The Old School

Lockdown? What lockdown? The sun is shining, the sky is blue, there’s a gentle hum of lawnmowers and people are enjoying their gardens. But look out into the...

It's difficult to plan a blog without mentioning you-know-what, so I'm grabbing the bull by the virus-infected horns and dedicating this week's tirade of ang...

On Monday I passed a woman in the swimming pool toilets who didn't wash her hands. Breathe. I can now sit and be at peace with this truly horrendous nightma...

We all have days when we have to hunker down and achieve mental dominance over a paper mountain, right? GPs certainly used to get through a lot of paper. In ...

Let's be honest: the healthy eating Veganuary-themed post has the potential for enough sequels, prequels and TV spin-offs to squash even the stubbornly inter...

I'm chuckling to myself about the stark change in topics discussed over coffee with friends; 2019 was full of celebrity gossip, YouTube yoga cats, holidays e...

It's been lovely to hear so many patients expressing a plan to do more exercise this year. But if you're starting from scratch (pointing at myself here), how...

Reclining in the dentist’s chair today I was struck by the power of sense of smell when it comes to memories. Sure the noise of a drill boring into my jaw wa...

Ah Veganuary, our old friend, back from the distant memory of early 2019 yet still as headstrong and keen to promote itself as it was then. But do we all know...

Today millions of us will make promises to transform our lives and appear, Stars-In-Their-Eyes-like from a curtained walkway on the 1st of January, having be...

Look I'll admit to being slightly smug about the amusingly shaped traffic jam of mobility aids in our reception area. The kind of thing you might expect to s...

As the excitement of Advent swept the nation this weekend, I delved into the dusty corner of my brain marked 'Christmas bingo', quickly ticking off Mariah Ca...

Have you noticed how nice Scottish people smell? If you've spent any time with lovely children's diabetes nurse Louise Wootton you might already know this. A...

Finally my moment of fame. From the murky depths of anonymity to the sparkling heights of the celebrity in a matter of days. A photo and an article in the Pr...

Last Thursday was Mental Health Awareness Day. Previously a taboo subject, we're now as keen as a puppy with two wagging tails and a degree in eagerness from...

Despite John Hurt's voice in my ear warning "Oh, we do not speak his name!" I'm going out on a limb to mention Christmas, after recently being stopped in my ...

If there's one thing doctors are good at, it's talking to other doctors. We're like a big cuddly family, all sharing ideas, supporting each other, and genera...

Much like the inner torment Solzhenitsyn must have faced when trying to eke out 24 hours of Ivan Denisovich into 94 pages, I find myself wincing at the thoug...

There's some festival or other on in York every day of the year, from 'Ebor races' to 'Early Music', 'Food and Drink' to 'Fossgate', 'Vikings', 'Angels' and ...

Every minute, 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world. Don’t want to be part of that? Then be part of this: the refill revolution. Excitingly, ...