The practice of medicine should be humanitarian, in which the primary object is the relief of suffering and the interests of patients are paramount. In certain circumstances even the best of doctors might find it difficult to sustain these principles. Doctors, especially those employed by the State, may be expected to participate in aspects of corporal or capital punishment, which introduces a conflict of loyalties and subordinates the interests of individuals to those of the State. Others, in the prison or police services, may get drawn into or comply with physical abuse and torture, most commonly through failing to report incidents that come to their notice. In this paper I discuss some aspects of medicine under tension in the light of the South African experience.

Half a century after its end, the Second World War is still an object of enormous public interest. This essay tries to indicate in which respects the present style of commemorating it differs from the ways that former generations shaped the memories they wished to preserve of the historical events that were then thought relevant.

The idea of Europe has changed with time. The notion was originally identified with three concepts: that of freedom, of Christianity, and with civilization. Later it was associated with diversity, democracy and then with nationalism. Only very slowly has the idea of a common identity leading to integration come to the fore.

We envisage a transport system producing zero emissions and sparing the surface landscape, while people, on average, range hundreds of kilometres daily. We believe this prospect of ‘green mobility’ is consistent in general principles with historical evolution. We lay out these general principles, extracted from widespread observations of human behaviour over long periods, and use them to explain past transport and to project the next 50 to 100 years. Our picture emphasizes the slow penetration of new technologies of transport, adding speed in the course of substituting for the old ones in terms of time allocation. We discuss in increasing detail railroads, cars, aeroplanes, and magnetically levitated trains (maglevs).

It is often said that an interest in the history of one's subject is, in a scientist, a sign of failing powers. If so, then my powers must have begun to fail very early, for I cannot remember a time, once I had learned to read for pleasure, when I was not fascinated by the personalities of those who had made great discoveries and by the circumstances in which those discoveries were made. So you' II find among my publications a number of occasional pieces in which some eminent scientist or some important scientific event is subjected to scrutiny, regrettably the far from expert scrutiny that lies within the purchase of a very amateur historian. Some of these pieces were prompted by invitations from editors in urgent need of an obituary notice or, less often, of a more extended biographical memoir. It was an invitation of this kind that set me to work on the scientific life of Basil D., who, some 30 years ago, had made a discovery whose importance can hardly be exaggerated. I remember being all but stunned by the paper when it appeared, for it showed, wholly unexpectedly and contrary to all our assumptions, that cells derived from our own bodies could somehow (we didn't find out how until very much later) exchange genes. Of course, such a revolutionary idea was received at first with extreme scepticism, but it was quickly confirmed and Basil was catapulted to a stardom that few scientists ever achieve.

The tenth century was when the spread of Christianity through Europe commenced the transformation of various state and tribal formations into the form that persisted and that we can recognize today. The political and economic development of Islam created a demand for people from which the new states also derived material resources. Trade and plunder led by the Vikings stimulated the formation of states and strengthened them, this was aided further by the existence of a stable network of roads.

Political parties are one of the most important inventions of the modern world. We may not regard them as we regard electricity, television, or aeroplanes, yet they are just as much as part of our life. If parties did not exist, what would elections be like? How would parliaments conduct their business? How would we choose politicians? In short, how would we organize politics? It might be felt that we can live without parties, indeed some countries do not have them so far, but all 'advanced' modern countries have them.

Atmospheric ozone plays a critical role in controlling ultraviolet radiation levels at the surface of the Earth. The absorption of ultraviolet radiation from the sun and the warm infrared from the earth influence temperatures in the lower stratosphere. The concentration of ozone is affected by NO, NO2, Cl, and Clo in a complex manner.

The 20th-century has been the century of mass politics, and the mass parties that emerged at the beginning of this century became deeply rooted within wider society. The passing of this golden age of the party has now been marked by two distinct processes of change. On the one hand, parties have become more distant from society and more closely linked to government and the state. On the other hand, there has been a decline in the political identities of the parties, such that voters now find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between them. These changes, and the related transformation of politics into administration, have led to a growth in popular indifference to parties and to politics in general, as well as to a declining sense of engagement. Should this trend continue, it is mass spectacle rather than mass involvement that is likely to characterize the future of mass politics.

The various meanings of the terms ‘postmodernism’ and ‘postmodernity’ are traced; in various European languages these mean different things. Postmodernist discussion in the various arts is not synchronous. Postmodernism can be seen as the cultural expression of the times we supposedly live in, but are the achievements of modernity gone for ever?

The main constitutions with which medieval and modern Europe has experimented in the search for the best form of government are surveyed: most of them have now been relegated to the museum of legal antiques. However, constitutionalism and parliamentarianism proved to be permanent and are still highly valued acquisitions. The merits of a written constitution are discussed. This is followed by a presentation of the role of the nation state and its present embattled status. Can the past tell us what the best form of government is and, on the basis of the ‘Weber-thesis’, is there a link between political freedom and economic prosperity? The American controversy on capital punishment shows how the interpretation of the Constitution by the judicature can be a matter of life and death.

This article discusses the problems inherent in writing a short historical survey of South Africa. Such surveys are periodically necessary in order to provide a perspective for monographic studies. This one is organized around the argument that South Africa, for all its internal divisions, has become a single country, and traces the processes of colonial conquest, economic integration and the ideological importance of mission Christianity through which this has come about. Furthermore, the recent changes in the South African governmental system provide a narrative conclusion that was not there in the past and which soon will be no more.

People identify with other people on many different grounds: family, locality, religion, professional interests, even hobbies. But the group identity that has had particular influence over the past century or so has been the nation – and this has drawn especially on the identity of language. With the development of global commerce and the establishment of regional blocs like Asean, Nafta, and of course the EU, languages least associated with nationality may well be seen as best fitted to provide the requisite linkage.

In parliamentary systems, the link between governments and the parties supporting them is typically regarded as being so strong that the expression ‘party government’ has been coined to refer to this type of relationship. Yet, in practice, there are major variations between the two ‘sides’: these relate to possible reciprocal influence on three planes, those of appointments, of policy-making, and of patronage. Contrary to what is often believed, governments often play a key part and supporting parties are forced, more or less reluctantly, to follow. This has led to doubts about the extent to which the relationship can ever be harmonious and even to the view, probably exaggerated, that it has become increasingly conflictual.

Postmodernism is often virtually equated with French poststructuralism, and seen as anti-rationalist and anti-humanist, even downright nihilist. However, the idea of difference that is central to much poststructuralist thinking can also be used to construct a model of postmodernism/postmodernity that avoids the endless denials of poststructuralism while allowing the establishment of a grip on the distinctions of our own postmodern period from an earlier modernity.

Mathematics, while a necessary part of information technology is remarkably conservative in its working habits. Much of the mathematics needed for the computer age is still produced by paper and pencil. There are some signs of change and this paper looks more closely at what is happening. The impact of the electronic age and computers on the science of mathematics and on the style and organization of mathematical research and publication is examined.