modern slavery

not comfortable reading

It's been 4 years now...

and these are some (probably very conservative) figures of what has happened over the past 4 years in Iraq.

Somewhere in the Golan heights...

a Bride can never go back home, courtesy of politics.

Poem: I love me mudder

I love me mudder and me mudder love me
we come so far from over de sea
we heard dat de streets were paved with gold
sometime it hot sometime it cold,

I love me mudder and me mudder love me
we try fe live in harmony
you might know her as Valerie
but to me she is my mummy.

She shouts at me daddy so loud some time
she stays fit and she don’t drink wine
she always do the best she can
she work damn hard down ina England,

She’s always singing some kind of song
she have big muscles an she very very strong.
she likes pussy cats an she love cashew nuts
she don’t bother with no ifs and buts.

I love me mudder and me mudder love me
we come so far from over de sea
we heard dat de streets were paved with gold
sometime it hot sometime it cold,

I love her and she love me too
and dis is a love I know is true
my family unit extends to you
loving each other is the ting to do

Benjamin Zephaniah

World health check up

Poem: the caged bird in springtime

What can it be,
This curious anxiety?
It is as if I wanted
To fly away from here.
But how absurd!
I have never flown in my life,
And I do not know
What flying means, though I have heard,
Of course, something about it.
Why do I peck the wires of this little cage?
It is the only nest I have ever known.
But I want to build my own,
High in the secret branches of the air.
I cannot quite remember how
It is done, but I know
That what I want to do
Cannot be done here.
I have all I need –
Seed and water, air and light.
Why then, do I weep with anguish,
And beat my head and my wings
Against those sharp wires, while the children
Smile at each other, saying: “Hark how he sings”?

James Kirkup

Poem: War

Cigarette smoking is dangerous
not a good habit at all
climbing unknown walls is hazardous
because the wall might fall.
If you walk down the street be the walk quite brisk
you and I know you’re taking a risk.
And if de same time you feel your belly start to swell
chances are you eat too well.
One could dream about a life of peace
one can try to bring peace to the beast.
Everybody seeking some utopia
what we need is the will to come over.
War is a danger to your health
don’t care if you have much wealth.
War is a dangerous ting,
even if you’re not partaking.

Workin’ on a building site is cruel
you take a risk if you ride on a mule
if you walk on the left and you see one fight
the best ting to do is walk on the right.
Racin’ driving is a serious business.
Be careful of your liver if you drink too much Guinness
and if you live on LSD
blame nobody if your mind don’t free
all we hear is war, more war
I and I know that can’t get far
just because dem live in the West
dat don’t mean dey is de best.

War is badder dan cigarettes
war is worse dan racin’ driving
remember dis and don’t forget
World War Three means no surviving.
Unity is a strong foundation
love is better than fear
what we need now is good relations
as politicians don’t care.
So I talk to the young and old
come take a peaceful stroll
don’t care if you have much wealth
war is a danger to your health.
War is a dangerous ting,
even if you’re not partaking
just smoking
not partaking.

Benjamin Zephaniah

International journal of epidemiology

Published in The Dread Affair. Arrow Books 1985.

Poem: You wake up in the morning

You wake up in the morning, and lo! Your purse is magically filled
with twenty-four hours of the magic tissue of the universe of your life.
No one can take it from you. No one receives either more or less
than you receive. Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you.
Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt.
You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste
tomorrow; it is kept for you.

Arnold Bennett

a charming new animation

shaun the sheep. Makes me want to be a kid again, just so that I can rush home from school to watch this gem.
But no. I'm grown up now. And come home late. Blah.

CBBC behind the scenes

MTAS and West Midlands deanery pulling out of the system

Picked up from howithappened.com - the formal statement:

"The ST3 Interview Panel for General Surgery in the West Midlands have unanimously come to the conclusion that the MTAS procedure for recruitment to ST3 in General Surgery, has not been implemented according to agreed guidelines.

We have therefore declined to continue with the interviews today.We have come to this conclusion after considerable debate. We feel that this is the right course of action, which has at its heart the best interests of surgical trainees, training and our patients.

A serious procedural flaw, which came to light this morning, has been the complete lack of a longlisting process prior to selecting candidates for interview. This alone is sufficient grounds for postponement or cancellation and makes the entire recruitment process open to criticism and challenge.

