I plan to use this Blog to publish some of my thinking about being a Doctor in the 21st Century in the great tradition dating back to the times of Hippocrates. In many ways we have lost our way, fogetting that medicine is based on a near perfect mixture of science and compassion. Compassion without science is quackery. Science without compassion is impersonal. Yet those who come forward now follow in this tradition, and my hopes for the future of Medicine in the UK has been raised by the Juniors marching against the MTAS system for selection in March 2007. They were marching and demonstrating for the best patient care, against a Government bent on continuing with a process that was omitting some of the best scientists and most humane from the selection of future seniors. I have been a Consultant (Attending) since 1993. I owe my learning to my school teachers, my tutors at Oxford University, my colleague students at King's College Hospital, and many wise clinicians subsequently. The...