cause of mental health by creating a greater understanding of the nature of mental disorders and of the possibilities of prevention and of help for those who suffer from them. A lively and well-informed journal is invaluable for stimulating the interest of the public as a whole as well as helping people already actively engaged in work for mental health, and I wish every success to this new ven...

Nearly ten years ago, a hitherto unknown neurological condition, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), appeared in British cows. It was labelled ‘mad cow disease’, because of the strange combination of fear and shambling gait shown by its victims. As more cases came to light, BSE was found to be similar to scrapie in sheep and it was suggested that cows were infected by eating feedstuffs cont...

Chinese medicine’s concept of qi mediates between a person’s mental-emotional life and the physiological processes producing and maintaining the body form. The pathogenic potential of human emotions and desires figured prominently in China’s ancient medical and philosophical texts and, more than any other type of qi, the sovereign and minister fire embody the influences and relationships betwee...

The theme of this conference, ‘New Days, New Ways’ is very appropriate and timely given the nature of the challenges currently facing the Australian Public Service (APS). It could be argued that the APS has been steadily evolving towards a more private sector orientation over the last decade or so more so recently as a consequence of the momentum of the National Competition Policy reforms See I...