Showing 1 - 10 of 277
Terminal volunteers can save lives
News, Published on 13/09/2025
» At the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), a programme called Last Gift offers terminally ill patients the opportunity to help create more effective treatments. Their special circumstances transform the usual risk-benefit calculus of joining a clinical study of an untested drug. Researchers can ask them to consider consenting to being research participants in ways that they would not ask healthier people with long life expectancies, and terminally ill patients may choose to give that consent when others would be less likely to do so.
A magician from the trenches of war
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/09/2025
» Last month PostScript mentioned the strange phenomenon of how the 1950s British ventriloquist Peter Brough and his schoolboy dummy Archie Andrews had a successful radio show called Educating Archie. Although Brough's ventriloquist skills was a visual art and seemed wasted on radio it didn't appear to bother listeners.
A night of prodigies
Life, Published on 23/08/2025
» In 1978, composer John Williams won the Best Original Music Oscar for his work on the movie Star Wars. We've all heard the main theme countless times over the years, but listening to it performed by a live symphony orchestra is a whole new intergalactic experience. Such was the intense power of the Siam Sinfonietta as it swept over the Main Hall of the Thailand Cultural Centre that my nine-year-old nephew, Hummer, was pinned to his seat with wide-eyed wonder.
Pope Francis the shepherd on the animal kingdom
Oped, Peter Singer, Published on 07/05/2025
» When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013, many liberals had high expectations. Would priests be allowed to marry? Or, more radical still, perhaps he would open a path for women to be ordained? There were even some hints that he might recognise same-sex unions.
Back to the future
Postbag, Published on 04/05/2025
» Re: "VAT mulled for firms with less revenue -- B1.8m threshold may be erased", (Business, May 2).
Why global governance is failing badly
Oped, Published on 14/03/2025
» The United Nations was established in 1945, succeeding the failed League of Nations, to pull humanity back from the brink of self-destruction. It was a bold experiment in collective security, designed to prevent another world war and manage conflicts through diplomacy rather than violence.
It's time to jive on the old six-five
Roger Crutchley, Published on 16/02/2025
» Today is Feb 16, admittedly not a date that would resonate amongst most people. But this day 68 years ago witnessed the first time British television launched a programme dedicated to pop music or rather rock-and-roll. Not exactly earth-shattering news, but it was a start.
Nuclear warning
Oped, Postbag, Published on 18/01/2025
» Re: "New plan prepares for nuclear power", (Business, Jan 14).
Australia's big experiment for social media
Oped, Peter Singer, Published on 15/01/2025
» Late last year, Australia's parliament, reacting to concerns about the effect of social media on children's mental health, amended the Online Safety Act to require users to be at least 16 years old to open an account on social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and X. The amendment is expected to come into effect by the end of 2025.
Stop idling
Postbag, Published on 12/01/2025
» Re: "Give us clear air, not hot air", (Editorial, Jan 11) & "Expert wants to call city a problem area", (BP, Jan 11).