I was born in the early 1970s in Northern Ireland. So I was brought up during the most tumultuous of times of what became known as the Troubles. My early years were spent in the Sperrin Mountains. I received secondary and further education in one of our closest towns, Omagh – sadly more globally known for the terrible Omagh bombing in 1998. I also had my first student jobs in this town, before going off to study at the University of Ulster in Belfast. I went on to study a postgraduate certificate in communication at Queen’s University. My original plan to go into teaching/lecturing waned a little and I returned to UU to study occupational therapy. This career has brought me to Scotland.
My earliest memory of reading the Guardian was in the early 90s – largely influenced by my sociology teacher Dickie Doak, who encouraged his students to challenge themselves to read other forms of media outside our local and regional newspapers. What attracted me to the Guardian then and now is how well topics of public concern, such as national and international politics, the environment, education, employment and culture are covered.
Having been brought up during the Troubles, I was drawn to the paper’s liberal democratic slant. I was acutely aware, having been involved in cross-community programmes, that it was good to actively promote equality. Little did I realise that, as I got older, this awareness would encourage me to grow to accept my own sexuality (which was certainly not part of the status quo where I was brought up!)
I was particularly interested in the recent article about GP practices in Bristol linking up their systems to have a more central, efficient and client-centred electronic data system regarding patient care. As well as working as a therapist in primary care, I work with various homeless projects, including a piloted needle exchange programme and a social enterprise initiative providing food and drinks for people who are homeless. I am curious to know more about this data recording system and to possibly visit some of these practices personally.
For me the Guardian remains one of the most well-balanced media platforms, which appears to have maintained its liberal journalistic licence and covers and indeed exposes deeper truths and realities of what is occurring here in the UK and internationally.
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