Editorial

EDITORIAL

Welcome dear readers to the Spring term issue. Again, it has been a rather strange sort of term. When I wrote last term’s editorial, I was looking forward to declaring this spring issue as the first post-pandemic publication of The Black Bag’s history. Alas, we are not there yet, but the end of the Boris Johnson’s roadmap is in sight. I am sure for many of us, patience is wearing exceptionally thin and I for one cannot wait for restrictions to be lifted. Even just a small example is that I would love to be able to meet with the Black Bag team face to face. I am sure I am the first editor in its 84 years of publication to conduct all my team meetings via video chat. Some hilarity has definitely resulted from this, including many frozen faces or conversations that one would have preferred to have be muted.

This term’s issue is a lively one; exciting interviews including a Bristol medical student “Who wants to be a millionaire” winner, an honest reflection of term 2 in year 2 including a rather dashing pillow patient, vaccine top trumps, some more serious musings on the TV series everyone has been talking about, It’s a Sin. One of my favourite articles in this issue is our anonymous piece on Imposter syndrome – incredibly relatable and rather beautiful. Do explore through the issue and if you disagree or it sparks any thoughts in you and you want to share then drop us a message as we are always looking for more contributors.

Scrolling through the top news stories of this Spring term, they are disappointingly but not unsurprisingly a mass of COVID information. There was also the brief fame that Bristol had around the world for the Kill the Bill protests and we have seen the rolling out of the UK’s vaccine programme with many smug medical students beating their Granny for their first dose. However, for me the memory most etched in my mind will be the way that we, as a medical school, have rallied together. I have truly never felt so close to my fellow students despite the physical distance. I want to encourage you all to continue talking to one another and making sure we help each other and ourselves. On that note I want to include a poem I wrote for the Galenicals Let’s Talk Campaign on the following page. Do give it a read and consider what the words mean to you.

M.van der Heiden Editor-in-Chief