Vaccines save lives... that's a fact

N holiday in Cornwall the other week I was enchanted by the sight of two swans and their six cygnets padding away by the banks of a river.

- SUSAN LEE

Mummy swan was less enchanted, however, by a dog who had strayed too close to her babies and hissed so viciously both animal and owner fled.

The powerful urge to protect our young cuts through all species, I guess.

A couple of days later the little feathered family was back. This time, though, two of the offspring were gone.

"That's why they have quite a few babies," explained my husband, coming over all David Attenborough, as I fretted what might have become of the poor chicks.

"The likelihood of them losing some of their young is huge; it's like an insurance policy." And that's what we as humans used to do, right?