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Did I Lock All The Doors and Windows This Morning ? - An Airport Lament

  How often have you got half way to work,   and found yourself convinced that you left the front door unlocked, or the gas on ?  Or, or worse still, ended up well on the way to your holiday destination with the same sinking feeling ? It’s a more common problem than you might think, and it definitely isn’t confined to the elderly… I call it the ‘Familiarity Breeds Amnesia’ (FBA) syndrome, because it arises from our inability to distinguish between individual occurrences of a familiar action which we perform day in, day out in a virtually identical way. Picture this type of scenario – you’re about to leave your house, and will be double-locking your front door with a conventional latch and possibly also a mortice key. You probably do this at least two or three times every day, and it takes a few seconds at most. It's virtually automatic, but isn’t always registered as a discrete event in your memory. The action, and therefore the memory of it, is difficult to recal...
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Seasonal Flu Epidemics: Why Do They Happen and Could this Year's Turn Into a Killer ?

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  The UK's 2026-27 influenza 'season' is now well underway and is taxing the NHS to its limits once again, as predicted. Adverse circumstances aside, this would be a good time to ask the question in the title i.e. is this years ‘flu virus any more potent or dangerous than the usual seasonal variety ?  To answer this, we must first take a look at the causative virus and how it infects us and propagates itself with the aid of our own cells. What is Influenza ? The well-written and extensive wiki article tells us that Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by various types of influenza virus, and infects us via the nose, throat, and sometimes the lungs.  It's worth remembering that viruses, unlike bacteria, don't have their own biochemical machinery with which to reproduce themselves, and so are reliant on us, and other organisms to provide this for them. They are exquisitely designed 'infection machines' composed of genetic ma...
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UK Student Loans – SB or BS ?

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Some more bad press surfaced yesterday for the Student Loan scheme - this time highlighting misleading info on the true cost of loans, supplied to prospective students by the universities themselves.  As you'll see if you read further, the scheme is designed to recoup as much cash for the treasury as possible, and ensures that all but the very poorest will pay back all of their loans plus a large dollop of interest.  The scheme's complexity aids in this by lulling students into a false sense of security about their eligibility for avoiding repayment by virtue of lower salaries. A nasty surprise is to come for many as thresholds are kept frozen and salaries rise inexorably.  My advice - avoid these loans like the plague....or of you really can't, get them paid off as quickly as possible. Please see also recent update of 7.4.26 at the end of this text for interpretation of UK.Gov's announcement on the 6% interest rate cap for Plan 2 loans.  ------------------ UK Stud...
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