Sir John Butterfill, MP & Mr Tom Brake, MP

Expenses-gate (or Expensageddon as Johann Hari has called it…) rumbles on.  Much of today’s coverage has focussed on Julie Kirkbride’s decision to spend more time with her husband (if she can only remember which house he’s in at the moment), and the devastating effect that being caught with her fingers in the till has had [...]

What causes mental illness: a follow-up post

My last post received several interesting comments, which, as always, I’m extremely grateful for.  It really is a wonder to me that there are people who are interested or bothered enough to reply to something I’ve written.  As always, I tried to have a bit of a discussion with the people who had commented, but [...]

What causes mental illness?

There’s a long and dishonourable tradition of blaming the mentally ill for their own illness.  For a long time, people thought the mentally ill were possessed by evil spirits or demons.  Here, for example, is the description of a man who was ‘exorcised’ by Jesus:

And when he [Jesus] was come out of the ship, immediately [...]

MPs’ expenses: What have we learnt?

So, what’s the upshot (so far) of all this brouhaha over MPs’ expenses?
Well, it seems to me that we now know that our elected delegates (not representatives – it’s an important distinction, but it’s also a separate post) display moral behaviour ranging from what would certainly appear to be outright fraud (claiming interest payments on [...]

Why i like scrubs; also ‘Ow’

First up -
Carla: Have you heard of the expression ‘delusions of grandeur’?
The Janitor: Actually, I invented that term.
Secondly, one of JD’s daydreams, where he’s trying to work out how he could treat someone who’s dying because they’re sad:

An announcement

Let it be known throughout the blogosphere that Aethelread continues to be not dead, and basically fine, if still somewhat dispirited.
Let it be further known that Aethelread is, as always, overwhelmed by the kindness and support offered by the lovely people who read, comment and email him.  Seriously, he is.  You should see him getting [...]

Hello blog

…actually, when I say hello blog, I mean hello shadowy but friendly people who live in the internet and show up as numbers on my stats screen and as nice comments at the bottom of my posts…
What an odd way to start.
Apologies for the gap in posts.  I am continuing to put one foot in [...]

I’ve been trying to think

I’ve been trying to think of a reason to live.
Not in a ‘farewell, cruel world’ kind of way.  I’ve known for a long time now that I’m too much of a coward to take my own life, no matter how tempting it may be.  There’s no danger of a suicide here.  I have to live [...]

Yesterday

Yesterday, I cried in the street.

WTF?

For the last few days, the BBC’s Have Your Say section has been leading on Swine Flu.  No great surprise there.  Specifically, they’ve been leading on the question ‘Are you worried about swine flu?’
Not a particularly edifying question, and I haven’t bothered checking out the responses – not much point, I thought, as I already [...]