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My first research interest was how health can be affected by moving from one country and culture to another. I got seriously interested in this when I was a family doctor in Adelaide in the late 1950s, and saw many patients who came from cultural backgrounds very different from mine. Among the scientific domains I became acquainted with at that time was demography, including its offshoot, social demography. I suppose that includes cultural demography, although I don't recall seeing this identified as a distinct discipline. Nonetheless, many published works under the librarians' rubric of social demography deal with the influence of cultural factors like language,customs, traditions, religious beliefs, on health and illness. My brother recently described the peregrinations of a family he calls Cossacks -- a word that to me means ethnic Slavs in the region of the lower Dnieper and Don Rivers that embraces parts of modern Ukraine, Poland and Russia. The one to two million Canadians with this heritage describe themselves as Ukrainian. I don't recall ever hearing one confess to being Cossack - the Cossacks were the brutal, bullying oppressors who rode horses, used whips and swords to suppress the aspirations of the first generation of Ukrainian Canadians who migrated to Canada to escape persecution akin to the pogroms to which Jews were subjected. Ukrainian Canadians were technically citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and often spoke German as a second or third language, so a great many of them were interned as enemy aliens in Canada in the Great War of 1914-1918. Then many more Ukrainians came to Canada after the ascendancy of the Bolsheviks and the formation of the Soviet Union. I haven't seen recent census data but last time I looked there were about 1.5 million Canadians who identified their heritage as Ukrainian. Most are Eastern Orthodox Christians, some are Mennonites, some are Jews. My Ukrainian Canadian friends use the word 'Cossack' pejoratively, sometimes with a shudder, recalling familial memories of rape, murder, slaughter of precious cattle, burning of villages, in stories transmitted by their grandparents. Canada is populated by many ethnic and cultural groups such as Ukrainians, Armenians, Lebanese, Bosnians, Chileans, Bangladeshis, Palestinians, Sikhs, Tamils, Cambodians, Vietnamese, Somalis, Afghanis, and many others. Happily, they all or almost all have shed their fears and hatreds and get along with other ethnic groups that once were their bitterest enemies. The restless, turbulent movements continue. Canada is a fruitful population laboratory. I'd like sometimes to be starting my research career, not ending it, so I could devote another professional lifetime to studying and answering some of the important questions raised by these turbulent movements. In the world of the early 21st century, this mass movement of people about the world continues at an unprecedented pace, raising many questions for research workers in sociology, demography, epidemiology,national and international security, economics, and much else. A good reason for wishing my research career was just beginning, not fizzling out, would be to find the answers to some of these questions.

U of O Brain and Mind Research Institute

A few weeks ago I got an invitation from the Dean's office to a reception and guided tour of the new Brain and Mind Research Institute. I ignored it at first but got several persuasive follow-up phone calls from the Dean's PA, so I agreed to show up and see for myself what goes on in the new building that recently budded off like an amoeba's pseudopod, on the north face of the Health Sciences Centre. Looking around the Faculty board room where we forgathered I realized that I was in the company of high rollers, lavish donors with whom I'd gotten mixed up, presumably because I'd made a modest donation to the Faculty of Medicine a few months ago in memory of Wendy (my donation was actually to our department and is specifically aimed to bring a visiting professor to stimulate our students). The Brain and Mind Research Institute through part of which our small party was soon guided, is not on that wavelength at all. I was suitably impressed by all the fancy hardware that was demonstrated in action by several graduate students (PhD candidates and a post-doc). The cheapest piece of equipment we were shown was a laser electron microscope (you can have your very own for &1.5 million); in the next room we saw one of two side by side that go a stage further, are used to dissect and manipulate dendrites, the extensions that communicate from one nerve cell to another at a junction called a synapse; we saw this in action, on TV screens arranged alongside the dissecting electron microscope; the probe or needle used to carry out the dissection is slightly less than 1 micron in diameter. You can have your own, complete with a vibration-free table on which the equipment stands, for $2 million and change. As I said to a companion alongside me, "No home is complete without one!" I don't think he appreciated my humour. The whole experience was very interesting, but I don't think I will be making any donation large enough to buy two or three more of these costly items. However, I was encouraged to hear that the research they are doing is not confined to a narrow focus on Alzheimer's Disease, but is exploring other unsolved neurological conundrums (including motor neuron disease or ALS); and that there are good linkages to clinical and epidemiological research. The youngsters at the coal-face -- actually doing the research work -- are very impressive, clearly extremely bright, enthusiastic and dedicated. That was the most encouraging aspect of the afternoon's entertainment. I wish them and their research every success.

