Consultants don't cry

If you have three quarters of an hour to spare and happen to be in the right place at the right time, there are few gatherings to match a decent medical funeral. In a teaching centre like ours they provide unpredictable but nonetheless welcom reunions that allow sentiment, a certain amount of communal pride, and - not incidentally - a chance to agree that old Joe had his rough side/cross to bear/undoubted shortcomings, but nevertheless did a great deal/a fair bit/as much as could have been expected, for Edinburgh medicine in general and for his own specialty in particular.

We sing a hymn or two quite passably, hear a little more than we …