Aside

Flo – Florence Nightingale has always been a hero of mine; I even wrote a play about her. This involved a fair bit of research so I quickly learned that she was more of a brilliant administrator than a ministering angel; indeed Parthe, her sister, complained bitterly about Florence’s nursing abilities when under her care. She was a pioneer of the nursing profession and earned it the respect it deserved; she was a great reformer of public health in general and hospital sanitation in particular. She had learned about this the hard way in Scutari during the Crimean War. She was also a first rate statistician.

Many books have been written about her achievements and some have tried to tarnish her image. There was the view that Florence ‘looked down on Mary Seacole, the black nurse who treated Crimean war soldiers’ and Mary’s reputation soared to the detriment of Florence’s.

Richard Brooks, writing in the Daily Telegraph about a new biography by Mark Bostridge has as a headline: ‘Lady of the Lamp’ was on a nightly sex patrol,’

She ’toured the wards at night not to cast a caring eye over sick soldiers but to check that her nurses were not drinking with them or sharing their beds.’

Even as late as the forties and fifties matrons and sisters were intensely concerned with the behaviour of the nursing staff. How much more essential it would have been in the 1850’s when nurses were looked upon as Sara Gamps. And I’m perfectly sure she was also caring for her boys, for whom she had a great affection.

And as for the supposed rivalry betwixt the two nurses – ‘Bostridge has found out that Nightingale helped her financially when she faced bankruptcy.’

Bully for Bostridge and good on you Flo!

Jo – Joanna Lumley is a great one for crusades and I don’t always agree with her but this time I think she’s right on the money. Since I was a teenager I have had a great respect for the Ghurkhas. A member of my family and an old friend fought with them and had nothing but praise for them as valiant soldiers and decent human beings. It seems incredible to me that having fought for us, suffered for us and – in some cases given their lives for us, they are not allowed to live here. Shame on us.