STUDENT nurses working as health carers before they do their degrees? Brilliant idea. No amount of theory can replace doing the real thing.
One thing though – can you teach empathy or compassion? Well, if the nurses are reasonably well-balanced people, surely they only need to imagine it’s their mum, brother, daughter or granddad who needs to be regarded as a human being, rather than treated as an animal.
Sorry, that’s doing animals a disservice. Perhaps nurses should be forced to train alongside hearing dogs or guide dogs for the blind to learn a thing or two about duty and care. Or meerkats. They are very social, living in colonies averaging 20 to 30 members. Animals in the same group regularly groom each other to strengthen social bonds. Simples.
n I do love a good drama and there has been a whole spate of top-notch plays recently on TV. Having complained in the past that so many programmes have been dumbed down to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it’s great that things appear to be looking up.
However, it seems that programme makers are still worried about our attention spans so have not given us lengthy titles to memorise from week to week.
Mayday, Shetland and Lightfields, are among the latest that I have watched – or caught later, on catch-up or on demand. What a brilliant service that is. No more fiddling about with recording programmes before you go out.
And there’s also Broadchurch, which includes a strangely-bearded David Tennant and the brilliant Olivia Colman. It ends this month and it’s a good job that the title is short and easy to remember, as the plot is weaving about like an annoying person on a motorbike in a traffic jam.
And EIGHT episodes! My brain hurts...
n Still on attention-spans, a reader responded to Mr F’s delight at turning up to a play at the National Theatre and finding it was only 30 minutes long (Bm@il, March 20).
She writes: “I did enjoy your column this week. Tell Mr F I agree with him that all plays should be 30 minutes long. And preferably weddings, christenings and funerals too.”
Write to me! bmailbarbara@gmail.com.
