On Saturday 5 November His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will be addressing the University of Cape Town community at Jameson Hall on environmental issues relating to the upcoming COP17 meeting in Durban.

Source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weiner. Used with permission courtesy of the artist.

The barber’s pole is one symbol of the bloody past of modern medicine. In the late middle-ages barbers not only cut hair but also performed bleeding, cupping and leaching – common ‘medical’ practices. The ill were actually better off not going to a physician. Today the drawing of blood as a treatment is only used in very specific circumstances, e.g. to reduce the amount of red blood cells in cases of haemochromatosis.