I am shocked, when canvassing my friends, that in taking the contraceptive pill I am in the minority.

And I have no idea how we, well educated in the dangers of unprotected sex and way past our teens, have got to this stage. I've stopped asking my friends if they've used a condom when we do our regular one-night-stand postmortems, not because it makes me look like a neurotic teenager, but because I know that they haven't. At one point or another, we've all had it (haven't we? Haven't we?). She's no teenager, and I have to admit I'd thought she would know better. 'I've had unprotected sex so many times with no results that I think I might be infertile.' I doubt that she needed my judgment face at that particular moment, but she got it. 'S o… wait,' I asked my friend Hayley, over some overpriced wine in my local one evening, 'you don't use any contraception, at all?' 'None,' she said matter-of-factly.