Last week the chief medical officer in England spoke of our misuse of antibiotics; while we have on one hand helped heal many people we have also created armies of superbugs that are now laughing at our arsenal of present antibiotics. In her news presentation she spoke of the dangers of us falling behind in our development of new super antibiotics to take on these superbugs and stated that we were losing the “war” against microbes.

My first reaction was to think about what we should do with people that go around declaring war on this and that, declaring war on drugs, on terror, on bankers and eventually on those close to us. After all, has war ever solved anything? Then I realised I was thinking of declaring war on people who declare war on things and lapsed into a Monty Python moment: The people’s Liberation Army for the Liberation of People from Armies!

When our chief medical office for these blessed Isles is declaring war on something then we have to know how far off track we all are; rather than realising our profound guilt at our tendency to attack everything and therefore everybody and go screaming off the nearest cliff, we could develop a sense of humour at our human condition. Humour is a very underestimated healing tool that I for one will apply myself to developing this next week.

For if not then consider the alternative! A war on those with no sense of humour!

With love,
Jeff and Sue