We shall go forward together. The road upwards is stony. There are upon our journey dark and dangerous valleys through which we have to make and fight our way. But…
The origin of the term ‘epidemic’ is attributed to Hippocrates in about 400BCE. It was the title of one of the books attributed to him which described the occurrence of…
When descending to Edinburgh airport over the Firth of Forth, you may have noticed to the right of the flightpath an uninhabited island, connected by a causeway at low tide…
Donne, I suppose, was such another Who found no substitute for sense, To seize and clutch and penetrate; Expert beyond experience… T S Eliot, in ‘Whispers of immortality’, paid tribute…
Teeth enjoyed a rare prominence in the news towards the end of last year. ‘As old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth’, the answer to a…
This is the season when the leaves fall from the trees, a season I used to love above all the others, but which now tends to bring melancholy reflections on…
We all have memories of Christmas past. For me, the childhood excitement of waking to find presents at the foot of my bed, a reward perhaps for enduring the tedium…
Are you finding it difficult to keep up with the Covid story? You are not alone. Early in this series of essays on the subject, I recalled that in the…
Each man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee. As the bells rang in the New…
Let me take you back to 1942. It was not a good time and there are parallels with the present. Our army had been effectively defeated and had retreated from…