Posts by: John Connor

Any British comedy aficionados among you will know “He’s fallen in the water” is the most famous of all the innumerable catchphrases of “The Goon Show.” That show was the ... Read more

July 16, 2021July 16, 2021

Down and Out in London Town

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Last month, my brother-in-law finally managed to return to Thailand and his lovely wife. He’d been trapped in the U.K. for over a year due to COVID-19. Thailand has quite ... Read more

July 9, 2021July 9, 2021

Lockdown Blues: Well That Was a Close Shave!

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Last year, winter never quite arrived, and spring kept springing up before being crushed down again. We imperceptibly melded into summer. Then the autumn leaves hung on, and hung on ... Read more

July 2, 2021July 2, 2021

Will Football Help Me Get Through a Tough Week?

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Right, I actually have to start writing my column early this week because of the football schedule. For you Americans, that’s soccer, y’all. The biggest, most popular game in the ... Read more

June 25, 2021June 25, 2021

I’ve Nothing Awful to Write About My MS This Week

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Many of you will remember doing jankers (detention) in school. Well, those of you who easily identified with “The Breakfast Club” will. If you never did one, let me educate ... Read more

June 18, 2021June 18, 2021

Be Warned: Another Column All About My MS and Me!

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Many years ago I thrust myself into the Edinburgh International Festival. For the many who have never heard of it: It’s the largest arts festival in the world, encompassing theater, ... Read more

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021

A Drizzly Summer Weekend and an Antibiotic Rejection

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

There was a time when I’d regularly strap on two pads, stride out between English showers, and attempt to bat on the subsequently dodgy surface. That was good for the ... Read more

June 4, 2021June 4, 2021

My Latest Trigeminal Neuralgia Attack Was Like a Knife Through the Molar

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Screaming. The pain from this trigeminal neuralgia (TN) attack was worse than any previous attack. And there have been aplenty. I couldn’t function! But boy could I scream. It was ... Read more

May 28, 2021May 28, 2021

This Fall Was a Real Eye-opener

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

Well, this was a first. I’d fallen backward once in my power wheelchair. That was in the back of our mobility van. Hubris told me I could get away with ... Read more

May 21, 2021May 22, 2021

Introducing My ‘MS Popeye-Spinach Hypothesis’

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

For any younger readers, and by that I’m guessing 45 and under, may I present the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man. He got himself out of scrapes by downing ... Read more

May 14, 2021May 22, 2021

MS and Boxing: Being Clever With My Pants

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

After last week’s column about my neurologist declaring that I now have secondary progressive MS, a certain ennui has seeped into me. While this isn’t surprising, it’s also surprising, because ... Read more

April 30, 2021April 30, 2021

You’ve Got to Hide Your MS Away

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

In honor of MS Awareness Week, observed in the U.K. April 19–25, the MS Society released results of a survey about the barriers that keep multiple sclerosis patients from sharing ... Read more

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

My Own ‘Left Hand of Darkness’

Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

I was listening to a BBC podcast recently titled “The Sinister Hand,” about the history of left-handers. It seems that in medieval times, left-handedness was associated with sorcery. (What wasn’t?) ... Read more

April 16, 2021April 16, 2021

An Upbeat MS Column for You Lucky People

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

The trouble with a degenerative disease is that things only get worse. In the long-gone days of my youth, I somehow wrangled myself into being an arts critic. Wizened journalists ... Read more

April 9, 2021April 9, 2021

Can You Care Too Much? Er, Maybe!

COVID-19 Columns, Multiple Sclerosis News Today Columns

One of the conditions of being released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago was that I had carers come to my home four times a day for six ... Read more