Taiwan is also known as Ilha Formosa, 'the beautiful island'. It is a small nation of great contrasts: a modern industrialised megalopolis clinging to the fringes of an ancient culture; a string of teeming cities at the feet of a glorious mountain range. Yet because of its relationships with mainland...
Fighting back our emotions, Mark’s mother and I stood in a dimly lit corner, watching as he struggled to breath. Her desperate sobbing battled for superiority against the rapid beeping of his heart monitor. The scene before my eyes wrenched at my heart; a seemingly endless tangle of tubes, lines...
In the days when our consultants were students, university life was different. When asked, they reminisce about those good-natured pranks they played in the dissection room or that historic win in the Hospitals' Cup 'rugger' final. This is not to say life was ideal at that time, but the reality...
It was a chilly, grey November morning that my family and our close friends gathered in a small village church to bury my grandfather. As my brother and I walked behind the coffin containing his body, my thoughts turned to the last years of his life. Douglas Quick had lived...
As I write this editorial, I am about to depart on a journey of a lifetime. My plan is to set off from Moscow by train, with a goal of arriving in Beijing in time to catch my flight home. My prize for arriving back safely - to start a...
In recent years homosexuality has rocketed up the political, medical and social agenda. On 30 November 2000 the Government invoked the Parliament Act to overrule the House of Lords and pass the ‘Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill’, legislation that will lower the age at which males and females can consent to...
Brucellosis is usually caught through infected milk... err... true? ‘Malaria is spread mainly by giant hippos, with swollen, bloodshot eyes and rock star eyebrows that join in the centre (if they forget to shave in between biting people).’ True or false? Negatively marked! The hippo suddenly transforms into the evil,...