Karen Elson

As scary as it is, I like making real, direct eye contact with people from the stage. In a sense, it's like modeling: that feeling of locking in and projecting some kind of emotion to try to captivate people.

I feel like somehow I'm living my life mentally in reverse. It's taken me to my 30s to feel relaxed and comfortable in my skin. I think I'm going to be dancing on tables when I'm 50. I really hope I am.

This year, 1996, has been designated the 'Year of the Vaccine,' commemorating the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's vaccination of James Phipps with cowpox virus and subsequent challenge with smallpox virus. Insight into the nature of viruses, and how viruses interact with mammalian cells, has evolved since the turn of the century.

We exist in this weirdly schizo culture, where sex is everywhere in the media, and yet, at the same time, you don't sit down and have a conversation about what you did in bed last night with your friends. Despite the ubiquity of sex, it's still a taboo when it comes to day-to-day conversation.

An independent state does not pay too dear a price for its independence in accepting the sufferings of war when it cannot avoid them; a state which has lost its independence may find at least some compensation in the fact that its protector procures for it peace with its neighbours.