Seasonal silliness from my family. I’d like to claim to be the stylish one on the ski-bob, that odd bike thing with skis where the wheels should be, but I’m afraid that accolade goes to my father. He’s on the bike in the final video clip (I precede him on the sled). But for the fact that he dropped his cigar in the snow, you’d never know he was 75…

As far as I can tell from the file downloads for December, over 5000 people downloaded the book. Many of you were kind enough to write to thank Granta, and some of you copied me. Comments include:

“I’m a 22 year old student from India and I just wanted to thank you and your
publisher for giving the ebook for free, making it more feasible for people like
me, who don’t usually have the same financial means to purchase ebooks,”

“Knowledge and awareness is the best present anyone can
receive this holidays.”

“Congratulations on this wonderful move from Granta — how fabulous of them!”

“I just wanted to thank you for offering the eBook version of Wisdom of Whores online, for free, for the month of December. People WILL want paper copies after reading it in this format…”

“I think a number of students and my mother and some others will benefit highly, and it gives those of us with paper copies the warm fuzzies toward you and Granta. And I can take your book with me every time I travel – this is a huge boon for those of us who do much of our writing in hotel rooms!”

“I realize that making an ebook available for a free download is a complicated tradeoff between mindshare and revenue for the publisher and author, and I’d like you to know that in my case, at least, I think the tradeoff worked.”

“Thank you so much for allowing us to download this book. I read the hardcover
version over a year ago, and the information I learned still informs my research
and discussion on HIV/AIDS today.”

“Your decision to make The Wisdom of Whores available in the form of e-book is much appreciated. I write from Nepal and for us first it is a challenge to get a copy, and second the price of books printed abroad is significant.”

The eBook is no longer available on this site, but you can find information about e-readers here.

I’m very grateful to my publisher, Granta, for allowing readers free access to the eBook of the Wisdom of Whores for December 2010. A little disclosure: I had a bet with Granta staff about how many people would download the eBook. The bet was made in second bottle territory so the details are hazy; one of said we expected a maximum of 15 downloads, the other did not venture beyond single figures.

As far as I can tell from the file downloads for December, over 5000 people downloaded the book. Many of you were kind enough to write to thank Granta, and some of you copied me. Comments include:

“I’m a 22 year old student from India and I just wanted to thank you and your
publisher for giving the ebook for free, making it more feasible for people like
me, who don’t usually have the same financial means to purchase ebooks,”

“Knowledge and awareness is the best present anyone can
receive this holidays.”

“Congratulations on this wonderful move from Granta — how fabulous of them!”

“I just wanted to thank you for offering the eBook version of Wisdom of Whores online, for free, for the month of December. People WILL want paper copies after reading it in this format…”

“I think a number of students and my mother and some others will benefit highly, and it gives those of us with paper copies the warm fuzzies toward you and Granta. And I can take your book with me every time I travel – this is a huge boon for those of us who do much of our writing in hotel rooms!”

“I realize that making an ebook available for a free download is a complicated tradeoff between mindshare and revenue for the publisher and author, and I’d like you to know that in my case, at least, I think the tradeoff worked.”

“Thank you so much for allowing us to download this book. I read the hardcover
version over a year ago, and the information I learned still informs my research
and discussion on HIV/AIDS today.”

“Your decision to make The Wisdom of Whores available in the form of e-book is much appreciated. I write from Nepal and for us first it is a challenge to get a copy, and second the price of books printed abroad is significant.”

The eBook is no longer available on this site, but you can find information about e-readers here.

In respect of the paperback cover pictured above which I whined about and now love, I would like to offer to Granta the nine words that are so hard to come by in the English language:

I was wrong. You were right. I am sorry.

One woman, who tends as many in the audience towards the well-preserved Russian hooker look, asked me afterwards whether it was true that HIV could pass through a condom. I get that a lot, so I just explained how daft the idea was. “Ah! I’m a Doctor of Psychology and I didn’t know that,” she said. That slightly floored me, but it was nothing compared with what followed: “You said there was not much good news around HIV. But my colleagues tell me there is, that nowadays homosexuality is 80% reversible.”

