Some musings

It’s conference season and, after the warm up acts of the political parties, we have now had the big one, the main event – the conference of the Royal College of General Practitioners. I know you’ve been excited – it’s always good to hear GPs bemoaning their lot and calling the government to account. But […]

I won’t keep you. I know you’re busy, crazy busy – possibly busier than you’ve ever been before. Certainly the NHS and its 1.7 million employees are. There were 24.8 million attendances at A&E departments last year and more than 312 million visits to general practices. Demand is increasing faster than the chronically underfunded NHS […]

This last year I have mainly been dealing with anxiety. Anxiety, with its lonely companion, it’s accomplished accomplice, depression, seems, in all its forms so pervasive these days that it’s easily the most common problem that presents to me on a day to day basis. Firstly there are those patients who present with frank anxiety […]

It’s been another bad week at the end of what has been a bad year, a year that some are suggesting has been the worst of all years. Events in Berlin should shock us but I wonder if they do to the extent that they really ought. With all the bad news this year, the […]

Today is Advent Sunday – the countdown to Christmas has begun. And up and down the country on December, the first doors are opened on a million ‘Sleeps till Santa’ calendars. The choice gets ever greater. Believe it or not, this year you could be opening drawers or pulling back cardboard squares to reveal herbal […]

I have a confession to make. I like the music of Leonard Cohen and was saddened to hear the announcement of his death at the age of 82 just three weeks after the release of what until recently was his last album. I understand that he is not everybody’s cup of tea, it wasn’t without […]

It can be difficult to decide whether to write a blog. Most blogs aren’t appropriate and can have adverse effects. Too many blogs can mean the benefits of genuinely necessary and helpful blogs are lessened. But, knowing all that, I’ve decided to blog anyway – just in case. After all you’ve come to the blog […]