Front cover: A homeless man emphasises where he spends the night Photography by Moyra Peralta Out There A medical French weekend course: 29-31 January 1999, at Burton Manor, Cheshire, England. Organised by Professor Gareth Williams at the University of Liverpool and the Anglo-French Medical Society. Perfect for any student planning to take an elective in a French speaking country - and it is also a lot of fun! Costs are £75 (residential) and £50 (non-residential). For further information, please contact Christine Greenwood on 0151 529 2930. GLADD student meeting: Gay and lesbian medical students are invited to a fabulous social event with workshops, guest speakers, buffet, and free nightclub entry, on 13 February, in Birmingham. Limited places. Enquiries: 070 1070 5606 or e-mail: gladd@dircon.co.uk TALC - Teaching Aids at Low Cost: TALC is a non-profit organisation supplying teaching aids and books to raise standards of health care worldwide. In order to keep postal costs low, TALC is asking students who are going abroad for electives or visits to take some textbooks from TALC with them. Many of the books cannot be found in the high street bookshops, and all are half the price of retail. TALC is in the Library/Resource centre in the Institute of Child Health, (+44 (0) 171 242 9789 x2424), 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH. Ring TALC, with details of what you want before you visit (10 am-4 pm, Mon-Fri). Alternatively, write or ring for a catalogue - TALC, PO Box 49, St Albans, Herts AL1 5TX, tel: +44 (0) 1 727 853869.

Student BMJ December 1998 volume 6 Editorials Is medical school selection discriminatory? Randomised Controlled Trials Trials: the next 50 years News and student politics Medical students face uncertain future BMA launches campaign to stop exodus of doctors Leeds medical school to up its intake Dance drug may cause brain damage Medical negligence to be handled by specialists Brain cells can regenerate Graduates follow four year course at Aberdeen Medical training in Austria fails to meet European guidelines Scientists cultivate stem cells in the laboratory Education How to do it: Select medical students Controlled Trials: the 1948 watershed Coping with loss: the dying child Picture Quiz Viagra - the rationing debate continues Net.Philes Papers Factors affecting likelihood of applicants being offered a place in medical schools in the United Kingdom in 1996 and 1997: retrospective study Life Homeless people... who cares? The general practice contract Planning your elective - Bosnia-Hercegovina I'm No Refugee The not-so-secret diary of a medical student Setting up in Sudan Why teaching hospitals aren't so good at teaching The New York City Marathon Letters Needlestick fright Racism in medical school admissions Celebrity's death from cancer resulted in increased calls to CancerBACUP Soundings Dance freak Tumble in the jungle Reviews Overseas Clinical Elective - A Survival Guide for Healthcare Workers Knife to the Heart. The Story of Transplant Surgery Epidemiology; essential Public Health Medicine; Lecture notes on epidemiology and public health medicine Fire in the Mind; Science, Faith and The Search for Order Minerva Editors choice When I C McManus's paper on factors affecting admission to medical school in the United Kingdom was published in the BMJ, the reaction to it veered from knee jerk to a more considered analysis of the data. We reproduce the paper in full (p 462), along with the commentaries, and letters in reply. We also include our own critical appraisal, by Alison Tonks, and an article by David Powis (p 452) on how medical schools selected you. Kamran Abbasi's editorial comments "whether [the evidence] proves racial discrimination is open to debate ... deans of medical schools should use [the data] as a catalyst for change instead of viewing criticism based on them as an assault on the credibility of their institutions." Our Life section this month begins with an article on primary care for homeless people in London. Winter is often the one time when people notice that not everyone has a place to sleep for the nightdiscarded sleeping bags and blankets tell their own story. The medical staff who talk to Simon Kirwin (p 469) make it their business to notice all the year round. Who cares? - p 469 Our "Planning your elective" article, on Bosnia (p 472), is unusual - we are not encouraging students to do their elective there. We also part from tradition by publishing a work of fiction (by Andrew Brent (p 474)) as an elective report. 30 October marked the 50th anniversary of the publication, in the BMJ, of the world's first randomised controlled trial of the use of streptomycin in pulmonary tuberculosis. Bosnian refugees - p 474 In recognition of this we publish two editorials. Iain Chalmers discusses how randomised trials have increased people's life expectancy over the last 50 years, and Richard Peto and Colin Baigent argue that large, simple trials are needed for the future. For some light relief, read why Ally Hickson (p 478) thinks teaching hospitals are not very good at ... teaching. The cover of the studentBMJ has been redesignedwhat do you think? Write in and let us know, but, much more importantly, tell us what you think of McManus's paper. We will be back in February - enjoy the festive season, wherever you are. Learning free zone- p 478