How many people would like to know "how much time they have left"?

I would want to know how much time I’d got left if there was a lot of it - but not otherwise.

Which is logically impossible, because not knowing how long I had would tell me my time was short.

So no.

What are some books that I can learn something from but are also entertaining?

 I really enjoyed Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh. It’s the factual story about how a maths theorem was eventually proved, which sounds amazingly boring but is actually fascinating.

What it taught me was that maths isn’t terrifying, unlike what I’d learned at school. (I was often in tears over maths homework.)

If you prefer novels, my book club recently read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. It’s the story of a woman fossil collector in the early nineteenth century and is loosely based on fact.

We all enjoyed the story because of the main characters but you can also learn a fair bit about fossil collecting and how people responded to the challenge of incorporating these new discoveries into their existing worldviews.

Just one more and again it’s fiction. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer is a story told in letters and journal entries about an English writer who is contacted by someone in Guernsey (Channel Islands) after the war, and how she gradually becomes involved in that community.

It’s funny and touching and had me laughing aloud and in tears and I loved it - as did the rest of the book club. It certainly opened my eyes to what the Channel Islands went through in World War II. I had no idea.

If you only read one of the three, I recommend the last one. Happy reading!

Do cisgender people ever fully appreciate how easy they have it?

 I’m straight, white, female, cis, well-off. I have rather a lot of privileges.

Although I am deeply aware of how very privileged I am, I’m pretty sure I’m not fullyaware. It’s damned hard to see the privilege that you’re benefiting from because it looks so normal.

Until recently I felt a distinct lack of privilege every time I got stuck in a long queue for the ladies loo and watched men going in and out of their loo with no problems. Now I’ve realised that I’m lucky that there are no questions over which loo I should use, and no one trying to make me use a toilet where I’m at serious risk of getting assaulted.

So no, I don’t fully appreciate my privilege but I’m working on becoming a better ally.

Do tiny mothers feel dominated by tall teenage sons at times?

 I’m 5′7″ and my husband and both of my sons are all around 6′2″ish.

I can still remember a day when I was standing there surrounded by them all looking sheepish while I stood with my arms folded and lay down the law to them.

You’ve heard that size doesn’t matter? In this case it was true.

Do you like the television programs of David Attenborough?

 I like David Attenborough a lot. I think he’s a great guy and a great presenter.

I can’t say I always enjoy nature programs though, not even his. I’m not keen on insects and I hate to see animals hunting for prey: either the predator goes hungry (poor thing) or the prey is killed, not usually painlessly.

So, some and some.

If Google is right...

If Google is right and there is no difference between male and female brains, how can transpersons say the sex of their brain does not match that of their body?

This refers to the recent Google firing of a member of staff for circulating this memo.

Google fired their employee for circulating a memo to all staff challenging their diversity policy. The memo was completely tone deaf to the discrimination faced by women and black people (and of course this is intensified for people who are both) especially in technological environments.

This is not evidence that Google thinks that men and women are identical. It does mean that Google thinks that men and women should be given equal opportunities and they recognise that the field is currently biased in favour of men and are working to rectify that.

STEM can be a very hostile environment for women and this memo did not help.

There is no way to get from “we have to give all people the best opportunities we can” to “all people are exactly identical” and Google has not said that.

And even if they had, so what? The only people who know what it is like to be transgender are transgender people. Maybe we should listen to what they have to say.

What are some helpful tips for students starting their first year at Lancaster University?

•  Don’t walk on the grass when it’s been raining.

I grew up on the South Downs and water drains away through the chalk almost instantly. Lancaster is not on chalk and there is mud.

I reckon all my other possible tips are now at least forty years out of date, so I’ll spare you them.

Should I learn to drive?

I'm in high school. Everyone I know is learning how to drive, but I have no desire to do so. Should I wait, or learn now? 

If you can afford to, I’d do it while you have the chance.

My Nan gave me money for driving lessons when I was in my late teens/early twenties and I had no desire to drive at all but I felt I had to use the money for its intended use.

It was one of the best decisions I’ve made!

Being able to drive is a hugely useful skill, and you may find later on that you want to drive and find it hard to fit lessons into your life. Plus I think it’s easier to learn a new skill like that when you’re young.

So I would say, go for it!

Would you take this pill?

If I offered you a pill that would cure you of your hearing loss/deafness, would you take it, and why/why not?

I started losing my hearing in my 40s; it’s mostly normal age-related hearing loss but that comes early in my family. I also had a virus or burst blood vessel that vastly reduced the hearing in my right ear when I was in my 50s.

So - late onset hearing loss. I grew up hearing normally, I know what I’m missing, and my brain is wired to process speech sounds. Hearing aids help a lot but they can’t fully restore hearing in my right ear which is too far gone.

You bet I’d take your magic pill!

What is an alternative word for gypsy?

What is an alternative word for gypsy, as in someone who moves around a lot and doesn't settle in one place? 

When I worked in a school setting, we had children in the school who came and went depending on where their family were living at the time. Most of the people made their living working for fairgrounds and they moved with the fairs.

They were Travellers.

In the UK there are three different identities that people may feel apply to them as travelling people: Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller.

You can read more about the different groups here:

The Traveller Movement
Friends, Families and Travellers
Social services can support Travellers through effective monitoring

It looks as though the terms are not interchangeable: Gypsies and Travellers are self-identified separate ethnic groups. However, if you want a generic word to cover anyone moving around from place to place, in the UK your best bet would probably be Traveller.