To make a valid will, a person should be able to understand the nature and consequences of doing so, the extent of their estate and the claims others may have on it. No disorder of mind should be present that would affect their testamentary decisions, and clinicians are therefore often asked to give an opinion on whether a person has testamentary capacity. This article discusses the legal issues involved, with reference to UK case law (in particular, the legal test of Banks v Goodfellow (1870)), and outlines the requirements of testamentary capacity assessment (including retrospective assessments), the clinician's responsibilities when requested by a solicitor to make an assessment of capacity (‘the golden rule’) and what they might expect if appearing in court to give expert witness regarding testamentary capacity. Fictitious case studies are presented illustrating certain points in testamentary capacity assessment.

We outline benefits and problems of introducing internet-based approaches (e.g. e-learning, social networking) into journal clubs. We also look at potential risks to the continuing existence of clubs posed by the changing health economy and the move in psychiatry from clinical medicine to community care. Overall, we are optimistic for the journal club's survival.

For nearly half a century democratic citizens have been preoccupied with the search for self-respect. Though classical liberalism places this question outside its purview and many commentators see in such a concern evidence of a “thin-skinned” political culture, John Rawls has recently provided serious arguments for the political relevance of self-respect. These arguments, we claim, are deeply indebted to the social and political theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose deep albeit underexamined influence on Rawls shows itself both in Rawls's conception of the social problem as well as in his solution to it. Rawls's belief that the provision of self-respect can solve the social problem is uniquely Rousseauan not only because of its emphasis on equality but also because it suggests political life can and must reconcile the conflicts between self and society at a fundamental level.

Old age psychiatry services globally are under threat. The discipline enjoyed its heyday in the two decades bridging the millennium. More recently there has been a move to integrate old age services with those of working age adults, to create ‘ageless' services. Evidence is beginning to accumulate that this is a bad idea.

I think it is fair to say that the UK was one of the first countries to develop dedicated old age psychiatry services. The first such documented service was set up in the Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries in 1958 (Robinson, 1965). This arose after decades of recognition that older people with mental illness get a raw deal if they are managed in adult services (Hilton, 2012). Following a slow start, specific old age services began to burgeon. The discipline got recognition as a separate faculty in the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1988, and throughout the eighties and nineties, virtually all areas of the UK developed their own specialist old age psychiatry services; multi-disciplinary teams working with people over the age of 65 generally providing community-based services with input to people's homes as the norm.

On June 13, 2012, a group of key stakeholders, leaders, and national experts on tuberculosis (TB), occupational health, and laboratory science met in Atlanta, Georgia, to focus national discussion on the higher than expected positive results occurring among low-risk, unexposed healthcare workers undergoing serial testing with interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs). The objectives of the meeting were to present the latest clinical and operational research findings on the topic, to discuss evaluation and treatment algorithms that are emerging in the absence of national guidance, and to develop a consensus on the action steps needed to assist programs and physicians in the interpretation of serial testing IGRA results. This report summarizes its proceedings.

The community placement of people with serious mental illness has focused on assimilation. The broad community, however, seems largely unwilling to support and include them. The result is programmes to help people maintain their community lives mainly through the support of formal mental health services. The social and economic development of ‘identity communities' of people with serious mental illness is an alternative model to assimilation. An identity community consists of people with shared interests, beliefs, experiences or needs which affect the identity of the participants and the cohesiveness of the group. Such communities can be economically sustainable and offer members more ways of having meaningful lives. Examples of this recovery-friendly approach are provided as a viable way of enhancing community support without additional expense.

In the second of two articles on rare causes of dementia, the authors describe toxic, iatrogenic, nutritional, traumatic, metabolic, neoplastic and autoimmune causes of dementia. Disorders are graded according to their prevalence, to give an idea of the likelihood of their presentation. Guidance is given on the investigation of uncommon cognitive impairment and dementia, especially in early-onset illness.