A HISTORY OF HOOLETS

By Chris Johnstone
Contact the author by e-mail at christopher.johnstone@ntlworld.com

Thirteen years ago several fresh faced GPs sat on their Faculty Board and wanted to do something to make the College more attractive to younger members and to publicise the College in a better way. And to see their names in print. With the guidance of a wonderful printer and designer and with help from lots of friends they produced a newsletter called Rocket. 13 issues later the rest of Scotland was clamouring for it. Rocket went nationwide, but first it needed a new name reflecting its national status. After an exhaustive search and a huge competition two GPs, Ken McLean and Somerled Fergusson, spookily came up with the same name at the same time. hoolet was christened. 10 years later you hold the 39th issue of this little bit of vanity publishing in your hands as you sit in the smallest room in the house. It would have been the 40th issue, but we missed one when the drug companies went into freefall along with the stock market after Sept 11th.

Rocket - first edition A hoolet is a small Scottish owl, appropriate for the Scottish wing of a UK institution with an owl on its crest. The first copies of Rocket had a College owl with an eyepatch and a crutch, but this was removed in due deference to owls. The owl is symbol of wisdom and little hoolet came to represent a little knowledge. Owls becme important in hoolet’s history as GPs started sending in owls from all over Scotland and then the UK and then from all over the world. We have had owls sent from all five continents, but our favourite came from. Moray Grigor and can be seen on page 14 of this issue.

Spookily, again, hoolet is not the first magazine called hoolet to be produced around Paisley. In the last century but one a radical left wing publication was self-published of the same name. It tried to shame the prevailing staid culture with biting wit and satire. It faded away without a trace.

hoolets have been around for a long time. Robert Burns, another man who liked to see his name in print, mentions them in his poem The Keeking Glass reprinted here. The Keeking Glass.

hoolets was the nickname given to the canal boats travelling from Glasgow to Edinburgh., As it was cheaper they carried a cargo of coal during darkness. Their two gas lanterns at the front gave them the impression of of night owls gliding the countryside. hoolets was also the nickname given to Lanarkshire miners as they came out the pit. As they removed their protective glasses, their white eyes against their coal blackened faces made them very owlish. On a dusky evening as the pit emptied, flocks of hoolets could made out in the gloom flying back to their fireside, families and zinc bathtubs. There is still a line of Cottages near Motherwell called Hoolet’s Row.

hoolet - edition 1 So hoolets have an honourable history which we are proud to carry forward. This hoolet has been made possible by the goodwill, generosity and free time of hundreds of people. We have produced over 1000 pages of articles, reports, bad jokes and cartoons from over 200 contributors. No-one got paid. We would like to thank everyone over the years who has contributed to hoolet and made it what it is today. I would also like to apologise to everyone who I forgot to reply to or to whom I owe money or champagne. Ten years later some of the faces are less fresh, and some, indeed, have petrified, though they still sit on the same faculty boards, still Waiting for the Miracle to Come, pondering their bood pressures, but not giving a toss about cholesterol levels. Most of us smoke less.

I look forward to the next ten years and to receiving articles from all of you who have yet to write for hoolet. Get typing now. Write about Scottish medicine for hoolet and your Nation.

Special thanks go to Robin Downie, Dave Snadden, Blair Smith, Somerled Fergusson, Michael Simpson, Paul Jackson, Dave Clark, Alex Thain, Peter Murchie, Pete Davies, Niall Cameron, Louise Hallam, Rob Hendry, Mac De Souza, everyone at Hannah Grafix and all the Chairmen of Scottish Council who are legally responsible for all that we print.

Other hoolet online articles by Chris Johnstone can be found at:
hoolet edition 51 - Enough And No More
hoolet edition 50 - Now We Are 50
hoolet edition 49 - The Policy Palsy
hoolet edition 48 - The Last Waltz
hoolet edition 47 - The Old New Contract
hoolet edition 46 - Teaching to the Converted
hoolet edition 45 - Turkeys Voting For Christmas
hoolet edition 44 - That's a nasty QOF
hoolet edition 43 - Calm Down, Calm Down, It's only the NHS
hoolet edition 42 - Perpetually Fooled Initiative
hoolet edition 41 - Crisis? What Crisis?
hoolet edition 40 - Doing What You Are Told
hoolet edition 39 - A History of hoolets
hoolet edition 38 - Where did it all go wrong?
hoolet edition 37 - Commodificationalising the NHS
hoolet edition 36 - The Cost of Everything and the Value of Nothing
hoolet edition 35 - Much Too Much, Much Too Soon
hoolet edition 34 - What Shall It Profit a Government?
hoolet edition 33 - A Long Career in Applied Cynicism
hoolet edition 32 - My Greatest Pleasure
hoolet edition 31 - Goodbye to the NHS
hoolet edition 30 - The National Health Service is Sorry
hoolet edition 29 - MMR More Media Rubbish
hoolet edition 28 - A Life of Pleasure
hoolet edition 27 - Barricade medicine

Other hoolet reviews by Chris Johnstone:
Bad Medicine
Armed Madhouse
The Bullet Trick
The Medical Detective
Plundering the Public Sector

hoolet is the magazine of RCGP Scotland. It is supported intellectually, financially and emotionally by RCGP Scotland.

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.