Beyond being a route to acquiring skills and job opportunities, universities serve an even greater role that we often under-appreciate. Beyond being a learning institution, universities are the structured playgrounds where youth can frolic for the last time.

My kids and I are currently going through the Harry Potter books for our bedtime reading. However, we decided to pick up The BFG by Roald Dahl for a change of pace last night .

The Covid-19 resurgence highlights the dangers we continue to face until a safe and effective vaccine can successfully control the pandemic. However, equally dangerous are the elements of discrimination in the midst of our global battle against infectious disease.

We were doing so well. Daily life was resuming. Surviving businesses were getting a chance to pick up.

Creating an effective vaccine is complicated, and while we need to do it speedily, we can’t afford to compromise on safety either.

When it comes to vaccinations to fight diseases, those who can vaccinate must sacrifice for those who cannot

Often, we confuse the way we are used to doing things with who we are. … Although difficult to undergo, the MCO became a much-needed hiatus from the ways we were used to doing things, a chance to break free from accepted ways of thinking.

My memories of studying medicine in Russia include heavy grey winter skies, warm pirozhki in the freezing cold, and the choking odour of formalin-bathed cadavers in anatomy practicals. I remember vividly one cadaver we studied belonged to a lady.

Glancing through some happy Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2020 photos being shared online, it is difficult to reconcile the fact that we just experienced a Ramadan under the movement control order (MCO); that a globally disruptive pandemic still rages on. But these are details photos often miss.

Some changes should be kept as we fight Covid-19; we cannot afford to revert to old habits

IF YOU had asked me six weeks ago what was I looking forward to the most once the MCO ended, I would have said, “Going for sushi.”

A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) by George R.R. Martin is my favourite book series. Many may more readily recognise its television adaptation, Game of Thrones.