(BBC) 21 April 2008:

The revelation that John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister of England, suffered from bulima (a disease normally thought of as afflicting only women), might make men come forward in talking to their doctors. British men, never the most forthcoming about themselves, have in recent years found that diseases normally though to affect women do affect men as well: for example, breast cancer killed more men last year than testicular cancer did.

The problem is that they feel diffident about talking to their doctors about such things. Further, the doctors themselves aren’t trained to look for these “female” problems in men and finally, all of the treatment is aimed at women (breast cancer clinics are almost universally pink for example).

(ELECTRIC NEWS) 13 September 2007:

A survey by British magazine More shows that men are a lot less fussy about women’s looks than women themselves are. Much greater emphasis is placed upon the ability to have a good time (although the precise definition of “good time” is not given) than upon a perfect figure.

In fact, a woman with a perfect figure was more likely to scare men than attract them: certainly to the point where they were unhappy at the thought of disrobing in front of them.

Perhaps to the surprise of very few only 3% of respondents were interested in seeing Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) in the nude.

(REUTERS)16 March 2007:

There are times when the British roots of the respected news agency Reuters is blatantly obvious. A recent story on Reuters was about a matador who was gored and is making an excellent recovery. The agency says that if Fernando Cruz ever has children, then he’ll have to thank his doctors. The headline also says that his “chances of fatherhood are hurt” which is also true but somewhat misleading.

The actual bulletin from the doctors states that the injury “eviscerates both testicles”.

Reuters might be guilty of a little understatement there, that vice of the British, don’t you think?

(THE INDEPENDENT) 11 March 2007:

Quoting recent research showing that men and women form friendships in different ways and for different reasons, British commentator Sarah Sands believes that friendships are in fact solely a female thing.

Some research suggests that men form shallower relationships while women stick at a friendship through thick and thin.  Sands writes, “Girls continue to form friendships; men join teams.”  She also writes, “Girls love social networking internet sites; boys lose interest once they have posted pictures of themselves and given their opinions.”

Perhaps it’s not that men don’t form friendships, they just form them in a different way.  The friendships formed on a sports team by men mean just as much to them as womens’ friendships do.

(REUTERS) 7 March 2007:

According to British journalist Tara Winter Wilson, Toxic Wife Syndrome is rampant and droves of gold diggers are prowling in search of rich prey to join the tribe.

Winter Wilson says the danger signals of a wife going toxic are all too plain:

– Quitting work to “care for the children” and then sends them to boarding schools as soon as they outgrow their nannies.

– Demanding a maid hired to work up to 14 hours a day six days a week.

– Hiring out the jobs of cooking, housework, and childrearing

– Living in the country, forcing her husband to endure a long commute into work every day.

(REUTERS) 13 February 2007:

The Family Planning Association in the UK has carried out research that delivers the the following results: Britons are confused about sex. A third of them believe that if a woman jumps up and down after sex then this will stop her getting pregnant. Other errors were in calculating the time of greatest fertility and how long sperm remains active in the body.

The fact that Britons are even willing to or capable of talking about sex is new.

As George Mikes said in his book How to be an Alien, published in 1947, the entirety of his chapter on sex was as follows:

The Continentals have sex lives: the British have hot water bottles.

An advance, surely?

(MSNBC.COM) 22 January 2007:

Some British scientists propose offering rebates to women seeking infertility services in exchange for giving up some of their eggs to be used in stem cell research. So, if you are desperate to become pregnant and can’t afford the pricey treatment, your extra eggs can serve as a half-price coupon.

Proponents of human egg farming make a fairly straightforward case for why rebates or markets in eggs should be allowed. The core of their argument is that women, often college students, are already selling their eggs for cash to help infertile people who want to have babies.

Still, something clearly makes us uncomfortable with the idea because no one who argues for rebates or freewheeling egg markets ever refers to the women getting paid for their eggs as “sellers.” They’re always “donors.” Of course women who get paid $5,000 or get half-off on the price of a cycle of in vitro fertilization, which is worth at least that much, are, in truth, sellers. No amount of rhetorical evasion can change that reality.

(REUTERS) 3 January 2007:

The Beefeaters are the world famous guards of the Tower of London, known for their distinctive red Tudor era uniform embellished with white ruffle and black hat. For the first time in their history, the now 35 strong group has appointed a woman to be a member.

Some may say that this development heralds the fall of the last bastion of the patriarchy, but it’s actually a result of changes that took place decades ago. To join this elite group, members must have served for 22 years in the British armed forces and received medals for both good conduct and long service. As it was only recently that women joined the coeducational armed forces, it is only recently that any woman met these qualifications.

(REUTERS) 27 September 2006:

It has long been one of the standard jokes about the British that they don’t actually ‘do’ sex, at least in comparison to other Europeans. This image will come under some revision after historical archives have been opened, including the first sex survey done in 1949 (which was at the time considered too scandalous to be revealed). It shows that one in five men had had homosexual experiences, one in five married women sex outside marriage and that prostitution was alive and well.

This shouldn’t really come as all that much of a surprise. After all, despite not talking about it very much, the British have survived down the generations, even contributing to the population of large other areas of the world as well.

(REUTERS) 22 September 2006:

George Mikes wrote a book in 1947 called “How to Be an Alien,” in which he described how to be a foreigner in England. The chapter on sex was, in full: ‘The Continentals have sex lives, the British have hot water bottles.’

It would appear that this was less a joke and more a description of reality. A poll by Mori Research has found that some 40% of Britons would be willing to give up sex in return for the promise of living to 100.

There was another finding: 48% of women would be happy to give up sex and only 31% of men. Whether this is a commentary on British women or British men is as yet unknown.