Delaying the Inevitable

Memories of working in Sierra Leone: I’ve had enough of this. Their voices start to blend into the mechanical monotony of the air conditioning unit. Sitting opposite each other at the far end of the table, they gesticulate like policemen directing traffic at a busy junction. “I’m just going to get some fresh air, I’ll just be outside” I say as I begin to shuffle past them to the door. They pause their conversation to theatrically rearrange the furniture; ensuring I don’t come within a couple of metres of them as I go past. As the door opens, the stale heat envelops me. I light a cigarette and make my way over the cobbled courtyard to a welcome area of shade. We’d just got a call to say the little boy had died. The news was like a sucker punch. Hit after hit after hit had been raining down but this had come when we were looking the other way. He’d been through so much. From the day he arrived at Kerrytown, he’d never been far from death, but his malnourished body had foug

I get it. You're probably sick and tired of reading political rants at the moment. But I'm also sick and tired of reading media reports about the 'deficits' of NHS trusts in the media. What are these trusts up to - wasting their money saving peoples' lives and whatnot. The difference between underfunding and overspending rarely seems to be clarified in articles so I'm going to try one of these analogy things I've been seeing a lot of lately. Here goes: Say I want to set a budget for food for me, Amy and the kids each week. But let's pretend I'm not allowed to set the budget myself, I've got to run it past my bank manager. Let's say he says I'm allowed £50 / week. Seems like it's not really enough right, but we'll get by. We'll be a bit creative and try and get by on a bit of goodwill from others too. As the kids get older, they'll need more food, and as we have more kids, we'll definitely need more. So it'd make se