England’s test summer begins

Peter the Great was no saint

Commentary in Politico suggest Vladimir Putin is no Peter the Great because he has failed to stop murder and rape in Ukraine. But this tapestry of Peter shows him looking pretty pleased with the carnage of the Battle of Poltava in Ukraine in the background.

Battle was raging between Russian forces and the army of Charles XII of Sweden, marking the beginning of Russian hegemony in Northern Europe.

The easternmost point in the UK

Along the River Blyth

From Wenhaston to Blythburgh

Death rattle through Buttler hit wicket

Brave fight comes to an end. Day 5 of second Ashes test. Let’s hope England are good enough to come back.

Painful blow at the end but at least there’s a fifth day

Day four of Ashes second test. At least Malan and Root develop their all-round skills with two wickets each.

Worst day of series for England?

Malan and Root did not bat all day unfortunately (day 3 of second Ashes test). Other partnerships are needed. But Warner got confused leading to a runout. So, is this a repeat of 1936-7 in reverse (see previous post). Is there rain predicted?

Australia in command, I admit it, but …

Day 2 of the second Ashes test. Australia got to more than 450 but England have plenty of batting after losing two wickets. And it is first pink ball Ashes test (see article). And it’s hot, watch the lightning.

Dropping a sitter is embarrassing, but so what?

Rubbing in Buttler’s embarrassment is easy game, but he’s playing a real match. Let’s see after day one of second test. (See previous post posted in Australia).

Discover Lowestoft

Lowestoft in olden times (1899 edition by David Price)

The Arnold family of Lowestoft

The Arnold family held a high position in the town of Lowestoft for more than century. The prestige of the family was enhanced by the celebrity of the educational reformer, Dr. Thomas Arnold, Head Master of Rugby School, and his son, Matthew Arnold, one of the most distinguished of the poets and essayists of the Victorian Era.

Fine line between getting out on fourth day of Ashes test and being/becoming best world batter

And I’m not just meaning Joe Root

Australia demolish England by nine wickets in first Ashes Test

Full scorecard

Listen to the oracle for the next matches in the series (see my report of this match in last three days posts)

Rest day on day 5 (that’s definitely true)

Two full days left in first Ashes test (if no rain)

Can Root repeat what Cook did?

Cook’s five double hundreds

Day three summary

Built on day 2 from Robinson

And Stokes knee should be better as he didn’t have to bat today

Ever the optimist after day 2 of Ashes

England tried their absolute best. What more can you ask in the field?

Not wise for Australia to gloat at the end of only day 2 

England could bat out rest of the match on a Gabba pitch or even set a target?

And then Leach would come into his own on day 5?

The Ashes has started

England suffer nightmare start to the Ashes as Rory Burns dismissed first ball

Not since 1936 has this happened at the start of Ashes

English cricket team in Australia in 1936–37

Pat Cummins sets records in first day as captain, bowling figures

Bradman has been the only captain to win a five-match series after losing the first two Tests. But in 2021/2?

Shortest ever county championship match scheduled for 4 days

I saw the whole match of Essex versus Northants, even if it was only 96.3 overs (see article in The Cricketer). There have been shorter matches (see scorecard) scheduled over 3 days (see tweet by @davidaw69).

Cricket as the UK pandemic eases

Glad to return to the Home of Cricket yesterday. I even wore a red jumper (as it was RedforRuth on day 2).

Hartlepool will again vote for British values

The Labour Party's strategy has come into focus with the loss of the Hartlepool by-election (see New Statesman article). The Hartlepools (see Wikipedia entry) first became Labour in 1964. I think Britain's current conflict about its values will again be decided in favour of liberty, responsibility and fairness.

Had my first jab yesterday and the second jab is booked.

Healthcare has corrupted its mission

Victor Montori’s second edition of his book Why we revolt: A patient revolution for careful and kind care talks about how healthcare has stopped caring. Our current industrial healthcare needs to be replaced by a scientific, unhurried and person-centred care. Patient care needs to be reclaimed as the priority of healthcare organisations.

Medicine has tried to correct this imbalance over recent years in its training and practice (see eg. post on my Relational Psychiatry blog). As expressed by George Engel (1977) when proposing his biopsychosocial model, the fundamental problem is the overemphasis on biomedical aspects of illness at the expense of psychosocial factors. Reform may well not be enough, which is why I like the website of The Patient Revolution, a nonprofit organisation. Managers and funders need to be held accountable for creating and fostering systems that allow patient care to happen. As I said in a previous post, medicine needs to be rethought.

The indictment of medicine

David Sellu recently gave an interview to the Royal Society of Medicine. It was based on his book Did he save lives? A surgeon’s story. I have mentioned him in a previous post. 

His story is an indictment of the state that clinical governance in medicine has created. As I said in my BMJ letter, the increasing regulation of doctors has created a climate of fear and a culture of defensive practice. Over-reaction in investigation reports may lead to naming, blaming and shaming for what is presumed to be incompetence, carelessness or recklessness. But reports are not immune from mistakes and do not always deserve the authority given to them. Clinical errors occur and actually do not always detract from safety (see previous post). Clinicians live with uncertainty and have to act in the real world. 

Judgement about clinical behaviour needs to be fair and open. Even the legal system did not protect David Sellu, although it did eventually exonerate him on appeal. Medicine and surgery are in a precarious state when a decent and competent surgeon can wrongly be found guilty of manslaughter. Medicine needs to stop pretending that clinical practice is always objective and build on its professionalism and experience.

Now again retired

I've enjoyed returning to work (from home) for 3 months because of coronavirus (see last post). But now I need to find something else to do with the rest of my life apart from clinical work.