What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Congratulations

    Craig and Calum

    Congratulations to Craig and Calum, two members of St Mary’s congregation whose Nuptial Mass I conducted yesterday afternoon.

    Very often, the struggle towards equality seems to some people to take on the air of a pitched battle with people shouting their positions over the heads of others. The truth is, it really is an unbottling exercise – opening up a situation to let God’s Spirit make merry with those around.

    Yesterday’s celebrations were like that. People from Anglican, Roman Catholic and Conservative Evangelical (and no doubt other) backgrounds gathered around a fine young couple because they love them and together we saw them make promises to one another that have at their essence all that is holy and all that it is true.

    It was a genuinely joyful day and a wonderful privilege to share it with them.

    , ,

9 responses to “Biobank – an ethical question”

  1. Rev Ruth Avatar
    Rev Ruth

    I’ve been asked too. And I got so excited – you know how I love all things medical. My mind had already raced off into the realms of them finding that I had some mysterious disease… But now that you put it like that, I guess I’d better give it some more thought.

    Reply
  2. Raspberry Rabbit Avatar
    Raspberry Rabbit

    I haven’t been asked. Radical foreign clerics must not be on the list.

    I’d be hesitant to do it anyway. Too much information is being stored about us in anticipation of the day when it might prove useful. Best to keep your head down.

    RR

    Reply
  3. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    Eeek. I saw the phrase “Do you want to do something good today? Not just for yourself, but for our children and our children’s children?” near the top of the page and instantly the thought occurred, “what’s the potential cost? Where are the privacy controls?” Not as though anyone’s asked me anyway, but that sort of thing worries me from the outset too.

    A little more investigation shows http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/faqs/confidentiality.php , particularly #5 etc; it seems too vague, just a gloss to placate the masses. I don’t want `computers unconnected to the internet’; I’d want a guarantee that they never will be, that no floppy disks or other methods will result in data coming off them, and that they’re well secured in a bunker somewhere.

    Reply
  4. chris Avatar
    chris

    We’re involved. My sister-in-law first; she asked my husband; we discussed it and decided the potential for knowledge and research into – for example – the hereditary factor in clinical depression – made it something we wanted to do. Our sons have also expressed a willingness to participate. I personally don’t care about what happens to my DNA (other than its continuation in my family!) and if some good can come out of it then that’s just fine. I trust scientists every bit as much (or as little) as I trust anyone else.

    Reply
  5. asphodeline Avatar
    asphodeline

    Have you seen Heroes???? Sounds like a sneaky plot to find more 🙂

    Reply
  6. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    I have not seen Heroes. Is it about eugenics?

    Reply
  7. asphodeline Avatar
    asphodeline

    Ah. It has a hint of eugenics. Part of the plotline involves some form of research into the DNA of people with supernatural powers!

    Reply
  8. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    Ah, I see why you associated it with me.

    Reply
  9. Andrew Avatar
    Andrew

    My wife I also each received one of the so called invitations today, my first reaction was anger over the wording of the invitation which by telling me I have a “provisional appointment” assuming I am gullible enough to fall for the use of false authority syndrome.

    I am really concerned a lot of less literate people will not fully understand the “invitation” and assume it something they have to do.

    What really makes my blood boil is the that even if you don’t want to take part you have to reply to get your name removed from the records, this raises real civil liberties issues.

    The thing is if I had been asked to participate in I a nice way I would have been very keen to do so, however the whole tone of the letter stinks of authoritarianism and reminds me of the kind of thing the Nazis were doing in the mid 1930s.

    If you get one of these invitation say no and tell them why — or better still rip it up.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Speaking Forth to the Nation (again)

    I’ve just realised that I’m going to be on the radio again this Sunday. I’d clean forgotten about it. I recorded three early morning New Every Morning services earlier in the year for BBC Radio Scotland. They are going out on three Sundays in October at 0630 in the morning. I may not be listening…

  • Church Music

    Saw a terrible documentary on the tellybox last Friday evening about the choir at York Minster. The staff seemed a bit tired and the children of the choir who were featured in the programme were obviously miserable, overworked and not having any fun at all. What’s the point of music that makes people miserable? Oh,…

  • Scotland's Monday Holidays

    In trying to understand local/public/bank holidays in Scotland, I discovered that though bank holidays are declared by statute in Scotland, the banks have agreed to close on English Bank Holidays instead. I’ve had a hunch for a while that I did not understand the Monday holiday syndrome.

  • Dear Respected One

    I receive from time to time spurious e-mails coming from people around the world who claim that they have a lot of money to spare and that all they need is details of my bank account and I will be fabulously wealthy. These kind of e-mails are sometimes referred to as Nigerian Scam e-mails, a…