Shakespeare gives his tragic heroes big endings: they take poison, fall on their swords, perish in duels.

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One woman said that her Indian mother-in-law threatened to take poison if she could not produce a son.

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And Sir Brian Souter, chief executive of Stagecoach, has even said he would rather "take poison" than hand over control of bus services to the politicians.

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Confirmation Bias adds the poison to this mix because once we take a position we are unlikely to change it.

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This morning, Netflix announced that it has adopted a poison pill shareholder rights plan as a defense against unfriendly attempts to take control of the company.

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Raising the petrol tax is political poison, so Congress has hit upon a drearily predictable solution: to take the money from somewhere else.

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