It's a formative memory: I returned from school to find a relative sitting in the dark, still in their dressing gown, crying their heart out. Toddling through to the kitchen, I asked another family member, 'What's wrong?' Her reply was puzzling: 'Oh, nothing, darling. They're absolutely fine!' Hmm. Someone wasn't...
'The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.' (Psalm 102:19-20) No one knows how many prisoners there were back when the psalmist penned these lines, but today God hears the cries...
Rachael Pickering explains CMF's Summer School. After the success of last year's summer camp, this year's summer school will once again be a collaboration between CMF and Petros Training, the training arm of the non-profit healthcare company I work for. We deliver medical services to vulnerable patient groups, especially the mentally...
Editors: Lisa Firth and Claire Owen Independence Educational Publishers £5.95 (each) Pb 28pp www.independence.co.uk/issues-today.htm Issues Today is an onging series designed for younger secondary school children. Six of the more recent titles are Cloning, HIV & AIDS, Fitness, Eating Disorders, Mental Health, and Self-Harm. Each topic is introduced with...
The best thing about my new job is its remoteness – 60-mile round trips for house calls through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. A whole hour per patient to admire the scenery and relax, think and pray, brood or just-be-alone! Last week I decided to use the drive to plan this...
The last Juniors' Forum was all about the need to develop good general communication skills.[1] For the rest of the year though, we're going to look at common pitfalls that arise when communicating specific issues to colleagues and patients. This issue, we're looking at abortion... I'm scared! There are those...
Juniors' Forum has decided to spend a few issues exploring the gentle art of good communication. 'Oh no!' I hear you cry. 'How boring!' Certainly that's how I felt as a houseman (pre-registration doctor), but then my one and only undergraduate experience of 'learning communication skills' had been highly ironic...
The New Year kicked off with an announcement of yet another NHS shake-up. In a speech pegged around the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the NHS, Gordon Brown revealed that the nation's rarely-seen-in-the-NHS, healthy citizens are to be encouraged to see the doctor anyway, in order to prevent them turning into...
I have always been fascinated by Wilberforce: we were both born and bred in Hull and even attended the same school, admittedly 200 years apart! He was a truly great Christian, using his immense wealth and power to achieve his life-long mission statement: 'God has set before me two great...
After ten years of campaigning for the decriminalisation of Britain's most widely available drug, the Independent newspaper has decided to come clean. In dramatic fashion, its 18 March front page announced an apologetic U-turn over its position on the legalisation of cannabis.[1] Many of us recall their 1997 campaign: 'Today,...