It is a strange irony that although many cardiologists are far from humble, the test that they have used on almost all their patients day in and day out for decades is, in the words of Phil Smith and his colleagues on page 48, the “humble electrocardiogram”. For such a high tech speciality this is truly amazing. Even us more plodding neurologists have more or less abandoned our old favourites like the skull x ray, the EEG, which is now far less useful than it used to be (was it ever?), and even examining the cerebrospinal fluid is a much less popular pastime (there will …