Professor Sir Kenneth Murray: Scientist who developed the vaccine against hepatitis B

Murray and his wife Noreen, with their double portrait; they made a formidable team

As chairman of the Court of the University of Edinburgh between 2003 and 2006 I was in a position to know something that Sir Ken Murray – he was Ken, not Kenneth to his vast array of friends in the scientific community worldwide – and his wife, Lady Noreen, did not want generally known: that they had donated over £12m to their university. This fund accrued from the patent rights of Murray's work, which spearheaded the fight against hepatitis. Murray and his Edinburgh team found a way to identify the hepatitis B virus, which seriously damages the liver, and developed a vaccine against it. He was also a co-founder of the biotech company Biogen, which patented the vaccine.

Letter: Psychiatric services that can serve the community

Wednesday 15 December 1993

Sir: The biennial report by the Mental Health Act Commission only confirms what was already known to mental health workers, users of psychiatric services and relatives and carers: acute psychiatric care in inner cities has been in a state of crisis for some time.

Extra cost of NHS changes challenged: Nicholas Timmins reports that 30,000 new posts have brought no obvious care benefits

Saturday 20 November 1993

PRESSURE on health ministers to justify the extra costs of the National Health Service market mounted yesterday when a health authority chairman broke ranks to say there was no evidence that more patients had been treated as a result.

Howls and wry laughter in court

Saturday 20 November 1993

'A Bill will be introduced,' said Her Majesty, in that polite but faintly surprised tone perfected for reading out her various governments' wheezes, 'to strengthen the administration of magistrates' courts.' They are, on the whole, solemn places, magistrates' courts. Yet strange noises echoed within the panelled walls of half the magistrates' courts in the country on Thursday, as Her Majesty opened Parliament. 'A howl of depression,' said one London magistrates' clerk, 'mixed with a wry laugh.'

Health Update: Deadly chickenpox

Tuesday 02 November 1993

CHICKENPOX in adults can be fatal, a researcher from the University of Birmingham has warned. Dr Neil Steven reports in MIMS Magazine the recent death of a young man who caught the disease from his five-year-old daughter. The most common complications in adults, says Dr Steven, are inflammation of the lungs and brain. Acyclovir, an antiviral drug, has just been licensed for use for chickenpox in all adults and children and may reduce the severity of an attack.

Judges of history in the making: A group of academics who foresaw Soviet collapse reconvened recently. Julian Bullard was there

Wednesday 20 October 1993

CHAPTER XVI of Baroness Thatcher's memoirs is entitled 'Men to Do Business with'. It opens with an account of a seminar she convened at Chequers on 8 September 1983 'to pick the brains of experts on the Soviet Union' - meaning not the reigning ministers and mandarins in Whitehall, but specialist academics.

Health: My God, he asked for carrots]: Eileen Fursland offers parents tips on weaning a child off sweet foods

Tuesday 12 October 1993

Who hasn't resorted to bribing a child at some time? 'Just a spoonful of carrots and then you can have some lovely pudding . . .' But, says an American psychologist, bribery is one of several mistakes parents make when it comes to persuading children to eat 'healthy' food.

Private care for mentally ill shows abrupt rise: Increase revealed as fear over costs grows

Tuesday 05 October 1993

A rapid rise in private hospital beds for the mentally ill was revealed yesterday by a government-commissioned study.

Home Computer: Open Forum

Friday 09 July 1993

I think that I may be able to help your correspondents Jane Dalton and M Davies over their problems with diacritical signs (accents) in foreign-language word-processing.

Law: Training the advice squad: Fiona Bawdon reports on new plans to give police station suspects better help improve the advice given to suspects

Friday 14 May 1993

THE TAPE of a suspect being harangued and bullied by police until he falsely confesses to a murder - with his solicitor sitting by saying nothing - is to be used in training to try to improve the quality of police station advisers.

Errors by judges key to appeal success: Quashed convictions often due to mistakes

Friday 07 May 1993

JUDGES' mistakes are by far the most common ground for successful appeals against convictions, it was disclosed yesterday.

Letter: A curriculum that fails in teaching English

Saturday 01 May 1993

Sir: The Council for University English held its annual general meeting on 17 April at the University of Birmingham. The council is the national representative body for all university teachers of English literature and language. At that meeting we had the opportunity to discuss in detail the current revision of the Order for English in the national curriculum. We wish to place on record our strong opposition to that revision.

Battle lines drawn in the fight to decide future of tourism in the Lakes: Malcolm Pithers reports on the moulding of Cumbria

Wednesday 24 March 1993

SOME of nature's jewels lie hidden among the hills, often shrouded in rolling mists, giving only captivating glimpses of the angry beauty of the place. These magical places are the very essence of the Lake District. But nowadays more and more people are seeking such hideaways, and therein lies the problem.

Letter: High price of change in public services

Thursday 25 February 1993

Sir: It is usually going to be funny when a thousand words of journalism promises to give meaning to otherwise meaningless abstractions. Andrew Marr did not disappoint (23 February).

Ending right to silence 'will not increase convictions'

Tuesday 02 February 1993

ABOLITION of the right to silence of suspects under police interrogation would affect only a small number of cases and would be unlikely to increase convictions of guilty people, according to research conducted for the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, writes Terry Kirby.