Deluxe Assisted Care Living

A few days ago I had the roots of a troublesome long-dead tooth extracted. I half-expected this to be a traumatic procedure, but it turned out to be very simple and quite painless. However, I used it as an excuse to check myself into one of the 40 or more places in Ottawa that provide 'assisted care' for elderly and ambulant infirm people. I expected to be feeling a little delicate and in need of some pampering for a few days. As it turned out, I really didn't need much but it has been very pleasant to sit at a dining table and be waited on, and to be fed gourmet meals prepared by a qualified chef. The residence I chose for this experience is top of the line with really excellent food; it has a salt-water heated swimming pool, exercise room, a well-stocked library, 4 or 5 computers (mostly used to play solitaire as far as I could tell, though I used it only to check email) and backs onto a park beside the Ottawa River. And it's only about 2 Km from R&R's home. Its only shortcoming is that although there are nurses and nursing aides on the staff and a visiting physician, it does not provide long-term care: if I were to move in and develop one of the illnesses of old age that require long-term care I would have to move to another establishment. All the same, I think I will consider this my first choice if I find that I can't cope with activities of daily living in my apartment. The alternative of personal care workers and staying here might turn out better; but "Amica" has other advantages, notably congenial other occupants with whom I have found it easy to converse on interesting topics. I do get lonely in my apartment, though not so desperately so as to be tempted to move just for that reason. But it's something to think about if a time comes when I can't put my socks on unaided.

Different premises

When James Boswell brought Samuel Johnson to Edinburgh, he proudly showed his city to the distinguished man of letters. As they strolled into a close off the High Street, they saw two women shouting and shaking their fists at each other from windows on upper floors of tenements facing each other across the close. "They will never agree," said Dr. Johnson to Boswell, "They are arguing from different premises." So it is with my brother and me from time to time, recently in discussing the biases of Rupert Murdoch's "quality" newspapers. Despite hearing on CBC Radio an eminent professor of journalism at Columbia University echoing my opinions and citing similar facts, I've exercised my editorial prerogative and closed that correspondence thread.

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Last night just after Rebecca & Richard, and Jonathan, had left here after a pleasant dinner, we had another sudden very violent wind storm. I watched from my picture windows with a mixture of fascination and alarm as debris flew past in the 'gulley' between this tower block and the low-rise building next door. Along with all the other bits and pieces, a sheet of corrugated metal roofing tumbled past, fortunately not hitting my windows. It's hard to judge speed but my guess that gusts exceeded 100 Km/hour was confirmed in this morning's news. I saw at ground level not far away some brilliant electric flashes as downed power lines short-circuited; one of these spectacular electrical short circuits that I watched took place when the outdoor stage for summer music festivals was demolished, injuring three people, one seriously. Unsurprisingly, there are widespread power outages today. This was, I think, the third sudden violent wind storm this summer. I don't recall any that came even close in violent severity in all my previous years in Ottawa. I suppose this was another manifestation of climate change. I wonder how many more such violent weather events will be required to persuade those who continue to deny that climate change is real and is happening, happening right now, not at some remote future time when we are all safely dead.