Our meeting at 8.00 am today was the first available reasonable opportunity for the panel members to meet, discuss the process and air their concerns and reservations. With the limited information available today on-site, the longlisting process could not be completed satisfactorily. In addition we feel that the recruitment process for ST3 in its current format is in contradiction to equal opportunities legislation and NHS best practice guidelines.

We have in addition, wider concerns about the current MTAS process as follows,

As far as we are aware, the shortlisting application form has not been validated or demonstrated to be suitable for appointments to ST3 in General surgery which in effect is a pre-consultant appointment.

The application form domains available to the shortlisters and its accompanying scoring system have not been shown to select candidates best suited to be surgeons. It fails to distinguish adequately between candidates, giving credibility to creative writing skills rather than hard evidence of competency.

The time-scale imposed nationally has ensured that the whole process has been rushed. The unrealistic deadlines and sheer number of applications caused the MTAS computer system to crash. Changes in process have been implemented in order to meet deadlines. The marking system for shortlisting has been inconsistent throughout the country with forms being marked by a varying combination of members of the medical profession and lay people. There has been a lack of cross validation between markers and different marking methods (horizontal and vertical) have been used in different deaneries. Therefore there has been no standardisation or quality control.

The staff in the West Midlands deanery have worked tirelessly without adequate resources in place to try to meet the deadlines set. This has meant working holidays and weekends repeatedly entering marks onto an unreliable MTAS Website. They have finally provided a shortlist of candidates for ST3 in General surgery on the Friday evening prior to the Monday morning interviews. In all, the deanery has received 11500 applications, well in excess of the projected 8000.

We owe it to our patients and the profession that we are able to select and appoint the best candidates to surgical training posts and felt strongly that this was impossible today.

We have agreed to return to help re-shortlist and interview once the entire process has been proved to be reliable, robust, reproducible and has been validated and agreed upon nationally.

Above all we have carefully considered the plight of the candidates outside today, waiting to be interviewed. We have stayed and spoken to all the candidates about our decision with honesty, openness and integrity. We have been at pains to assure them of our best intentions towards trainees and surgical training as a whole. We share their concerns and the concerns of the hundreds of other young doctors who haven’t been shortlisted for any job. We share their anxieties at a system, which is being described and unjust and unfair. We have been overwhelmed by their positive responses to our action and are humbled by their words of support. We have provided support for all the candidates with the offer of contact email and telephone numbers if they require any further assistance."

BNP stockpiling explosives

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/13022007/344/bnp-candidate-stockpiled-explosives.html

the joys of MTAS

There are alot of very unhappy doctors about at the moment, angry with an application process that doesn't look at academic/clinical ability to any significant degree - but concentrates on the ability to waffle one's way through a series of questions, with a limited number of words. On top of that, certain specialities have set job interviews in different regions of the country, at the same time, and refusing to shift them when interviewees inform them of the clash. 'If you're not committed enough to come to an interview, we don't want you'.
All very reassuring. hrmph.

I am not generally a reader of the telegraph, but here's their story.
a doctor dealing with the system.

the questions for the final year application form for first job (points in brackets). 150 words each. The questions themselves at first glance don't seem so bad. But attempting to answer them was a nightmare. There was also no mark sheet, so you didn't know what was wanted. And the total result was given - not a breakdown - so you can't figure out where you went right, or wrong. Slightly frustrating to say the least.

1 - Give an example of a non-academic achievement explaining both the significance to you and the relevance to foundation training. (6)

2 - List your academic achievements (4)

3 - Describe an example (not necessarily clinical) of a time when you had to deal with pressure OR overcome a setback/challenge. What did you do and what was the outcome? (6)

4 - Describe an example from your clinical experience where your behaviour enhanced the experience of the patient as the central focus of care. What did you do and what was the outcome? (6)

5 - Describe an example from your own experience (either clinical or non clinical) that has increased your understanding of the importance of team working. What was your role and contribution to the team? (6)

6 - Describe an example of how your organisation and planning skills have contributed to a significant personal achievement in the last five years. What did you learn from this which is relevant to foundation training?

6 - Describe an example of a situation where you had to demonstrate your professionalism and/or integrity. What did you do and what was the outcome?

Anyhoo, better get on with some work.

lunar eclipse

including a story of an excited 8 year old in London
Eastern Canada - with pic
another...
and one more

and I'm off to take some photographs...