Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. Even though there are still five months to go, we like to have lots of time to prepare here at the BMJ. So we would be grateful if you would submit any papers and articles destined for the Christmas issue of the BMJ to http://submit.bmj.com/ by no later than the end of September.

An NHS psychiatrist hoping to make some extra cash to pay for a masters degree course has opted to try his hand on eBay, the online auction site. For a starting price of just £25, eBay customers can bid to email him five questions on their chosen mental health topic. He also has other things for sale, and has sold about 400 items. No one has yet taken him up on his clinical skills (Guardian 19 July 2006).

A randomised controlled trial recently showed that male circumcision could reduce the sexual transmission of HIV from women to men by around 60%. Researchers have now used mathematical models to estimate the potential impact on health of circumcising all men in sub-Saharan Africa. The models predict that male circumcision could prevent two million new cases of HIV infection over the next decade and reduce deaths by 300 000. If extended for another 10 years, …