BMJ 2015;350:h3221 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h3221 (Published 17 June 2015)

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Observations

OBSERVATIONS BMJ CONFIDENTIAL

Mark Porter: Pet hate is lettuce Who is the person you would most like to thank and why? See below.

To whom would you most like to apologise?

What was your earliest ambition? To be an astronaut, of course; I was a star struck child at the time of the Moon landings. It was the greatest of adventures, although I didn’t understand then that the project employed 400 000 people at its peak and consumed so many resources that we wouldn’t keep going back.

Who has been your biggest inspiration? In different parts of my life I’ve had the fortune to know a number of people who have quietly demonstrated the desire and resolve to do the right thing, accompanied by the moral strength to stand back and question whether it really is the right thing. It is those whom I most admire.

What was your best career move? To have taken advantage of being in the right place at the right time, although there will have been other places and times of which I will know nothing. Looking at my present role in the BMA, it was probably being part of the negotiating team for the 2003 consultant contract. This taught me much about the practicalities of politics and representation, what could be achieved, the necessity of getting ahead, and the dangers of getting too far ahead of one’s constituency.

Bevan or Lansley? Who has been the best and the worst health secretary in your lifetime? They are all inextricably enmeshed in their times and places. I’ve seen too many make the inevitable journey from hubris through to nemesis as they come to realise that most of the levers of power aren’t really connected in any meaningful way, and they cast around for something that they can point to as a legacy. For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions

To my wife: when we met she didn’t know that I was going to spend a lifetime working nights and weekends, either in my hospital or for the BMA.

If you were given £1m what would you spend it on? A combination of investment and helping family and friends, with a smidgeon of complete self indulgence.

Where are or were you happiest? With my wife, holding my first child in my arms for the first time. I could not have believed just what a profound moment that would be or what a great effect it would have on my view of life.

What single unheralded change has made the most difference in your field in your lifetime? The same as in almost every field of human endeavour: the immediate availability of stored knowledge through the internet. It wasn’t one single moment, although “always-on” broadband probably came closest to that. No longer does one have to go to a special building to hunt among paper pages—a process that stifled most curiosity before one could even express it.

What book should every doctor read? In fiction, find someone who teaches you of the human condition. (You’ll have to go a long way to beat Terry Pratchett, mind you.) In non-fiction I’d recommend Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. It’s ostensibly a summary of the evidence on complementary and alternative therapies, but the authors speak more of the development of evidence based medicine, the nature of evidence, and how we deceive ourselves into ignoring or downplaying it in favour of personal experience. Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe

BMJ 2015;350:h3221 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h3221 (Published 17 June 2015)

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OBSERVATIONS

Biography Mark Porter, chair of the BMA council, hopes that his public pronouncements on policy issues won’t put anyone to sleep. In his professional role as consultant anaesthetist at University Hospital Coventry, however, that’s exactly what he does—although the patient is often awake and waiting to deliver her baby under an epidural. He’s cautious, not showy, and in tune with the views of BMA activists who attend the annual representative meeting. Least likely to say: “Let’s privatise the lot.” Most likely to say: “The NHS isn’t safe in this government’s hands.” And that applies to whichever government is in power.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

What is your pet hate?

Too many. See TV below—the thief of time.

Lettuce. In what possible way does it make a sandwich better?

If you could be invisible for a day what would you do?

What would be on the menu for your last supper?

If you’re offering magic, I’d rather go for a look back in time. I’d see what really happened at those points in history where all we have is half embroidered stories written down much later by people spinning their own version.

In preference: a sip of water, with my family gathered, and not for a long while yet.

What television programmes do you like? Long narrative arc fantasy, with a bent towards science fiction or politics. They come together in Battlestar Galactica (21st century reboot) and even in The Walking Dead; but, for the ultimate liberal daydreams, watch Borgen or The West Wing.

Summarise your personality in three words Only three? Adaptable, systematic, loyal. (Don’t give me the feedback.)

Where does alcohol fit into your life?

Do you have any regrets about becoming a doctor? None. We are all of our time, and I marvel at the ignorance of the past and fear for the changes of the future, but I see something timeless in the honour and privilege of being a doctor.

If you weren’t in your present position what would you be doing instead? Probably trying to bring my own particular version of order to whatever part of the world I found myself in. Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h3221 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015

After the work is done, it’s a perennial hazard for occasions masquerading as social but where business is done.

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