Cardiac perfusion scan

My family physician Jennifer Chew (daughter of my fellow-Adelaide MD, Ken Chew) and my cardiologist Andy Wielgosz discussed my status a couple of weeks ago, in response to my doubts about having enough stamina to fly to Edinburgh for the World Congress of Epidemiology. Probably more to reassure me than for sound clinical reasons, Andy asked for a cardiac perfusion scan. This test was done last Tuesday and Wednesday. I stopped all cardiovascular medication and gave up caffiene - tea, coffee, chocolate - and got up very early to be at the diagnostic imaging department by 7 am. A technician gave me an IV injection of a radioactive dye, then a second technician positioned me under a very costly-looking piece of equipment that revolved over my chest for about an hour, taking movie pictures of my heart muscle as it absorbed the radioactive dye. On the second day, all this was repeated, and a cardiovascular stress test was added. I'd have preferred to be stressed by brisk walking on a treadmill, but an IV injection was used to simulate vigorous exercise. At least one and often two nurse-technicians watched over me, one operating the equipment, joined from time to time by a resident (trainee physician) in cardiology. I wonder how much all this cost the taxpayers, and I'm quite sure I'm not worth this much expense. I know Andy is cost-conscious, so I'll ask him whether he thinks I'm worth it, when I see him next. Canada's per capita health care costs, and costs as a proportion of national income are substantially lower than those of the USA (and outcomes are significantly better in virtually all categories); excessive use of tests like the one I had last week could influence these statistics, but it's possible only to do a limited number of tests daily because the test is so time-consuming and I think there may be only one or two sets of the necessary equipment in Ottawa, which obviously limits the number of tests that can be done.

Schadenfreude plus plus

David's sketch of Wendy's personality in his eulogy included a phrase about bad guys getting their comeuppance, and this seems to sum up the way a great many people in Britain and the USA are feeling today about Rupert Murdoch. His grovelling apology to the parents of a murdered girl did nothing to dispel the outrage at his reporters' irresponsible, indeed criminal conduct. The girl's cell phone was hacked and messages deleted by a reporter to leave room for more in case these might be useful to the reporters. They cared nothing for the fact that this gave the parents and the police the false impression that the girl was still alive. In his up-market "quality" newspapers, the news, editorials, op-ed commentaries and correspondence columns are very subtly - and sometimes not so subtly - biased by selective emphases and omissions of specific facts. This has been done in the London Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Australian, on stories about conflicts between Israel and its neighbours, global environmental change, resource depletion, doubtless other important topics It is always unhealthy for a nation when a single person owns a disproportionately large share of the nation's media, as Murdoch does in the UK and to some extent in USA. It's even worse in Australia where Murdoch owns about 80% of the newspapers, and a radio and TV network - not quite as bad, perhaps, as Berlesconi's hold over the Italian media, but close. Murdoch has been very effective in shaping Australian public opinion, and via the Fox news network in the USA, he has had a pernicious influence on American public opinion, and thus on the way they vote. His current troubles in the UK have prompted both the US Senate and the FBI to examine closely for the first time the extent to which he has used dishonest and shoddy journalistic tactics to gather scandal, innuendo, half-truths, in order to promote his interests and try to destroy his adversaries. His influence over successive British governments has begun to come to light. He may well be responsible for Tony Blair's decision to join Bush in the insane invasion and destruction of Iraq, by his pernicious influence over Blair. British prime ministers did his bidding because they feared the consequences if their governments acted in ways contrary to those he advocated; not only would his media support be lost, there are suggestions that he obtained personal and private information that if disclosed could be politically damaging. Blackmail may not be too strong a word to apply to this behaviour. I join with people of good will everywhere in hoping that this is the beginning of the end of Murdoch's evil empire.

