Until this year I’ve never had any particular reason to note July 25th in my diary. Now I have two birthdays marked in, although sadly there’s not a lot to celebrate. The first birthday is that of Hu Jia – the subject of this year’s...

Its pouring with rain, but not too cold, and my things-to-do list is as long as my arm. That means it must be July and the Edinburgh Festival is nearly upon us. How to describe our annual cultural jamboree without drifting off into...

On Tuesday I got the chance to get out of the office, away from all the “doing”, and join a group of academics at St Andrew’s University for a much needed chance to “think”. The group in question were psychologists from various...