AN alien observing us from outer space would think we’re an odd species. We’re such show-offs in some ways, like sharing intimate details of our lives on social media. Yet we’re strangely coy about some of the most natural functions of the human body.

New figures show nearly four in ten people in the York area who are sent bowel cancer screening tests in the post ignore them. This must, in part at least, be because we find the whole business unseemly.

Bowel cancer screening saves lives - potentially up to 2,000 lives a year by 2025, according to Bowel Cancer UK. But not if we don’t complete the tests.

So please, if you are sent one of these packages, make use of it. Don’t let yourself die from embarrassment.