The logic as he explained it was that by making sure all flights were full the airline

The logic, as he explained it, was that by making sure all flights were full the airline would maximise its earnings, which would allow it to thrive, which in turn would enable it to offer more and better services. After all, a 15-year-old doesn't spend 24 hours a day with his mum Nor do you expect to talk about the prospect of him dying. All breast cancer surgery is now performed in the luteal phase at Guy's but few other surgeons have followed suit. Professor Ian Fentiman, the head of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's breast unit at Guy's, who led the research, said: "It has had no impact whatsoever Surgeons are very happy to try out new technologies. But when it comes to something as simple as the timing of an operation - it just hasn't caught on."The findings of the Guy's study apply to pre-menopausal women but other research by the team suggests postmenopausal women could also be affected.

Most big companies don't like you very much, except for hotels, airlines and Microsoft, which don't like you at all. I was in another hotel, in New York City, when I noticed that the room service menu said: "For your convenience, a charge of 17.5 per cent will be added to all orders."Curiosity aroused, I called room service and asked in what way it would be convenient to me to have 17.5 per cent added to my room service charge.There was a long silence. "Because it guarantees that you will get your food before next Thursday." That may not be the precise form of words the man used, but that was clearly the drift of his sentiment.There is a simple explanation for why this happens. One awaits the day when it sacks everyone and stops handling money altogether, at which point its service should be impeccable.)Still, like most things, good and bad, corporate hypocrisy exists in greater measure here than in most other places. Residents of Skipton, North Yorkshire, may recall the morning a couple of years back when an anonymous and unassuming American-born journalist, in a hurry to catch a train, was to be seen hurling himself bodily at the door of the High Street branch of a leading bank and shouting vivid sentiments through the letter slot with regard to a notice in the window that said: "In order to provide a better service, the bank will open 45 minutes later on Mondays for staff training." (The same bank later made thousands of employees redundant and claimed without evident irony that it was "to provide a better service to our customers".

If the sign had said something honest like: "What do you want ice for anyway? Your beverage is already chilled," I would have no problem with the situation.Of course this is not a strictly American phenomenon. It used to be that there was an ice machine on every floor of every hotel in America. I think it was guaranteed in the Constitution, just above the right to bear arms and below the right to shop till we drop But there was nothing on the eighteenth floor of this hotel. Finally, I found an alcove where an ice machine clearly had once stood, and on the wall was a sign that said: "For your convenience, ice machines are now located on floors 2 and 27." You see my point, of course. My objection isn't to the removal of ice machines per se, but to the pretence that it was done with my happiness in mind. For example, I was recently in a big hotel when I went to get ice, and I traipsed around miles of corridors (possibly, I see now, in a large continuous circle) without finding any. You can usually tell this is happening when the phrase "for your convenience" or "in order to provide a better service for our customers" appears somewhere in writing.

OUR TOPIC this week is a feature of modern life that really gets up my nasal passages, namely the way corporations do things to make life easy for themselves and then pretend it's for your benefit. I do worry.`Embarrassing Illnesses' will run every Tuesday at 8.30pm on Channel 4, until 21 December. When I go to bed at night it's the last thought on my mind and my first in the morning, and I worry. I love you but I want to go and live with my dad."I do understand that I've got to I've railed against how unfair it is Why my son? But I'm so proud of him He's begun talking at schools. One school was quite rough and the kids were giving him a hard time. "I'm telling you boys, examine your balls," he said and he whipped his shirt off and showed his scar.He's not in remission, he's still got a tumour, but he's getting on with his life and doing the normal things.

He said to me, "I keep thinking about what I'd have done if I hadn't had cancer. My life has changed and I have no control over anything any more, but I can control where I live. We left it for a couple of days then we went out for a drink. I became quite sensitive to his moods.Martin has lived with me since I was divorced But one night he said to me: "I need to tell you something I need to go and live with my dad." I was very, very hurt.