Anyone who has ever tried to conduct medical research will be familiar with the workings of the ethical committee, an institution appointed arbiter of what research is or is not acceptable. Pretty much all institutions that conduct medical research have
Cooky and Jimmy
Anyone who believes that test match cricket is a dull, dreary, ritualistic relic from another time should have witnessed the events at the Oval today. This was test match cricket at its finest, full of intensity, passion and commitment. This
Why have we largely ignored non-motor symptoms in PD?
I often have the feeling, rightly or wrongly, that medicine is happy to investigate those areas where it is more easily successful than those which prove more challenging. These are in essence the low hanging fruit, easy wins for impatient
Awareness, advocacy, activism and action
There exists a relationship between patients with any condition and the researchers. For some conditions there is barely an acknowledgement of each other. For others, such as AIDS, the relationship is much tighter, with a strong knowledge interchange between the
Having my cake and eating it
Fourteen months ago I made the decision to “retire” from the Cure Parkinson’s Trust, where I had served for five years. It was a tough decision to say the least. CPT has been my “other” family for nearly a decade,
The Candle and the Fire
It is a year since the Parkinson’s community lost one of its strongest advocates, a full year since Tom Isaacs passed away unexpectedly early one May morning. I remember the phone call from Helen, mid-morning. She said hello and asked
Club cricket – one from the vault
Written in 2011 but still tickles me… For reasons that are generous but entirely unfathomable, at least to me, the last few Saturdays have found me not only playing cricket, but captain of our club’s 4th XI. The Bells Yew
Speaking in tongues
There are times when I like to delude myself that I am a serious writer, that I can string words together in ways that touch readers. I like to feel that my words have impact, that they demand reaction. This
Winner takes all
At first sight, the pharmaceutical industry seems readily understandable. There is a need for drugs to treat illness. Drug companies collectively provide these treatments. And as time progresses they produce better treatments. This is big business. Take Parkinson’s: the estimated
A matter of life and death
I’m reading two books at the moment. The first is Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. The second is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Both, in different ways, tackle the subject of death and try to contextualise the experience.