West of Centre

When I decided to embark on a degree programme ten years ago with a view to going on to study medicine, many within my social circle quietly questioned my judgement. I for one couldn't blame them. I was thirty-five years old and about to make a monumental change form sales management in to medicine. To experience kidney failure after just one term was not the start I wanted. It cost me a year on dialysis but a stroke of luck came my way. I received a cadaveric kidney transplant which continues to serve me very well. It enabled me to complete my first degree in Medical Biochemistry agonisingly short of First Class Honours. But I had achieved my first goal. Of the medical schools to which I applied, only one deigned me worthy of an interview. One is all it takes though and I seized the opportunity. Today, I completed my pre-registration with the General Medical Council to realise a lifelong dream. Tomorrow I begin my Elective Period in ophthalmology at the same hospital in Liverp...

A local activist for whom I retain great admiration has just shared with me the latest plans of my local council to regenerate the once enviable resort town of Rhyl. In an attempt to try and keep my response serious, I have devised a multiple choice questionnaire which aims to explore just how in touch our local council is with the people it is paid so well to represent. To say that they have not made a good fist of things in Rhyl is akin to suggesting that Margaret Thatcher was a little less than favourable toward the trade union movement. That said, why not answer the questions and see how in touch you are with Denbighshire County Council. All of these questions are based only on factual text taken from Denbighshire County Council's own document, Rhyl: A masterplan to rejuvenate the seaside resort:- 1. Having reclaimed Rhyl Sun Centre from the previous Clwyd Leisure management company (resulting in numerous redundancies) citing that the facility was now too costly to operate, D...

Following the Lunacy Act of 1845, all asylums in Great Britain were required by law to keep a record book of all admissions. This provision in law has since enabled researchers to focus on the main causes for admissions to our asylums in the second half of the nineteenth century. The main three diagnoses on admission were mania, dementia and melancholia. The latter is now more formally recognised as depression. Mania is still used to describe the same condition as indeed is dementia. When it finally closed it's doors in 1995, the former North Wales Hospital housed a great many patients with known dementia. There were staff in those days who had become expert at dealing with dementia. Granted, not all practices would stand up to scrutiny today but the principle of treating the same condition in one location by dedicated carers was sound. Dementia is probably one of the diagnoses which we all fear greatly on those occasions when we dare to consider what awaits us in the event of ...

When the Prime Minister described the UK as a Christian country, the resultant objection from the nihilistic left was both worrying and surprising. Where to begin? Queen Elizabeth II has been our monarch now since 1952. Throughout that time, she has remained the head of the Church of England and upholder of the Faith. The last time I looked, nothing had changed. As I write, the UK has just enjoyed the Easter holiday. Easter by definition is the pinnacle of the Christian year. Even the normally deserted churches boast healthy congregations on Easter Sunday. This holiday does not appear to be declined by non-Christians bringing as it does the opportunity of some valuable family time to millions of Britons. Other faiths have their own religious festivals in addition to the time granted for Easter and Christmas. I don't begrudge them their own festivals. I respect all religions and the customs to which they adhere. That said, the UK remains a Christian country. Oh that the societ...

On February 17th 1795, Thomas Seddal grew the first documented potato crop in the United Kingdom. In his Chester garden, he was reputed to have grown a crop amounting to 8.3kg in weight. In Imperial measurement, that equates to about 17 pounds. In modern Britain, it is hard for most people to imagine a day without potato in their diet. That first crop in Chester was arguably the turning point in our culinary culture. With some justification, it has been claimed that the potato provided the basic nutrition to drive the Industrial Revolution upon which the Victorians established the mighty British Empire. By 1845, this food staple which we all now take for granted caused a famine in Ireland which lasted for seven years and resulted in the death of over a million people. As early as 1802, the American president Thomas Jefferson had dined on potatoes served in the French manner at the White House. The trend to fry potatoes is still with us two centuries later and has exerted mixed fortunes...