The Nuvo Sexe Syndrome was written in 1988 just when it became fashionable for socially successful people to start asking themselves, “could I possibly have caught AIDS?” This suspicion came with a sudden thunderbolt of realisation that lust itself could actually have developed some teeth. Sin had bought some bovver boots. Bein’ horney had never been cornie but perhaps it wasn’t safe. Maybe it could kill you.

That thought had always lurked in the background. Syphilis gonorrhoea, the plague, acne and even gingivitis all seemed to back up this otherwise unhoped for conclusion.