More dots to connect

Some dots come from memories 50 or more years old, others from more recent events. Collectively they make a sad, grim picture. In the late 60s a wise and thoughtful Arab from the Emirates expressed outrage at the way Americans were squandering oil from his region: burning many tons night after night to propel B52 bombers half way across the world to destroy phantom "communist" enemies, actually rural subsistence farmers in Laos and Cambodia; he was as outraged by this as by the way "his" oil was helping to generate electricity used to illuminate enormous advertising signs in Las Vegas. Speaking on the BBC he foretold the collapse of the American economy because actions like these were unsustainable. (I met him when he recruited me to write for his Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, a brilliant engineer and polymath). My next dot is the cost of all the wars the USA has fought since the end of the world war in 1945. I heard a respected economist offer the estimate that the unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone have cost $86billion and counting (as well as 5-6 thousand American lives, 10-20 times as many lives of the local people, 50-60 times as many permanently maimed). All the money is borrowed too. Big wars like the war in Vietnam probably cost more, "little" wars and covert wars in several Central American countries (Honduras, Nicuagua, Grenada) and non-wars just confrontations and interference in local affairs, don't come cheap either. Most of the bribes, slippery deals and shady tricks were paid with borrowed money. Meantime, the industrial and intellectual base of the USA were under attack by naked greed. Stockholders, investors, demanded profits and higher dividends every quarter, and the easiest way to achieve this was to outsource American industries to countries without irritating labour and environmental laws, let the plants at home rust away, and American workers take lower paying part-time jobs flipping hamburgers or working in call centres. Investors were happy, for a while anyway. Then investment advisers, investment banks, real estate speculators, and dishonest brokers got even greedier. Bernard Madoff, a revered investment counselor couldn't possibly be dishonest, but he was, and many fortunes were wiped out when his Ponzi scheme collapsed. Then the housing bubble burst, and several million people were not just bankrupt, they were homeless too. Greed elected to public office anyone who promised lower taxes, no matter how that was achieved. One easy target was schools and school teachers; so the incubators of the future leaders and innovators were smashed too. Greed and indolence (watching others work and play rather than working and playing) led to a nation of obese people. There's more, much more. More Americans believe the creation myths in the bible than believe the scientific evidence of evolutionary biology. More believe the government they elect is their enemy than believe it is elected to do their bidding (the evidence that elected officials answer to lobbyists and special interests rather than to the people who elected them supports this cynical view of government and governance). A little of this litany of wrong-doing and mindless nation-destruction was apparent to Wendy and me when we lived in Vermont in 1964-65 and it's gotten much worse since then. We wanted no part of it, so we went to live in Scotland instead. But the Brits, even the Scots, have their own problems, living on borrowed money and rapidly shrinking capital from the vanished Empire. Greed became rampant there too in Thatcher's time. The nation's network of rail and road and telecommunications were "sold" to friends of the governing party who looted them and invested nothing in infrastructure or maintenance. What distresses me most about all this is the abject failure of any national leader anywhere to show evidence of thinking and planning further ahead than the beginning of the next election campaign, and in this respect, the present government in Canada may be among the worst offenders in the world. Be sure their sins will find them out.

Canada Day

Today, July 1st, is Canada Day, a perfect summer day embellished by the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a. Will and Kate). The national day of celebration shows every sign of being the biggest and best ever. After 41 1/2 years residence in Canada and 35 years as a Canadian citizen, I still feel partly Australian, so to celebrate the day I'm wearing my lapel pin with the Australian and Canadian flags upon it. Already before midday more than 100,000 people have congregated on Parliament Hill where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge is addressing the crowd, kicking off an afternoon and evening of entertainment.

Now I'm finishing off this post on Monday evening, July 4, the lavish American counterpart of Canada's national birthday. Ultimately over 300,000 gathered on Parliament Hill for this year's birthday celebrations, which culminated in a splendid display of fireworks (our tax dollars at work). David drove up from Kingston, Desre flew in from Toronto and we three went out to Rebecca and Richard's for a barbecue supper, after which David and Desre came back to my pad. I thought they might watch the fireworks from my balcony but they walked up to Parliament Hill to mingle with the throng and saw the fireworks from there. I watched quite a lot of the day's festivities on TV and comparing it with past Canada Days when Wendy and I biked to the Hill, mingled with the crowd, and watched the festivities close up, I thought this year's celebrations were almost as good as those we saw way back then in the days of Pierre Trudeau. One year we rubbed shoulders with him - literally - and I took close up photos of him air-borne when he was on a trampoline. That year the celebrations were the most spectacular in my experience, mainly because of the emphasis on the mosaic of multiculturalism, with wonderful displays of traditional dancing and singing by groups from about 20 of the ethnic and cultural communities that make up the aptly named Mosaic of Canadian Multiculturalism. That must have been 30 years ago, and multiculturalism still flourishes despite the pessimists and nay-sayers who said it wouldn't last. Far from it. Now they are mixing and mingling in multicultural marriages that are producing wonderful rainbows of children in the next generation. I look at them all playing happily together in the playground at First Avenue school (a French immersion school) a couple hundred meters from my condo, and it gives me hope for the future to see how irrelevant skin colour, facial features and hair texture are to these youngsters. They are all Canadian, no matter what they look like on the outside, chattering away mostly in English in the playground, or in Hindi, or Mandarin; then they go into the classroom where all the education is conducted in French. And that seems to me to be one or two or more of the things that make Canada such a wonderful place to live.