Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/authors/?id=6&index=10
Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down's syndrome, is taking out a landmark case against the UK Government over its current abortion law, which allows abortion up to birth for Down syndrome. [1] Arguing that both the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [2] and the Disability Rights...
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. (John 12:3) We are very goal orientated in the health professions at times. That's not a bad thing, but as resources get squeezed, and workloads go...
In August it was reported that the UK, along with four other EU nations, had lost its 'measles-free' status. (1) The government response included calls for social media campaigns to counter the misinformation of so-called 'anti-vaxxers', greater public awareness and vaccine reminder campaigns. At one point, Health Secretary Matt Hancock...
'Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir' Galatians 4:6-7 At a recent CMF...
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Britain was reeling from more than half a decade of conflict. Yet in that time, the nation had learned powerfully about how to pull together and support one another. It was perhaps in a desire to hold on to this spirit of...
On my bookshelf in the '90s was a volume of poetry entitled The Age of Anxiety. It contained a series of poems (of varying quality) on the worries of the decade - AIDS, climate change, terrorism, economic instability and war. The title of that anthology came from WH Auden's epic...
At a meeting of a mission network that I helped to convene many years ago, we were looking at how medical mission work could measure and manage its impact on the physical and spiritual health of the communities it served. A couple chatted to me in the coffee break, telling...
We all face them. Situations when fatigue, overload or simply a momentary lapse of concentration or judgment lead us to do or say the wrong thing in a clinical situation. Most of the time these are minor mistakes that have no serious consequences, but we often live in fear of...
When Marcus Evans quit his governorship of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in February this year, it was over the 'climate of fear' and attempts to 'dismiss or undermine' concerns being raised by its own clinicians. While many of his claims are contested, an independent report backed up some...
Two of the besetting sins of humanity are found in our attitudes to the past and the future. At one extreme we cling to the past, decrying the present and fearing the future; the cry of our heart is 'Things are not what they used to be!' At the other,...
