Adam Phillips reviews ‘Understanding Autism’ by Chloe Silverman and ‘What Is Madness?’ by Darian Leader for the LRB (sadly, subscribers only). "For Chloe Silverman, ‘understanding autism’ means understanding how autism has become a diagnostic category and why for some people, in autism advocacy groups for example, it isn’t a pathology at all but just a different way of seeing the world. For Darian Leader, the diagnosis and treatment of madness is something we need to get right, and getting it right means using his preferred version of psychoanalysis."

"My two kids at home almost lost their mother because someone decided that my life was worth less than that of a fetus that was going to die anyway."

Henry Porter in the Observer on the care Gilbert Adair received from the NHS in his final year.

As Joe Moran put it in his link on Twitter: "Hugh Pennington on bedbugs, and why they like the London Tube less than the NYC subways." A good read.

Interesting musings by Amy Hoy on placebos and advertising.

"The subjects vary - crime and penal policy, healthcare, don't get me started on foreign policy - but there is an ideological approach in America that is distinguished by one common characteristic: words and deeds utterly lacking in the quality of mercy. There is a cancer in the collective American soul - a mercy deficit that has in recent years grown as alarmingly as the budget deficit."

"Your probability of dying during a given year doubles every 8 years." On the Gompertz law.

One of the members of the Design Research Unit; this obit (from 2005) is the source of much of the more interesting material on Wikipedia.

"A pioneering company in Denmark is giving people with autism the chance to apply their skills to jobs from IT to product testing. The result is a huge success that's about to be rolled out across Europe. Founder Thorkil Sonne tells Michael Booth how his workforce's superhuman recall and unflinching focus could teach the rest of us a thing or two"

I'd been blissfully unaware of this until this weekend, when the New Scientist and Economist both covered it, but this is perhaps the best summary I've seen of a ridiculous legal ruling on a piece Simon Singh wrote in the Guardian about chiropratic treatments of illnesses in babies.

'The UK has been named as one of the worst countries in Europe for measles, with case levels dashing global hopes of eradicating the disease by 2010.' 'Although there are still instances in which the virus is being "imported" from areas where it is rife, in recent years, substantial outbreaks in otherwise measles-free South America have been traced back to Europe.' Sigh.

"How can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots?" Micahel Pollan goes in search of the farm funding that provides an answer. Wonder how the CAP compares?

Do these kids not all have mobile phones anyway? Sigh.

"Choose the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition and Apple will give a portion of the purchase price to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa." Or you could, you know, just donate, not shop...

"What other charity believes shopping is the best way to make a contribution?" Oh, I can think of one...

Speaking of health and effectiveness, Bad Science is on good form

"ministers have done much to raise unrealistic expectations about the NHS, rightly attracting criticism from the IPPR" Good comment response to the IPPR survey

This would be the same "public" that objects to tax rises, right? Sigh. "31% said they believed that all drugs and treatments should be available regardless of cost or effectiveness." Double sigh.

If nothing else, this proves that selective breeding can do (crudely and slowly) what genetic modification promises to do (precisely and quickly).

And this, kids, is why I make sure I have plenty of breaks for cups of tea. No, really. Next up: when playing WoW, if you need to go to the loo, actually do so.