This in a country whose capital already allows gay marriage. Apparently there is still a long way to go…

Para los Hispanofonos, aqui la presentacion. Tampoco uno de mi mejores, pero se hace lo que pueda.

Illustration by Fernando Vicente

This week, the Great and the Good of the AIDS industry gather in Vienna for the biennial AIDS circus. With delicious irony, the conference, held right next to the barracks of the UN’s Drug Warriors, will focus in part on getting more countries to do the one thing that really works in HIV prevention — providing clean needles to drug injectors.

That means that there will be a lot of talk about the evidence base. There’s always a lot of talk at these conferences, and although I escaped Vienna just before the start of the conference (to see the inimitable Grace Jones play Lovebox), I’m as much of a windbag as anyone. While pontificating in the BMJ video (below) about the evidence base for harm reduction, I think there’s a more important point to be made to the small coterie of scientists who wash around in the larger tide of 20,000 AIDS junkies, Poz Professionals, singing orphans, dancing hookers, jostling NGO workers, bewildered journalists and UN PR-wallahs that floods these conferences.

The point, made at greater length in an essay in the Lancet (pdf), is that we can’t look at scientific evidence in isolation. [The collage at the top of this post comes from the essay. For works of both anatomical and philosophical beauty, do browse Fernando Vicente's illustrations]. Yes, there’s lots of scientific evidence that harm reduction saves lives. But there’s a huge body of political evidence, too. And that evidence suggests that politicians do what voters want, or, at very best/worst, what politicians think they can get away with. For many politicians in many countries for many years, that has meant not spending voters’ money on helping people take drugs more safely.

As long as that is true, the scientific evidence will continue to be secondary. No matter how many well-spoken epidemiologists do their bit on YouTube.

Or, for that matter, how many nice people stand at the entrance to festivals such as Lovebox handing out orange wristbands that read “Nice People Take Drugs”. As I wandered in with my happy band of blue-tongued smurfs, I reflected that if ever there was a case of preaching to the converted…
But I also take issue with the statement, which has a UNICEF lobbyist ring to it. “Most people at risk for HIV are young” does NOT translate into “Most young people are at risk for HIV”. Nice people take drugs, certainly. But are we to believe that most people who take drugs are nice? Maybe yes, maybe no; since a majority of young people in the UK take drugs, it rather depends on your view of human nature.

Still, the folks at Release who run the campaign have come up with some fun ideas. I especially like the “Politicians Drug Confessions” playing cards.

You can buy them here.

But this one, from a fount of indignation calling Himself “Derrail”, deserves its own post. The grammar alone will make you laugh. And the unwitting insights:

YOUR A FUNGUS AN EPIDEMIC AND OUTBREAKING SHOW OFF

Mental illness is an odd thing, isn’t it? By turns worrying: (YOUR A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY WOMEN SHOULD NEVER BE FREE TO ROAM AND SPEAK OUT IN THE PUBLIC ARENA) and amusing (YOUR FATHER FOR WHATEVER REASON REFUSED TO CHERISH YOU OR ELSE YOUR A MARX’S).

The toxic whole, sent in response to a post about sex worker legislation in Illinois, is after the jump. Prizes for the best response.

If you’d like to copy your response to Derrail, he gives his email address as UG_FC@YAHOO.COM

HELLO, I JUST CAUGHT WIND OF THIS YOU WROTE. I KNOW THE LAW IN ILLINOIS IS A FIRST STEP IN CRACKING DOWN WHOREDOM. IN THE LAW OF GOD IT IS FORBIDDEN FOR FATHERS TO WHORE OUT THEIR DAUGHTERS SAYING THE WHOLE WORLD BE GIVEN OVER TO IT WHOREDOM. AND INDEED YOU PRETTY MUCH MANIFESTED THAT POINT YOU AND YOUR SISTERS. THE UNDERLINE ISSUE IS GOD IS AGAINST YOU SUBHUMAN BEINGS. THEREFORE THE WRATH OF GOD IS BEING REVEALED FROM HEAVEN. YOU DO MAKE A VERY GOOD POINT. WHICH IS THE MORE A MAN OR WOMAN LISTENS TO YOU YOUR WORDS BEGIN WINDING THEM DOWN. AS THE WINDS FROM YOUR TONGUE UNLEASH VOLCANO AFTER VOLCANO.

