One goes through school college medical school and one's internship learning little or nothing about goodness but a good deal about success.
Nobody had ever told me junk food was bad for me. Four years of medical school and four years of internship and residency and I never thought anything was wrong with eating sweet rolls and doughnuts and potatoes and bread and sweets.
The dilemma of modern medicine and the underlying central flaw in medical education and most of all in the training of interns is the irresistible drive to do something anything. It is expected by patients and too often agreed to by their doctors in the face of ignorance.
As they say one thing led to another and ultimately the British and Irish governments asked me to serve as chairman of the peace negotiations which ironically began six years ago this week.