Two months ago I decided to learn to speak isiXhosa. This is a big thing for a 53-year-old — some might say impossible. Others might say it is unnecessary. They might be right in strictly practical terms. I don’t need to speak isiXhosa. Very, very seldom do I have to communicate with someone who speaks […]
Martin Young
Martin Young is an ENT surgeon living an idyllic life in Knysna. He is a firm believer that "the unexamined life is not worth living", writes for a hobby and is happy to speak truth to power www.drmartinyoung.com or @MartinYoung
Posted inGeneral, Health
The long goodbye
I know the face of dementia. I know its slow robbing of personality, of character, of the daily moments of person to person connection that make us human. This was brought even closer to home when I met the father of a good friend who had recently moved his wife with advanced Alzheimer’s disease into […]
Posted inGeneral, Health
Discovery Health wants a picture of your anus
Didn’t your mother warn you to never, ever, ever take a photograph of your private parts and give it or send it to anyone, let alone a complete stranger who asks for it? But this is exactly what happened when Donn Edwards, an old school friend of mine, submitted a claim for specialised wound care […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Something’s fishy in the state of Sanral
Call SA’s national ANC government nothing but determined! In the face of widespread opposition against the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) and e-tolling, even from the ANC’s own Gauteng legislature, Cyril Ramaphosa has come up with a “rescue plan”. The details of this plan have seen the expected opposition from Outa (Opposition to Urban […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dinner with the president
I had dinner with the president last night. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t alone with him. There were about 350 other people eager to hear him speak and who had paid for the privilege, and I was one of those lucky enough to meet him and shake his hand. When I say “president” I […]
Posted inHealth
Let’s talk about suicide
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. About five years ago, as my family and parents and siblings celebrated Christmas Day together, we received a call from the UK. My uncle, my father’s twin brother, a larger-than-life man in his mid-seventies, with a large family of his own, and ostensibly in good health at the time, […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Killing in the name of God
No thinking person can escape being horrified by the actions carried out in the name of God by religious fanatics across the world today. Killings, rapes, executions, wholesale slaughter, genocide, torture, and sometimes just ordinary nastiness — a litany of horrors that deny humankind the right to claim ourselves to be a uniformly emotionally intelligent […]
Posted inHealth, News/Politics
When a handshake can kill you…
As a doctor I greet many people, both new and familiar, every week, and inevitably we shake hands. It would feel awkward not to do so. This is the way I was brought up, that a firm handshake is a mark of strong character, part of the process of creating a good first impression, and […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
How much money is enough?
A R12 500 a month salary, much discussed in business, economic and political circles at present, is the wage fought for by striking platinum miners in the longest and most damaging strike in our country’s history. The recent agreement puts that figure within sight. I couldn’t live on R12 500, and I’m sure most readers on this […]
Posted inLifestyle
A lesson from the zoo biscuit in declining quality creep
Do you still remember the zoo biscuits of your childhood, as I do? These were special treats, handed out as rewards for good behaviour or on special occasions. There was a ritual around their consumption, first a delicate negotiation among siblings as to who got the lion and who the ostrich. Then there was the […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Thank God for Dunning Kruger
There’s not a word written in any of my posts on belief and spirituality that is not heavily weighed nor seriously considered. What will my post say, what effect will this have, what answers does this post potentially offer to those having difficulties with the topic I’ve chosen, and, last of all, what does this […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
The thinking Christian’s gay dilemma
It is no surprise, if media reports are to be believed, that the driving force behind Uganda’s new hate legislation against its LGBTI citizens is backed by US-based fundamentalist evangelical Christian organisations. It’s frankly embarrassing, as an albeit liberal Christian, to be associated even in general description with this kind of behaviour. What would Jesus […]