NHS – Cannonball Read 17

A love letter to the NHS

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay

November 7, 2025 by Zirza Leave a Comment

The NHS being a demanding mistress, that is. Adam Kay is a screenwriter for various UK TV shows, but before he switched careers he was a doctor specialising in gynaecology and obstetrics. During his studies, he was advised to keep a diary. Years after switching careers, he received a letter from the Medical Board of Whatever stating that they’d struck him from the professional register as he hadn’t practised medicine in years. It led him to revisit his diaries, now presented here in book form. […]

I should have probably read this at Christmas

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay

March 9, 2020 by TheShitWizard Leave a Comment

The obligatory Christmas tie-in to Kay’s This Is Going To Hurt, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas covers the many Christmases that Kay worked for the NHS, with all the humour and heartache that one would expect. It’s an extremely quick read too – you could finish it in the time it took you to eat a Christmas dinner – which would fit perfectly into a stocking (remember this for, erm, nine months time I guess). Being an obstetrics/maternity specialist, babies who refuse to wait till […]

Pelvic floor exercises have now been added to my to-do list

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

December 4, 2019 by TheShitWizard Leave a Comment

This is Going to Hurt: The Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor is important reading for any Brit who’s about to vote without bearing the future of the NHS in mind. I’ve worked in that arena for the last 15 years and the last 10 years of that has been under the banner of ‘austerity’. In that time we’ve seen services go from underfunded to seriously critical, with staff breaking more and more regularly thanks to the increased stresses and strains that go hand in […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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