Comment: Don't delay, get your prostate test booked today

For years, prostate cancer has been the illness that people don't really talk about. Maybe, in part because it is a disease that is confined to men, who are perhaps reluctant to talk about the their medical conditions, and also perhaps because of embarrassment about the area of the anatomy affected. And then there are the unhelpful myths about the tests required to diagnose the illness. 

Well, given that it has now overtaken breast cancer as the most common form of the illness in the UK, it is high time we started talking about prostate cancer more freely.

Latest data shows that 64,425 men were diagnosed with the disease in the space of 12 months, compared with 61,640 diagnosed with breast cancer.

One one level, this is good news. Part of the reason for the disease is that people are living longer. And thanks to the efforts of local heroes such as Telford boxing legend Richie Woodhall and radio personality Eric Smith, more and more men are overcoming their squeamishness and taking the test. 

Charity Prostate Cancer UK said there had been a 42 per cent rise in diagnoses over the past decade thanks to increased awareness, and is calling for the  NHS to expand its screening programme.

We heartily concur. 

And to all men over the age of 50, don't be shy, ask your GP about the test right away. No time .like the present. Your life could depend on it.