March 2020
31 entries
Corona Diaries
Chloroquine returns
It seems like only yesterday, but was actually many decades ago, that I was in Africa and guzzling chloroquine weekly for my antimalarial prophylaxis. Soon I had to move on…
Corona Diaries
A Black Swan event
Some time ago I came across a book by an author called Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It was called “The Black Swan - the impact of the highly improbable,” and was…
Corona Diaries
Joggers can ruin my day
I realise a Brit is meant to have the Blitz Spirit, although it is difficult to ascribe that term to a country stockpiling loo rolls. However, I am finding it…
Corona Diaries
We have learned so little
The problem with being a writer, and a doctor too, is that I spend so much time in graveyards. They are generally where I first go when I am visiting…
Corona Diaries
Many are trying to find a solution
When events are moving fast, those working at the frontline can find it difficult to be heard. They are so busy keeping others together, and themselves as well, that to…
Corona Diaries
Healthcare is a high-risk occupation
Barely a day goes by at the moment, without me hearing of another medical colleague who has perished at the frontline of Covid-19. Each was in their prime. Researchers from…
Corona Diaries
Is the cure worse than the problem?
I read a fascinating scientific paper today, whose contents filled my thoughts as I made my early-morning stagger-stumble around London’s Regent’s Park. Self-isolators were out in their dozens, and plenty…
Corona Diaries
The dough heads have done it
The dough heads have done it. They have forced the Government’s hand. I am writing of those people who attended parties last weekend, who flocked to the seaside, and who…
Corona Diaries
Sixteen steps for sanity
I sense that writers have an advantage when it comes to self-isolation. By definition, to be an author requires you to master loneliness. There you sit, pen and paper before…
Corona Diaries
The squeeze is squeezing
Slowly the squeeze is squeezing, and it is clear what will soon occur. A full lockdown cannot be far away. Deaths are gradually increasing, and the nation has been told…
Corona Diaries
Testicles beware
One of the advantages of being a medic, especially when self-isolating, is that I spend an enormous amount of time reading. By force of circumstance I am becoming increasingly knowledgeable…
Corona Diaries
The old and bold
“Come in, sir,” said the young man with the broadest smile he could manage. He had been given the task of marshalling the supermarket’s first silver hour, when the frail…
Corona Diaries
Society is teetering
I could not believe the supermarket, barely 20 minutes after it had opened. I thought I was early but was clearly late, as there were only four empty shopping trolleys…
Corona Diaries
The air is becoming cleaner
The crisis is picking up pace as there is barely any sector of life that is unaffected. My email Inbox continues to receive notifications from conferences, businesses, hotels, restaurants, and…
Corona Diaries
Jogging in isolation
I need to understand things better as I am beginning to get confused. Yet as I look around central London, and I receive almost hourly notifications from sequential businesses that…
Corona Diaries
Beginning of the lockdown
I went to London’s Chelsea Physic Garden today and am ashamed to say that it was my first visit. After all, I am a medic and should have seen the…
Corona Diaries
Antisocial distancing
Thank Heavens for the Dutch. I know, today at least, that they have fewer confirmed cases of Covid-19 than the Brits, but they have restored my faith in normality. In…
Corona Diaries
Crisis? What crisis?
I am not sure the media has got it right, challenging the government in a time of national crisis. There are times and there are times, but when a population…
Corona Diaries
Fingers crossed for the Olympics
At last, I sense UK society is beginning to take things seriously, although there are still many people hanging on to old times. The friend who telephoned me today from…
Corona Diaries
Game and set to Covid-19
I have a theory about Covid-19. It is Nature paying us back. Mankind, after all, has been breeding and largely out of control. Twelve millennia ago the global population was…
Corona Diaries
This is the moment
If there is a turning point in the UK’s part in the Covid-19 crisis, today must be the moment. Have a look at this email, that I received from a…
Corona Diaries
Many businesses will not survive
I went into a local supermarket today as I had run out of milk. I am a lactophile and as distant from lactose sensitivity as it is possible to be.…
Corona Diaries
Apparently, we are in containment
It seems that slowly the country is getting its head round what is happening. The streets outside my flat are much quieter, there are fewer rubbish bags on the pavements,…
Corona Diaries
The medics are ahead
It seems to me that the medics are several steps ahead of society at the moment. They are certainly ahead of Government. The medical profession finds itself hovering, waiting for…
Corona Diaries
I adore marmalade
With all catastrophes, for that is what this virus is proving to be, there are many who see the amusing side, too. I have received several spoof videos from friends…
Corona Diaries
The noose is tightening
I pulled out of another conference today, one that was scheduled for three days’ time. Pulling out of conferences and meetings is becoming something of a habit at the moment.…
Corona Diaries
The virus picks up speed
As I talk with friends and colleagues, there seems to be an increasing view that the media, indeed the world, are becoming alarmist. Some say they are inciting worry and…
Corona Diaries
If I was called Covid-19
The world is manifestly struggling, and the economic consequences of this virus are becoming clear. Only today, through TravMedia , I saw a press release declaring that “Italy is a…
Corona Diaries
It won’t happen to me
I despair that the general public has no clue how to act aseptically. It may be second nature to a medic but there is a clear, “It won’t happen to…
Corona Diaries
The nation is nervous
It now appears that Covid-19 transmission is occurring in the UK between individuals without any history of travel to affected areas. That is a turning point in this saga. No…
Corona Diaries
Outdoors makes me feel safer
There is no chance of avoiding public panic, as the news and press are filled with articles and interviews about Covid-19. Interviewers and newsreaders are striking just the right tone…