To her most loyal readers, Fidelma Cook was more than a columnist. She did everything columnists do: she gave her opinions and commented on the news, but in talking about the biggest change in her life – going to live in another country – and admitting to her worries and failures, she also felt like someone you knew well, and worried about. She told her readers what was going on in her life and listened to what was going on in theirs, by email or Twitter (something she took to at first with suspicion and then with passion). The original catalyst for the column, in 2006, was Fidelma’s decision to sell her flat in Glasgow and move to France. Lots of people speculate about doing it, and Fidelma had been in love with the idea of France since she was a little girl.
Writer Melanie Reid (right) paid tribute to her former colleague and friend Fidelma Cook, describing her as funny and hilariously snobbish FUN, feisty and formidable – and the thrower of the “most extravagant parties”. Friends and former colleagues joined Scottish politicians, celebrities and readers in warm tributes to much-loved Herald columnist Fidelma Cook after her death at the age of 71. She had been suffering from lung cancer. Her son Pierce Cook-Anderson said she was admitted to hospital in Moissac, in the south of France on Friday and passed away peacefully on Saturday morning in her sleep. A prolific newspaper and broadcast journalist, she began a weekly column in The Herald in 2006, writing about her new life abroad and quickly became a favourite of readers.
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The Centre for Integrative Care at Gartnavel could help patients recovering from Covid-19 and relieve the pressure on NHS caused by chronic illness A FORMER GP has called for full funding to be restored to an award-winning hospital that provides holistic care, to tackle an anticipated surge in long Covid patients. Dr Patrick Trust said an “unhelpful” association with homeopathy had led to the majority of Scottish health boards pulling funding from Glasgow’s Centre for Integrative Care (CIC), which is the UK’s only purpose-built service for person-centred holistic healthcare. While he is not an advocate of the controversial plant-based treatments, he said the CIC had much to offers patients with chronic illnesses, such as Fibromyalgia, who place huge demands on the health service.
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