Every Friday I write an editorial for our weekly departmental newsletter (I moved sideways into newsletter editing when I gave up scheduling a couple of years ago – less stressful and more suited to my particular talents. I\u2019m happy with the change although I had to give up my office – a sad loss – I hate open plan). It\u2019s usually just me wiffling on about what happened to me during my working week, but I often put a tiny bit about world events just to appear relevant. When I\u2019m done, I run it past my much younger co editor to make sure I haven\u2019t made any dumb mistakes and also to ensure it isn\u2019t too offensive. As an example, here is an excerpt from today\u2019s editorial:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been a good week for Terry Jones, who shuffled off this mortal coil on Tuesday, or for China, that has been battling another zoonotic virus. What is it about China that makes so many horrible viruses originate from there? Possibly it could be their penchant for exotic foodstuffs. Honestly, if God had wanted us to eat chicken feet or pigs arteries, why would He have invented pizza?? Best of luck to them in their endeavours, anyway, and I hope someone invents a snappy nickname for this illness soon because \u201cnovel Wuhan coronavirus\u201d is just too long.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Perfect, no? Apparently not. The corrections she came back with were \u2018novel\u2019 for \u2018horrible\u2019 (as in horrible viruses); and \u2018They\u2019 for \u2018He\u2019 (as in why would He have invented). I don\u2019t like the changes, but I always agree to them because Millennials are a closed book to me and I\u2019m too afraid of getting into trouble. I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t have to have my blog posts approved by somebody else (although when in doubt I do run them past my daughters, but that\u2019s mostly because they appear in my stories so often).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every Friday I write an editorial for our weekly departmental newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-14c","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4807,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/20\/editorial-duties\/","url_meta":{"origin":4104,"position":0},"title":"Editorial duties","author":"Interloper11","date":"May 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Someone asked me why we have three co editors for our departmental newsletter. I know it\u2019s possible you guys have no interest in this aspect of my work but I can\u2019t put this into the newsletter because it\u2019s mean (I\u2019m venting). My job is to oversee the whole publication process\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/36B4E9C7-DD6B-43C9-ADE4-088AD5718896-1024x642.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/36B4E9C7-DD6B-43C9-ADE4-088AD5718896-1024x642.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/36B4E9C7-DD6B-43C9-ADE4-088AD5718896-1024x642.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8803,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/on-second-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":4104,"position":1},"title":"On second thoughts","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Actually I might be up to third or fourth thoughts by now? Hard to be certain. After the furore following last week\u2019s newsletter editorial (apparently the subject was heavily canvassed at the senior staff meeting on Wednesday, which I thankfully missed), I decided to play it safe, and lay low\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/59299F96-66E7-485C-B28C-AFA5E58F0C49-890x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/59299F96-66E7-485C-B28C-AFA5E58F0C49-890x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/59299F96-66E7-485C-B28C-AFA5E58F0C49-890x1024.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6252,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/08\/reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":4104,"position":2},"title":"Reflections","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Our department had a survey of the senior doctors a few weeks ago, to see what people think about the state of affairs there. We all got sent a copy \u00a0of the results yesterday, including any comments made. There was a section on the weekly newsletter, of which I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BA52A460-B2B7-4811-A775-E104371EDD69.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BA52A460-B2B7-4811-A775-E104371EDD69.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BA52A460-B2B7-4811-A775-E104371EDD69.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BA52A460-B2B7-4811-A775-E104371EDD69.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BA52A460-B2B7-4811-A775-E104371EDD69.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BA52A460-B2B7-4811-A775-E104371EDD69.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3002,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/03\/slings-and-arrows\/","url_meta":{"origin":4104,"position":3},"title":"Slings and arrows","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Feeling dispirited. A friend from work spent yesterday evening ripping me a new one with a series of 13 angry texts, having taken exception to something I wrote in my newsletter editorial on Friday. I was taken completely unawares. The thing is, it wasn\u2019t the most obnoxious thing I\u2019ve ever\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/0E195E17-ED61-44F5-8194-C5126BDE25CD-290x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4330,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/08\/excuse-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":4104,"position":4},"title":"Excuse me?","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Got an email from my deputy HOD with some (constructive?) criticism of our latest newsletter. At one point she described my editorial as a marathon. Is that good or bad? When someone you know runs a marathon, aren\u2019t you meant to be all encouraging and supportive? Do you think that\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9915,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/24\/let-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":4104,"position":5},"title":"Let go","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been fired from our departmental newsletter. Those of you with long memories might remember I was fired once before, but I managed to weasel my way back to editorial duties via scheduling notes, which became \u201cschedutorials\u201d. Yes, it was just the same old schtick I\u2019ve been doing for years:\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3185-884x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3185-884x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3185-884x1024.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}