This October sees the 40th anniversary of the passing of the UK Abortion Act, which came into force the following year. The anniversary gives all parties involved in the debate an opportunity to pause and reflect. In 2005, 194,353 termination procedures were carried out in England and Wales;[1] abortion is...
Come the day and come the hour, come the power and the glory. We have come to answer our country's call. [1] Over 400 English, Scots, Welsh, Irish and internationals battled the elements to pack out the Hayes Conference centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire on 9-11 February. No, it wasn't for a...
We will be having our fourth National Students' Committee (NSC) meeting on 12 May. 'What relevance is that to me?' you ask. Well, I'm glad you did! The NSC is your committee. We oversee CMF's student ministry in the UK and Ireland, considering how we can best equip you (the...
What an awesome opportunity you have as medical students during your final years to visit another part of the world and experience medicine in a totally different environment. It can be the most rewarding experience of your student years and if you are able to go to a resource poor...
I wonder what you think of when you hear the words 'British Medical Association'? What springs to mind? For those of us who are BMA members, how many of us get our glossy Student BMJs each month, have a quick flick through and then bin them? Two years ago I used...
'I can give up crime, doc, anyone can do that - but how can I stop behaving violently? It's the only thing I know!' Michael puts his head in his hands, 'I'm going to hit someone soon, I know it, and then I'll be finished'. Michael is part of that...
The next patient, Tony, tentatively knocked on the reinforced-glass paned consulting room and the SHO nodded to him to enter. He loped in, head bowed, obviously a new prisoner with his prison issue purple tracksuit and black shoes, presently without laces until his suicide risk had been assessed. He reported...
This article is inspired by a chapter from Yancey P, Brand P. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Grand Rapids; Zondervan, 1987. The authors expand on the New Testament analogy of the Body of Christ, linking it to the human body. As a member of the body of Christ, one question we...
This series is summarised from Fee G, Stuart D. How to Read the Bible for all its Worth (3rd ed). Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. We often hear it lauded in sermons, know it's a good thing to have, and even sometimes remember to pray for it, but what is wisdom?...
Some people think God is out to destroy our pleasure in ordinary things. Nice things. Beautiful things. Not so. As Christians we are prone to split the activities of our lives into categories – good; not-quite-so-good. Of course we're concerned not to do anything actually sinful, but still we create...
The National Students' Conference is possibly my favourite weekend of the year; it fires me up to dedicate my medical career to God. Rachel McCollum writes about the way we were challenged to live differently as Christians in medical school on pp7,8. But I am often guilty of double-mindedness –...
Government proposals to ban hybrids challenged Hybrid embryos are to come under scrutiny again after the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) launched a public consultation to ask whether they should license research using human-animal hybrid embryos. This current consultation follows an array of recent government and media discussion on the issue....