Fetus

or, foetus if you are in the UK.

I wanted to write something about the potential for inter-uterine surgery; this is, a doctor manipulating sophisticated equipment to operate on an unborn baby.

To me, from where I am, this is tantamount to witchcraft. How can such a science exist?

Clearly it can and, does, although in the UK it is still not mainstream and if you are a mum who has been found to have a baby with a specific abnormality you might have to travel to a population centre for treatment.

Hocus pocus.

Spellbinding.

It is the science and technology that enables a Rover to snap photos on Mars or scanning electron micrographs to picture the gaps between the atoms inside of me, or the Wonder Machine – fMRI, that can reveal thoughts in action.

We humans have achieved some incredible feats of engineering.

Yet, over a quarter of people on Earth – 2.1 billion (yes, 2,100,000,000) human beings inhabiting our planet today do not have access to clean drinking water.

I heard on a radio programme yesterday that in some parts of Nigeria, up to 90% of people are exposed to contaminated water on a regular basis.

I have seen old women waiting so long to go to the toilet that they wet themselves; I have witness food uneaten, dry mouths and cracked lips; requests for help and support unheard.

Our world is one of extremes.

In the UK, 4.1 million children live in poverty (yes, 4,100,000).

I hate it.

If you stop for a moment to understand the magnitude of the inequality and then consider the cost of an iPhone or iPad, nothing makes sense.

Looking at a Hieronymus Bosch painting from the 1500’s you see obscure, at times obscene images of village life – how different is that from the craziness of now?

Bob Mullan’s book about RD Laing (and, later David Tenant movie), ‘Mad to be normal’ represented this concept succinctly.

Do not even begin to pretend that anything makes any sense.

Life is, in its very nature, perverse.

Upside-down.

Convoluted.

Really, the more bizarre the perception, the greater the likelihood of reality.

‘This makes no sense,’ is likely to be a more honest appraisal of the situation than a jigsaw where everything fits neatly into an orderly configuration.

And here is the request:

Go easy on one another.

Accept that we are all flawed, that our view of the world is necessarily wrong, only consensus (multidisciplinary diversity) can guide the way – everything else is make-believe.

And, I believe.