Yet another new blog

I'm not depressed and I have the medical evidence to prove it! I'm just home from 12 days of barrier nursing in gastro enteritis at the QEHospital in Glasgow. I first got ill maybe 2 and a half years ago. Quite suddenly I had no energy. I gave up my 'lady who lunches' act. Couldn't even be bothered going to the shops. More or less gave up holidays, after a lifetime of loving to travel. I was prescribed more and more medication but none of it seemed to help. The IBS I'd lived with for decades was suddenly more serious - and the meds were not helping. I got dizzy and fell a few times. What appeared to be depression was - I thought - caused by the sudden deaths of two good friends within a couple of months of each other. My GP listened and prescribed an anti-depressant. On the 17th December, I developed another scary symptom: constant diarrhea. I spoke to a GP in our practice and he arranged for me to to go in to the QEH by ambulance.  It took the ambulance...

I've only really needed the NHS 4 times in my life (71 years so far): first when I had a stroke at 35; then when I had Guilain-Barre Syndrome at 46; when I needed a D&C a couple of years back; and now when I have depression. I don't rush off to the doctor when I have a cold - I take Lemsip and buy extra hankies. I consult the local pharmacist for minor problems (Mackie's - their pharmacists are excellent) and to find out if something is serious enough to bother the doctor with. I'm not one of the 'worried well' who, I'm told, take up the time of doctors. But I do wonder how many 'frequent flyers' there really are. Like many people, I have the highest regard for the professionals who work in the NHS. I've been treated very well by (almost) all of them and I am sorry to see unhappy people rushing to the newspapers and online websites to complain about just about anything - like hospital food. You're not there for the food. Just eat yo...

They don't learn, do they? I've got used to warning people about BBC Scotland News and their regular message telling us how awful Scotland is. Canny run a minoj. Riddled with problems in our hospitals, social work, the polis, the schools...and yet the stats confirm year after year we are right to put our trust in the people who manage these services. Of course, there are going to be people who are unhappy - there always are - but in most cases, despite the financial constraints (imposed by Westminster) we manage to stagger by. This weekend is no different. Except...One thing we've always been able to rely on is Education Scotland. I've worked with Education Scotland in my time. I can't say it was a pleasant experience. The organisation is very bureaucratic and seems to move at the pace of a demented snail. But it gets stuff done and it upholds the standards of Scottish education very well. And now we have an allegation from BBC Scotland: Police probe allege...

I've been reading an article by Gerry Hassan in the Sunday National. It's a very striking analysis of how the BBC operates and, in particular, how it has failed to meet the changing political and social climate in the UK over, say, the past 30 years. I've got used to politicians and others who have always thought they were the people in charge of society (churches, councillors) being mostly left behind by social change. For example, long after it was clear to the rest of us that 'people', ordinary people, were taking their own decisions about marriage, when to have children, whether to divorce and treating abortion as a personal matter, the 'authorities' were still intent on laying down the rules controlling our behaviour - especially the behaviour of women. Hassan describes the BBC as 'never being ahead of change'. I'd go further and say the BBC has never shown leadership in reflecting the vast bulk of us in society, preferring to mimic th...