YOUR A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY WOMEN SHOULD NEVER BE FREE TO ROAM AND SPEAK OUT IN THE PUBLIC ARENA. YOU PLAY ON SYMPATHY WHICH IS YOUR ERROR. INSTEAD OF JUST DYING! IF YOU DIDN’T COMMIT FORNICATION NONE OF THIS WOULD ENSUE YOU. THEREFORE THE LAW IS AGAINST US ALL SAYING IF YOU DO SO YOU’LL SURELY DIE.

YOUR FATHER FOR WHATEVER REASON REFUSED TO CHERISH YOU OR ELSE YOUR A MARX’S OR EVEN AN ORPHANE. BUT HOE’S ARE PECULIAR THERE AIN’T NO LIMIT TO WHAT YOU’LL DO FOR MONEY. YOUR GREEDY AND YOU JUSTIFY YOUR ACTIONS ON THE DEPENDENCY OF FOOD.

BUT IF YOU ALL SUBMITTED TO GOD THEN THE PULPIT WOULD INDEED REVEAL UNTO YOU ALL PREPARATION “FASTING”. SO STOP HIDING BEHIND CURTAINS OF DECEIT. AND OWN UP TO THE TRUTH YOU DESPISE THE RULE OF OUR FATHER WHO IS GOD.

HERE IS YOUR VERDICT YOUR ALL ABOUNDING TO SHOWCASE THE EVIDENCE OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY, YOUR ALL INCLUDING YOU NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT EATING. FOR THESE THREE TRESPASSES YOUR ALL ABOUT TO DIE. YOU SOLICIT YOURSELVES, YOU ENHANCE THY WORTHLESSNESS,AND YOU BEAR FALSE WITNESS. THESE THREE EQUAL DEATH WATCH AND SEE SAITH JEHOVAH’S WITNESS DEATH I TELL!

IF INDEED YOUR WORTH WAS IN HARMONY WITH MY PRECEPTS I WOULD INDEED ENTREAT YOU TO DINE IN WITH ME. BUT I DID NOT SAY FOR YOU NOR DID I AT ALL APPOINT YOU JUDGES. YOUR A VAGRAINT LYING HYPOCRITE AND YOU KNOW IT. THEREFORE SAITH JEHOVAH I SHALL DO UNTO YOU AS YOU IMAGINED TO DO UNTO ALL MY INHABITANTS WITH THY TRIFLING SELF. YOU TRULY DO DISGUST ME AND I CAN’T STAND YOUR NASTY SELF SAITH THE LORD. NOTHING IS WORST THAN A SMELLY ONION SHOWBOATING.

YOUR A FUNGUS AN EPIDEMIC AND OUTBREAKING SHOW OFF. WHO HEARS VOICES ALL THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND INTO THE LATE NITE. SAYING HE’S GONNA COME AND GET YOU. REMINDING YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN OF ALL YOUR FORMER SINS AGAINST ME. SAYING GOD WILL FORGIVE ME GOD WILL UNDERSTAND. BUT YOU’VE MISTAKENLY MISUSED YOUR LAST HOPES OF GETTING INTO MY FAMILY SAITH JEHOVAH. I DON’T WANT YOU EVER SAITH JEHOVAH. I HAVE WATCHED YOU HURT ME AGAIN AND AGAIN. SAYING IF YOU FORGIVE ME I PROMISE TO NEVER DO IT AGAIN BUT YOU DIDN’T DID YOU EVEN LAST NIGHT. EXPECTING AND UNDRESSING FOR MANY OTHER NEW LOVERS I’M FINISHED WITH YOU SAITH JEHOVAH F I N I S H E D WATCH AND SEE ME DO THIS I AM THE LORD

Christmas in London — what better way to celebrate than carol singing in the streets of Soho with singers from Westmister Abbey and the International Union of Sex Workers? The Rector of St Anne’s parish in Soho swished out in front in long robes and fuschia beret but it was this banner, carried by Nico and Thierry, that really led the way. Note the trick photography — by the time we got out on the streets it was dark and floating with magical snowflakes; the boys were definitely wearing more than body paint.

