Janet Margaret ("Wendy") Last 1925-2010

Sixty years ago today, my beloved Wendy and I were married. It was a seasonably hot day in Adelaide, 104 F, but a late afternoon cool change made conditions comfortable for the reception. Our marriage lasted nearly 55years until Wendy fell ill and died of ALS. In an email to my brother Peter in Adelaide earlier today, I wrote -

I think of Wendy and am reminded of her many times every day. Memories of her irrepressible humour bubble to the surface constantly. Yesterday our building manager moved the sideboard in my dining room in preparation for plumbing maintenance in the kitchen through the wall. The move disclosed 17 years worth of bits and pieces that had fallen behind the sideboard - letters, photos, etc, including a couple I might circulate, or at least show our kids, that illustrate what a wonderful, unique and lovely person Wendy was. I treasure the 54 years of our marriage, the 55 years we were lovers, treasure all the fun we shared, all the travel, all the adventures, all the calm and placid times. I’m glad I behaved as a gentleman should, letting her go first, thus sparing her the dismal task of tidying when half of a long, loving partnership dies. I can’t bring myself to complete that task of tidying, but will leave some of it to R, D and J, and hope it reminds them as it does me, of Wendy.

Basil Hetzel, 1922-2017

Basil Hetzel was a few years ahead of me at St Peter's College in Adelaide where we first met, and at the Adelaide medical school.  I worked with him briefly when I was a medical student and he was -- in the local terminology -- a senior registrar, a position roughly equivalent to senior resident in Canadian or US terminology. I first got to know him moderately well when I was in general practice at the Western Clinic, about 7 years after I qualified. At that time he was, I think, an associate professor in the professorial medical unit at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital. The Western Clinic was in the catchment area of the QEIIH, although we didn't identify or recognize catchment areas as such in those years. I found him helpful as a consultant, but less so than several of his peers and near contemporaries. In 1967 or 1968 when I was senior lecturer at the Usher Institute of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, Basil was head or deputy head of the department of medicine at Monash University in Melbourne. Monash University established a department called (I think) Community Medicine and Epidemiology. I applied for the chair, was interviewed in London by several people I knew who knew me well.  I, and several of those who interviewed me, seemed confident that I was the best qualified and should be offered the position. At the time I was shattered when I was passed over and Basil Hetzel, who totally lacked training and experience in epidemiology, was appointed. Looking back on it ten years later I could see that this was among the best things that ever happened to me. I got much further in North America than I ever would have if I'd gone back to Australia! I saw Basil occasionally in Ottawa.  He had other friends besides me in Ottawa and dropped in occasionally to see us. On one of those visits he described me as  "A towering figure." He was the first but not the only one to describe me thus. While he was at Monash I visited and stayed with him and his first wife, at their weekend retreat outside Melbourne. Not long after then, I got to know him better when I was on the council of the International Epidemiological Association and editor of the IEA's Dictionary of Epidemiology.  Basil was parachuted in as president of the IEA when we met in Sydney in 1993. I gave the opening keynote address at that meeting and commented on some emerging challenges,  notably rapid changes in global life-supporting ecosystems that threatened population health, and new ethical challenges.  Basil thanked me after this talk, and confessed that until he heard me speak that morning, he hadn't thought much about either of these challenges. Soon he left epidemiology and other population sciences and moved into university administration. He was appointed governor of South Australia, and other honours and distinctions came his way.

His obituary described him as gentle, courteous and kindly. I fully endorse and agree with these descriptions.

Slipped disk

The Trump presidency isn't a month old but it's already fulfilled my forebodings that it would be a disaster. The man himself has repeatedly demonstrated his unfitness for the office he holds. His only qualification, the one that got him elected by accumulating a plurality of seats on the bizarre electoral college, was supremely successful demagoguery based on xenophobia and intolerance. It seems likely to me that he will precipitate more wars, and if he does, they will be nuclear wars, wars in which there will be no limits on weapons of mass destruction, use of torture, and a wide range of unconscionable acts, doubtless justified on the grounds that it's OK for the USA to use them because of the USA's exceptionalism.

Trump has no regard for facts, appears to live in his own alternative reality, as Hilary Clinton remarked during a "debate" before the election. He really does believe his inauguration attracted the largest crowd ever, despite photographic evidence that clearly demonstrated this to be false. He has many strong, but wrong, beliefs. For example, he believes vaccines cause autism. I'm waiting for a presidential decree in support of this belief, wondering how the NIH, CDC and other reputable scientific authorities will react if such a decree emerges...   

It doesn't surprise me that George Orwell's dystopia, portrayed in his pessimistic novel 1984, has become a best-seller. I'm tempted to say  that my dying wish is is for life to imitate art in this respect, except that the consequences could be, probably would be, catastrophic for innocent infants, children, and adults all over the world.

What does any of this have to do with a slipped disk? Nothing. But with 78 rpm records, potentially plenty if the needle slips out of its proper groove.