Were I dancing with the starlet of ‘The Avengers’ – the revered spy-fi tv show of the sixties – it might be news. But sadly not.*

No, I am referring to the silence that falls across Whitehall during a General Election and is intended to ensure the fight between political parties is a fair one.

Before the General Election was called and given my role, I decided I would apply the same rules to myself as cover others working in government during a campaign.

No one told me to. In fact, no one in Government has ever asked me to amend or take something off my blog. Maybe that says more about my blog than them!

Anyway, I thought I would ease off the blog for a few weeks; after all, a change is as good as a rest. But mostly out of respect for the convention which is a good one.

So this is a momentary pop-up blog to bring some interesting stuff to your attention. As many as I can write during my train journey home from Cardiff anyway.

We are now less than three weeks away from NIHR’s ‘OK to ask’ campaign for International Clinical Trials Day on 20 May. Details including how to order leaflets etc here: http://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/ok-to-ask.htm
Watch out for the weekly Twitter chats with patients, doctors and nurses about research in different conditions and how you can take part.

Someone said to me a few days ago that the ‘OK to ask’ message was a bit patronising. I can only answer this by saying that the biggest mistake you can make as a speaker is to assume your audience have already heard something.

There’s a helpful video about the new JoinDementiaResearch website now available on YouTube: http://youtu.be/BRbpXJ5WCLI
I understand that Twitter and Facebook are regarded as passé by young people these data and its YouTube that matters. So, nice job JDR.

The Academy of Medical Sciences has published the report of its symposium earlier this year entitled ‘Patient adherence to medicines’ see here: http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/policy/policy-projects/patient-adherence-to-medicines/

INVOLVE have a frequently updated news page and there’s a new entry today about McPin and mental health. I won’t steal INVOLVE’s thunder or McPin who I love : http://www.invo.org.uk/news/

A good colleague – Kristina Stanley – has got off to a cracking start with her new blog about public involvement http://kristinastaley.com Her first piece is entitled ‘It’s a trip.’ Read it and follow it!

A few weeks ago there was a good BBC Radio 4 ‘You and Yours’ feature about public involvement in rare diseases. You can listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qfkjp

And that’s it until May 8 or thereabouts my friends. Enjoy the rest of the election.

*Those who know their history will of course know that the character’s name is ‘Purdy.’