Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=6093
The NHS is at a crossroads. Simon Stevens, NHS England's Chief Executive, says we need a new plan based on a 'triple integration': primary and specialist services; physical and mental health; healthcare and social care. (1) The Five Year Forward View, (2) launched last October, is a collaboration between six...
Glynn Harrison outlines a Christian response to the sexual revolution. In his Rendle Short Lecture of 2001 Andrew Fergusson suggested that Prof Rendle Short, whose life spanned the tumultuous years of the first half of the twentieth century, was one of history's 'men of Issachar'. These were the Israelite chieftains...
Alice Madgwick reports on a pioneering training venture "I've seen very many people in South Sudan suffering, others dying when giving birth, children are suffering of malnutrition, others are not even being immunised. So I felt like I should also be one of the persons who could serve those people."...
Pablo Martinez explores how our psychological makeup influences how we feed our spiritual lives. Why do I find it difficult to pray? Why do some Christians seem to have a natural ease to pray? Why do I find it hard to feel the presence of God when I pray? ...
Tom Roberts hears the stories of CMF members caught up in the Nepal earthquake. On 25 April 2015, Nepal was struck by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, causing utter devastation. This was followed on 12 May by a 7.3 magnitude aftershock, causing further damage and disruption. At least 8,600 people were...
David Pitches says Christian servant leadership can make a difference. How does someone become a good leader? Some say leaders are born not made, but many disagree, leading to a vast industry seeking to develop potential leaders. Others argue that leaders' success is situational – Churchill might have been an...
John Wyatt on the growing pressures ahead for Christian health professionals. We don't know what the future holds for Christian healthcare professionals, but challenges and dangers seem to abound. The pressures on the NHS seem to increase year on year from a toxic mix of economic, demographic, organisational and political...
Rick Thomas highlights an often-overlooked problem. Imagine. You and your partner are experienced foster carers. The boy presently in your care is six years old and has been with you for four years. You never met the birth mother and have little information about the boy's early life. He is...
Using people's 'heartlanguage' always makes a difference, writes Ruth Eardley. It was an ordinary working day but my friend was wearing a gorgeous sari in red and gold. 'I don't get many thank you cards' she confided, 'but I do get a lot of hugs'. She is a GP in an...
Johann Christoph Arnold Plough, 2014, £9.24, Pb 189pp, ISBN 9780874866308 Reviewed by Sarah Germain, a former hospital doctor and former CMF Junior Doctors' Committee chairman In a world where many pressures seek to deny children a happy and healthy childhood, Arnold aims to write a 'hopeful book...
Timothy Keller Hodder & Stoughton, 2014, £16.99, Hb 321pp, ISBN 97814444750157. Available as an ebook. Reviewed by John Martin, CMF Head of Communications There is a paucity of quality books on prayer. Even good ones rarely strike an adequate balance between the theological, experimental and methodological. Tim Keller has succeeded...
Peter Sidebotham Westbow Press, 2014, £9.14, Pb 174pp, ISBN 9781490840673 Reviewed by Andrew Tomkins, Emeritus Professor of International Child Health at University College London. This is a 'must' for all parents! Whereas many Christian authors emphasise the need to engage in thoughtful reading and interpretation of Scripture, Jesus said that...
Edited by Bernadette Flanagan and Sharon Thornton Bloomsbury Continuum, 2014, £35.00, Hb 240pp, ISBN 9781441125170 Reviewed by Russ Parker, director of Acorn Christian Healing Foundation. This book consists of a collection of essays addressing a wide range of issues affecting the practice of pastoral care in a world of rapidly changing...
'Wellness': a new Gnosticism Gnosticism was early Christianity's deadliest rival. Gnostics claimed 'secret knowledge' and insisted that slavish adherence to their beliefs or rituals guaranteed eternal happiness. Eutychus can't help noticing resemblance between Gnostic attitudes and prescriptions of a new breed of 'wellness' bloggers. Belle Gibson, a 23-year-old Australian, claimed...
The media sound-bite of 'Three-parent embryos' is misleading and should not be encouraged by CMF (News Reviews, Spring 2015, p5). Mitochondrial DNA constitutes roughly 0.005% of the total and its 37 genes (~0.15% of the total) are principally concerned with the integrity of the respiratory (energy producing) chain, so the...
Review by Steve Fouch CMF Head of Nursing. In May, the Government announced a move towards a fully seven days a week service in hospital and primary care. (1) This proposal sounds good in theory. Running GP surgeries seven days a week would increase equity of access and reduce...
Review by Peter Saunders CMF Chief Executive One assisted suicide bill has been defeated and another resurrected in six weeks of roller coaster activity in British parliaments, keeping the debate very much alive. Patrick Harvie's Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill (1) was defeated by 82 votes to 36 in...
Review by Philippa Taylor CMF Head of Public Policy Recent reports (1) have added to an evolving story of inadequate research into the HPV vaccine that almost every teenage girl in the UK has been given since 2008. (2) Apparently, thousands have endured various debilitating illnesses after receiving the...
Review by Peter Saunders CMF Chief Executive Manipulating the human germline has been off limits for decades but new technology has brought it one step closer. A new tool called Crispr enables scientists to 'edit' the genome by adding or deleting DNA sequences. In response to...
