Dr Juliet McGrattan explores why urine might turn all the colours of the rainbow, and what it indicates about our underlying health.

The presentation concluded with the presentation of the Scottish Boys Area Team Championship Trophy, won by the ayrshire team of Euan Brown, Michael Stewart, David Currie and Cameron Gray at Forres, the winning team being joined by team manager Ian Walker who also received a special medal to mark his contribution to the team success. Because urine is clearing waste from the blood which has circulated right around the body, a change in urine colour can indicate a problem in various organs and systems. Some people have their reasons. (You’d have to, right?) In a life-or-death situation, with no potable water, imbibing your own wee may keep you alive longer, but don’t make it a habit. Remember the garbage metaphor? Because urine is a waste product, each cycle through your body adds a new batch of toxins, so after a while, drinking the stuff would do you more harm than good. Finally, here, Cathy and her fellow activists continued the struggle to the point of organising a weekend competition in which teams of interdisciplinary technical experts, but crucially chaired by tenants, were tasked to design affordable interventions to prevent dampness and fungal spore infestation in a sample of Easterhouse houses (which did not include Cathy’s house). The competition winner was titled Retrofit Solar Improvement of Thermally Inefficient or Substandard Housing. Cathy and her activist colleagues applied for and obtained a promise of funding from the European Commission if a substantial local government contribution was made. Despite severe, sustained, opposition, Cathy and her activist colleagues obtained the required commitments and a demonstration project was implemented. Evaluation of the implemented project showed it simultaneously: eliminated dampness and fungal spore infestation; greatly reduced poverty by huge fuel savings; much improved mental and physical health; and massively reduced carbon dioxide emissions.I was let out of the car at the Sgiogarstaidh road end by my dear wife at 12.30pm on what appeared to be a short break in the weather. Within 30 minutes I arrived at Bonny Cuisheadair which, despite the "Western Isles Walking Guide's" assurance that it was full of ruins, turned out to be quite well cared for with well maintained huts some of them surrounded by mown grass and planters. Some wag had also placed a sign warning the unsuspecting walker of koala bears! Cathy finished her formal education at the age of 15, leaving school against her wishes at her parents’ insistence (her financial contribution was essential to keep the family’s head above water). Cathy lived most of her adult life unemployed in Easterhouse, a township of 60,000 people, thrown up outside Glasgow to accommodate the tenants of demolished tenements in inner city areas of Glasgow. When Cathy moved into Easterhouse, it was characterised by astronomical unemployment, dire relative and absolute poverty, catastrophically low levels of health, damp fungal spore infested housing, absent community infrastructure and rudimentary public transport. A number of eminent figures travelled to Stirling to contribute to the series including Professor Marie Jahoda, who had been a repository and relayer of international research into psychological aspects unemployment since her seminal participatory investigation of the unemployed community of Marienthal, near Vienna, in the early 1930s. Other contributors included Professor Adrian Sinfield, eminent professor of social policy at Edinburgh University who had studied and written extensively about unemployment for decades and Jeremy Seabrook, an English author and journalist who had received acclaim for his insightful, sympathetic and politically sophisticated writing about unemployed people.

Other pee drinkers believe their habit lengthens their lifespan. Practitioners of “urotherapy” claim that consuming your own urine can cure acne, weight problems, and even cancer. The American Cancer Society does not agree. Old or ‘stale’ blood has a browner colour than fresh blood and can result from any of the causes of red urine listed above. The Wee Yellow Book, considered by many to be the golfing bible for Scottish golfers who take part in open competitions, is now available on line. The winning Scottish Boys Area Team Championship team - Euan Brown, Cameron Gray, David Currie & Michael Stewart.

Green is a more unusual and more startling colour for urine. It’s usually temporary and due to a simple reason but it can be linked to infections: Sarah Parker is a Lecturer in English at Loughborough University. She is the author of The Lesbian Muse and Poetic Identity, 1889–1930 (Routledge, 2013) and Michael Field: Decadent Moderns (co-edited with Ana Parejo Vadillo, Ohio University Press, 2019). She has published several articles and book chapters on poets including Amy Levy, H.D., Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Olive Custance.