Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=6084
Julia Marsh reflects on how God's paradoxical and sometimes upside-down economy has worked in her life. My work as a Consultant Oncologist is a major part of God's calling on my life and an important expression of service. I came to faith at the age of 18 as a first year...
Steve Fouch reports on a crisis affecting the future of GP services in deprived urban and rural areas. What will happen if nearly 100 general practices in areas of urban and rural poverty close down within the next twelve months? The implications are deeply concerning – patients turning to other, already...
Ann-Marie Wilson reports on the global incidence of FGM and its toll on women. Meeting Manha (1) was my first experience of the horrors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). I was working in North Sudan. Manha was just ten years old and pregnant as a result of rape. She had...
Vinod Shah compares and contrasts the Christian and secular visions. Douglas Johnson, founder of CMF, once asked this question: 'Does being a Christian make no difference?' (1) This is the question I am hoping to answer here. I think there are major differences between the Christian and secular worldviews. The...
Filling gaps in NHS care Helen Wordsworth introduces an emerging enterprise offered through churches. Churches and monasteries were foundational in the development of hospitals and healthcare. Florence Nightingale, although known for the development of nursing, was a theologian and public health specialist. In the late nineteenth century, deaconesses had to be trained...
Reaching the end of the first hospital post of my GP training, I realised this had been the most enjoyable six months of my career. Reflecting on what had been so different about this post, I realised that the senior doctors in the department had gone out of their...
Rick Warren, best-selling author and pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, said recently that he is preparing for retirement, but he's not planning to spend it in 20 or more years of leisure. Explaining his perspective on retirement from a biblical context, he calls it a 'transition.' 'The...
Still clueless about AIDS Many British people remain 'clueless' about HIV and public knowledge has not kept pace with medical research. New data published on the 30th anniversary of the identification of the virus says many are unaware of preventative measures such as postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), and that ignorance fuels reluctance...
I met Jesus the other day. He was lying in a sleeping bag on the bench outside the church hall, his boots under the bench. Paul was his name – from Cardiff – his only family a sister in Australia. Ex-army –Welsh Guards – fought in the Falklands war. 50...
A Mission Doctor in Tanganyika 1949-1990 Marion Bartlett MB, FCRCS Self published, 2013, £22.00, Pb 354pp, ISBN 9781909075139 Available from Timothy Fox, 40 Lakebar Avenue, Lancaster LA2 7JN Reviewed by John Martin, CMF Head of CommunicationsMarion Bartlett's chronicle of life as a pioneering surgeon is a useful contribution to the...
A Rich Tapestry of Tragedy, Hope and Love in Ecuador Andrea Gardiner Grosvenor House, 2012, £8.99, Pb 305pp, ISBN 9781781485804 Reviewed by Huw Morgan, retired GP and medical missionaryThis is the story of a young British Christian GP who set up a village clinic and child sponsorship scheme in...
A message of hope for anyone who becomes seriously ill Dr Richard Scott TerraNova Publications, 2013, £9.00, Pb 192pp, ISBN 9780957047365 Reviewed by Liz Croton, a GP from Birmingham The back story underpinning this book is Dr Scott's own experience of being diagnosed with rectal cancer in...
How to de-stress without doing less Dr Kate Middleton Lion Books, 2009, £7.99 Pb 192pp, ISBN 9780745953731 Reviewed by Paul Vincent, General PractitionerThis title intrigued me. The usual solution to stress is: do less, delegate, prioritise and learn to say no. Middleton acknowledges the need to step back, but part...
And other questions about heaven, hell and the life to come Marcus Nodder Good Book Company, 2013, £3.99, Pb 96pp, ISBN 9781908762337 Reviewed by Julian Churcher, CMF London StaffworkerTake a complex and emotive subject that eludes description except by analogy and simile, and lies beyond shared human experience. Let...
Models in mentoring David Cranston Regnum Books International, 2014, £9.99, Pb 105pp, ISBN 9781908355461 Review by Chris Lavy, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Failing his finals at the end of medical school was, in retrospect, God's opportunity for David Cranston to live with and be mentored...
Science and the Changing Face of Humanity John Bryant Lion Hudson, 2013, £9.99, Pb 253pp, ISBN 9780745953960 Reviewed by Peter May, retired General Practitioner The author is Professor Emeritus of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Exeter. He is also an accomplished writer. His detailed research...
Brian Wakeman Penn Press, 2013, £7.99, Pb 280pp, ISBN 9781780036175 Reviewed by John Martin, CMF Head of CommunicationsQuite a few books of poems cross the Triple Helix editor's desk. Most are simply random collections. Here is something different, a poet who supplies notes alongside his offerings, to assist preachers...
Falconer Bill poses new threat Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill (1) would grant new powers enabling doctors to dispense lethal drugs to mentally competent adults, judged to have six months or less to live and who have a 'settled wish' to end their lives. As such it runs counter to the...
RCPsych concedes orientation is multifactorial The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), in an extraordinary about-face, has conceded that sexual orientation is not wholly biologically determined. In a new position statement (1) issued in April 2014, they now consider that the causes are 'a combination of biological and postnatal environmental factors'. The...
Time for a change of attitude 'Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.' (1) 'Speak the truth in love' (2) Why is it so hard to stand up and speak out against poor standards and bad practice in...
Closing down discussion won't do Review by Philippa Taylor CMF Head of Public Policy Anne Furedi, who heads up the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK's largest abortion provider, recently wrote a seminal article extolling the value and importance of debate. (1) Furedi wrote the article after taking part in a...
FSRH ban may be illegal Review by Peter Saunders CMF Chief Executive Doctors who object to prescribing 'contraceptives' which act after fertilisation are to be barred from receiving diplomas or fellowships in sexual and reproductive health even if they undertake the necessary training. The ruling comes in new guidelines...
