I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That Read Online Free PDF

greatest-selling stats book of all time (tough market), and it remains in print , at just £8.99.
    Meanwhile, ‘ Doctors say no to abortions in their surgeries’ is the headline in the Daily Telegraph . ‘Family doctors are threatening a revolt against Government plans to allow them to perform abortions in their surgeries, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.’ A revolt? ‘Four out of five GPs do not want to carry out terminations even though the idea is being tested in NHS pilot schemes, a survey has revealed.’
    Channelling Huff through my fingers, in a trancelike state, I went in search of the figures. Was this a systematic survey of all GPs, with lots of chasing to catch the non-responders? Telephoning them at work? A postal survey, at least? No. It was an informal poll through doctors.net.uk, an online chat site for doctors, producing this major news story about a profession threatening a revolt.
    The statement to which doctors were invited to respond was this: ‘GPs should carry out abortions in their surgeries’. You can ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘don’t know’, ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’.
    I might be slow, but I myself do not fully understand the statement. Is that ‘should’ as in ‘should’, as in, ‘ought to’, as in ‘coerced’? And in what circumstances? With extra training, time, and money? With extra systems in place for adverse outcomes? This is a chat website where doctors go to grumble, cynically, in good company. Are they saying ‘no’ because this new responsibility would involve more work and lower morale? Would you even click the ‘abortion’ link in the chat pages index if you didn’t already have an interest in abortion?
    And stepping bravely beyond the second word ‘should’, what does ‘carry out abortions in their surgeries’ mean? Looking at the comments in the chat forum – as I am doing right now – plenty of the doctors seemed to think the question referred to surgical abortions, not the relatively safe oral pill for termination of early pregnancy. Doctors aren’t all that bright, you see, and questionnaire respondents in general may not necessarily know what you’re thinking about if you don’t write a proper question.
    Here are some quotes from the doctors in the discussion underneath this poll. ‘This is a preposterous idea. How can GPs ever carry out abortions in their own surgeries. What if there was a major complication like uterine and bowel perforation?’ ‘The only way it would or rather should happen is if GP practices have a surgical day care facility as part of their premises which is staffed by appropriately trained staff, i.e. theatre staff, anaesthetist and gynaecologist … any surgical operation is not without its risks, and presumably [we] will undergo gynaecological surgical training in order to perform.’ ‘What are we all going on about? Let’s all carry out abortions in our surgeries, living rooms, kitchens, garages, corner shops, you know, just like in the old days.’
    But my favourite is this: ‘I think that the question is poorly worded and I hope that DNUK do not release the results of this poll to the Daily Telegraph .’

The Strange Case of the Magnetic Wine
    Guardian , 4 December 2003
    What is it about magnets that amazes the pseudoscientists so much? The good magnetic energy of my Magneto-Tex blanket will cure my back pain; but I need a Q-Link pendant to protect me from the bad magnetism created by household devices. Reader Bill Bingham (oddly enough, the guy who used to read the Shipping Forecast) sends in news of the exciting new Wine Magnet: ‘Let your wine “age” several years in only 45 minutes! Place the bottle in the Wine Magnet! The Wine Magnet then creates a strong magnetic field that goes to the heart of your wine and naturally softens the bitter taste of tannins in “young” wines.’
    I was previously unaware of the magnetic properties of wine, but this explains why I tend to become