R's rue

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 In his morning blog, Cro discussed the state of psychiatric care in the country, discussing its efficacy especially when dealing with the sad case of the recent Devon Shootings. I trained as a psychiatric nurse back in 1983, just as the big asylum system was closing and the relatively new community nursing system was being set up and greatly expanded. The nurses, especially on the acute admission wards, were becoming much more psychologically focused in their care and training, like most in nursing was becoming more academic, research based and professionalised.  It was an exciting time to be a nurse, in many ways but after just three years training and three years staffing on an acute admissions ward I left to become a general nurse. I was burnt out, jaded, and a little cynical. I was also just twenty seven years old Very few of our patients were the Conrad Jarrett type. (Conrad was the lead character in the book Ordinary People , the character played by Timothy Hutt...

  In the Pashto language the word "Taliban" means "students". Indeed,, the Taliban movement began amongst students of Islam during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1978-1992). However, the Taliban fighters we see today are not students. They are bearded warriors from a medieval costume museum riding in battered pick-up trucks or upon motorcycles, clutching purloined weapons.  As well as having plenty of money from opium sales, they undoubtedly believe they have truth and justice on their side. They look into the camera like aliens from another planet. The way they have retaken their country in just three weeks is breath-taking. It has been so easy. The official Afghan army has been as tough as wet tissue paper. All that money spent on training them and equipping them! They might as well have been provided with a bunch of white flags costing  less than a hundred dollars. It's as if the clock has been turned back to October 2001 so that the Taliban can co...