Sex and Death A London Ambulance Service union official commented to me a few months ago that the very nature of emergency services work is that front-line staff have to “rush into situations from which human instinct tells everyone else to RUN AWAY”. Perhaps the medical situation that most people[…]
Read More »Nicole Skeltys
Composing cool tunes for warm people
From the blog
The Fight to Save One of the World’s Greatest Wonders: The NHS In October last year, I was inspired by Ken Loach’s film ‘The Spirit of 45’ to blog about the NHS , and remark that it was a world historic achievement in organised human compassion. I’m not the only[…]
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How to improve royal weddings Today I recalled the wedding of Kate and William (I was there, in front of the television) and how struck I was by the awfulness of the Church of England wedding rites. Read in funereal tones by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the vows bore no[…]
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Where the Streets Have No Name One of the challenges of UK ambulance Trusts trying to meet response times in rural areas is that sometimes the streets have no name. And the cottages and farmhouses don’t have numbers. In the centuries old lanes and byways of country England, some no[…]
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On waiting in an NHS cancer clinic In early October, I found myself sitting in the MacMillan and the University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust Cancer Center, not far from the toff looking streets around Warren St Tube. I was in a granite and glass reception lounge, draped with[…]
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“Who has a why to live can bear most any how” Neitzsche Freedom House In July, I stopped over in Pittsburgh, caught up with some of my dear friends there, and made a remarkable discovery. In the late 1960s, a bunch of Pittsburgh doctors and civil rights activists set up[…]
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Sleepless in Los Angeles Downtown, in the City of Angels, on the night of 14 July, I didn’t sleep that well. Again. I was only four blocks from Skid Row, but that didn’t bother me. After all, I was in a gated community, in a condo owned by Bob N,[…]
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Los Angeles, 4th July weekend I’m staying in a condo in the City of Angels, in downtown LA. In the heart of Little Tokyo/Arts District. Organised last minute via an international home exchange site. In a condo owned by private detective Bob N. After 30 years in the LAPD, Bob[…]
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On Sunday afternoon, May 19, I caught the overground back to East Dulwich after spending the night in Islington with Sarah, watching the Eurovision song contest on TV with her gay friends, all of us curled up in groaning, snickering balls on the couch. Already hungover, I took a short[…]
Read More »Hope everyone had a wonderful valentines’ day, especially everyone who participated in the One Billion Rising happenings, actions to put an end to violence against women around the globe. Here is a beautiful clip Amnesty International put together for their Rising celebration in Melbourne. I wrote and recorded the music,[…]
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