Fourteen-twenty

What does the data say? Men are more than twice as likely to be murdered than women (14 vs 6 per million). The murder rate for women has not changed over the last 10 years (in 2011 it was 7 per million).

When a pair comes together there's a lovely warm feeling they match! nothing better though at times it's tough and holes will appear you can never have enough that's why I'm telling the world I'm letting it out of the box; these are the things I love about socks.

This is a poem to all women well, not all women, for a start, I'm not sure that all women can read I concede that maybe I should have started smaller, 'a poem to all shrews', something like that then again, I'm not sure that many of them can read either neither do I have much to say about them.

I thought I'd do something nice today, and then I thought I’d write you a poem. 'Why not do both?' I thought after that. So I think I shall do that without knowing. Poems shouldn’t be difficult to write, but this one is. So I think I shall write disjointed clauses, And then to make it a poem I’ll simply cut the sentences with pauses. I don’t really see the point of this poem, I mean I wrote the end before I wrote the rest. So I suppose I started with just a few words; I love you, you're the best.

I don't think I know how to write a poem, because I never really paid attention when they taught us about rhyme but I suppose that’s not essential, because a poem is a feeling, I think that has been converted to words so that the feeling can be read over and the poem returns a touch of perception, a sense of cost, I mean of understanding, of comprehension that sadly would otherwise be lost.

For a school exercise we had to write a letter to Holden Caulfield , and imagine a response. Here is what I wrote. Dear FT, Thank you very much for saying that my book was that good. It makes me really proud to hear someone say that. Anyway so I should answer your questions. Yeah so I did go back to old Mr.Antolini’s house after all because I was really feeling sour leaving the old guy all of a sudden like that; but it sure was freaky him touching me like that. I thought that he was a goddam pervert or something! Anyway so I went down there and I asked him why he did that and he came up with all this bull about being lonely and all and he thought that I looked to peaceful when I was asleep. Sometimes that Mr.Antolini can be real neat, but sometimes he sure can be a real bore. I mean we’re all lonely for chrissake. I mean every now and then I feel lonely as hell all alone in my room. Sometimes I think back to old Jane, or Sally and what life would be like now if she had agreed to come t...

I ask most clinicians the same question. 'Tell me about the last patient who taught you something'.  RH smiles a wry smile. Man hands on experience to man. He draws up a patient's notes, and together we read through the letters. The story emerges of a otherwise healthy middle-aged man who is fitted with a pacemaker. Every year thereafter we find a letter that reads; Pacemaker checked - normal operation The list continues for several years without excitement. Suddenly there is an aberration; frank, in black and white;  Out of hours service. Your patient has died The next letter is the pathologist's report.  Cause of death: tuberculous myocarditis I suck my teeth. 'So what do you think is the lesson here?' he asks. Turning the question around; an old trick. I smile a wry smile. 'Always be on the lookout for tuberculous myocarditis.' He says no, firmly but politely. He is right. The lesson is finer than that. We can no more be on the lookout for tuberculous...