Soho was full of good cheer; lots of people joined in the carolling and a couple of crusty punks pulled out descant voices that rivalled the cathedral choir’s. There was much cheering for hookers; it made me wonder how many people knew that the jurassic feminists in this Nanny government had just the month before pushed through new legislation that will make it more dangerous for women (and men, and transgenders) to sell sex in the UK.

My challenge the evening of the carol singing was to tear myself away from the Glo-ooooo-ooooo-rias in time to heat up vast vats of mulled wine. I rose to that occasion ok. My challenge for the New Year is somewhat more daunting. TED has announced the programme for its next conference in California, and I’m hugely honoured to be speaking there, in some very great company.

TED talks are not very often about sex. But the best of them can even make statistics sexy. I leave you with this classic from Hans Rosling, an ally in the war on Data Hugging Disorder, but here popping some of the bubbles of the HIV narrative.

The Guardian on Saturday ran a review of The Wisdom of Whores, which is newly out in paperback in the UK. In it, Nicholas Lezard suggests I sound like a fun person to go for a drink with. By conincidence, I spent the weekend with someone who was at university with Nick. He was, aparently, nicknamed The Mole by those who had a grudging admiration for his almost entirely nocturnal existance.

That may rather explain both why he enjoyed the book and why he thinks I might be up for a drink. For a book that pretends to be about epidemiology and public health policy, an awful lot of the activity in The Wisdom of Whores takes place with a beer after midnight.

Off-topic but on memory: 20 years ago today I was in Tiananmen Square, reporting for Reuters on the chaos that was the student movement. It was an odd time — sweaty, rank-smelling but rather jolly. Erica’s photo captures rather well the unbridled hubris and optimism of the students, right up to the last day or two of their protest. It wasn’t until the evening of June 3rd that things got really nasty. By midnight, things were nasty enough that most people, students and foreign journalists alike, had left the square. I stayed there with a colleague, Graham Earnshaw, until the tanks came in at dawn. Or at least I think I did. Graham’s memory of what happened is rather different.

When I first became aware of the difference, I got in touch with several of the old muckers who were in and around the Square with me. What if we all wrote down now what we remember of that night, then compared notes? No-one was up for it. I guess everyone was frightened about the tricks memory can play — and indeed it was that, more than the actual events in Tiananmen Square, that were the subject of the piece I wrote in Granta recently. (pdf) In the last couple of weeks, however, several of my friends and colleagues have sent me their version of events (including this nice piece from Andy Roche.)

In the intervening years, I’ve had the opportunity of working closely with the Chinese government. My colleagues in the Ministry of Health were young, dynamic, well-trained. Though many were from the post-Tiananmen generation, all were aware of what happened, and many were interested in discussing the implications two decades on. Attending mock press conferences to prepare for the release of controversial HIV estimates (inevitably and somewhat ironically, I took the role of the Rotweiler foreign correspondent) I find it hard to believe that the higher-ups could have allowed Tiananmen to happen. And I find it equally baffling that they are trying, still, to suppress discussion of events which were never a real threat to Party rule, and which in the eyes of most of the population belong to a distant past. The student leaders of yesteryear were not terribly coherent in their demands, but the central item of their agenda — corruption within the Communist Party — remains the major threat to that Party’s survival. If the old men sitting sclerotically atop the Politburo were to spend less time blocking web-sites and more time fighting corruption, they’d have little to worry about.

Thanks to Paul Canning for pointing me to Patrick’s work. Readers might want to check out Paul’s comments on Iraq’s hideous treatment of gay men, and Britain’s spineless reaction.