Posts

Reading the Bible

  What on earth was THAT all about? At Evensong in Canterbury Cathedral, as at Daily Offices throughout the world, short passages from the Bible are read; usually one from the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, and one from early Christian writings, the New Testament. Most days between one and two hundred people attend these services, joined by up to two tor three thousand online. Man, perhaps most, of these will be familiar with Christian worship. Some of us are fortunate enough to live in Canterbury, so the Cathedral is our spiritual home. A lot more come as pilgrims or visitors to Canterbury from churches of various traditions around the world, or log in from their homes. All these people will be used to hearing the Bible read in this way. But people of many other faith backgrounds also come to Canterbury Cathedral, drawn by its architecture and/or fine musical tradition, and some of them come to Evensong. They may be Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Shintoists or those (accord...
Post a Comment
Read more
 Assisted Dying Debate Life has got even more complicated since my last post, but I hope to pick up the threads of this blog from now on. Do comment or email me if you want to discuss anything I write. A debate on “assisted dying” is planned to take place at the end of November. Against the presumed benefits a change in the law risks some terrible consequences, so I wrote to my MP asking her to vote against this. Below are the arguments I made in my letter; if you agree with them then I urge you to write to your parliamentary representative too. Those arguing for a change in the law stress the right of patients to choose and the risk of uncontrolled suffering in terminal illness. An issue less often mentioned is the cost of good end-of-life care, which in my experience can almost always control suffering in terminal illness. In a cash strapped and under-resourced NHS where consequentialist arguments are commonly used this may lead some well meaning people to see assiste...
Post a Comment
Read more
 I'd planned to post something here every fortnight, but the best laid plans  ... Yvan has been unwell culminating in an admission to QEQM last week, so writing time has been eroded.  It has given me a very practical insight into some of the issues I mentioned in my last post, so will tell you about those when I can. Meanwhile hope to post something next weekend 
Post a Comment
Read more
   Rescuging the NHS In February some friends and colleagues, and their friends and colleagues, signed a letter to the then Opposition leaders pointing out that saving the NHS was not jsut a matter of pouring more money in. It needed a change of culture. An edited version of this letter was published in the British Journal of General Practice last month. For those who may not be able to access this that text is pasted below. Since then Lord Darzi has published his report on the state of the NHS .Fortunately for those who lack the stamina to read 163 pages stuffed with figures and graphs, he has also prepared a letter summarising his findings . Although phrased differently many of his findings, particularly his call for greater engagement of patients and NHS staff and the reduction in ineffective and excessive regulation, reflect our concerns. The Government has promised to develop a ten year plan to address his findings over the next six months. It is the nature of the B...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beginnings and Endings

New Year, New Blog   I set up this blog a year or so ago, but what with one thing and another (mostly writing two novellas) I never got round to doing anything with it. Having been linked to academic institutions most of my life I always feel the year starts in September rather than January, April 5th or Advent Sunday, a view reinforced by the time I spend in France where this is the Rentrée, when not just schools and universities but most social organisations start a new year of activities. Therefore now seems a good time to make a start with my blog.  There is a nice paradox in marking a new beginning when the leaves are starting to turn and nature is beginning to shut down for the winter.  Whilst she was imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots embroidered the words "En ma Fin gît mon Commencement..."- In my End is my Beginning… ; a phrase T S Eliot in Four Quartets, a set of poems all about beginnings and ends, turned round:.   What we call the beginning is...
Post a Comment
Read more
 Welcome to my blog. I plan to use this to post things which I want to say which are either ephemeral, simple thoughts which don't merit a full article, or things which don't fit into my main areas of interest - medical philosophy, theology and creative writing. My more substantial and (I hope) coherent writing can be found on my website peterdtoon.com
Post a Comment
Read more