"you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you"

When I was a medical student and indeed intern, nothing seemed more boring than the interminable stuff about contract negotiations and the like that filled the Irish Medical Times and the like. However as time goes by, these are more and more relevant. The new consultant contract has implications not just financially and in terms of private practice - the two areas most covered in the media - but on the whole independence of medicine and the ongoing quality of the medical services we deliver. I think it is worth reading the IMO's material on the consultant contract issue here: http://www.imo.ie/view_categories.php?cat_id=624

This is obviously enough not directly relevant to this course or your exams, but is an example of how medical practice does not exist in a vacuum - multiple other factors, from the imminent general election to an anti-professional, anti-expertise culture in wider society, affect this particular issue.