ISPAD Newsletter - October 2026

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President's Message:

 

 

 

In one of his famous hymns, A Safe Stronghold, Martin Luther summed up the priority list for many of my gender and generation:

“And though they take our life, goods, honour, children, wife,…”.

Mortality first, followed by material possessions, then reputation, genetic legacy and life partner last. Few things summarise life’s shopping list better than this for those of us who belong to the occidental ‘pale, male and stale’ legions. We are the self-referential, lost generation who were educated in the 1970’s. We have inexplicable taste in fashion and a limited understanding of grammar. We are a fundamentally flawed sub-species and I am an exemplar. Accordingly, my knowledge and its reflected scotomata can be summarised in two lists:

The absolute joy of being part of ISPAD is being surrounded by the good people of the ISPAD Membership. In particular, those groups responsible for steering the society, the Executive Board, Advisory Council, Special Interest Groups and Secretariat are made up of terrific individuals. We have spent many hours online and in windowless rooms scattered around the globe discussing matters various. Some of these discussions have been straightforward and some complex and challenging. At all times, my fellow ISPAD members and our Secretariat team have been collegial, warm, intelligent, insightful and caring. I have enjoyed and been energised by every minute of it. Our next President will be Catarina Limbert. She is far wiser than her predecessor, and her time at the helm will no doubt be a wonderful period for ISPAD.

And so finally… by Australian standards I live on a pretty useless piece of land. Too big to be a garden, too small to be a real farm. Despite our attempts at husbandry, the two dominant lifeforms appear to be kangaroos and rabbits. The upshot of this is, I spend a lot of time mowing grass and left to my thoughts. The consequence of this is, I am racked by subliminal musings which are meandering and ill-disciplined. The conclusion of this is, the random, wandering missives that I have inflicted on you all over the last 2 years. The purpose of these was to engage, uplift and inform. Hopefully these have been of some use. Otherwise, I thank you for your forbearance in putting up with my self-indulgences and any perceived mental incontinence.

I leave you with verse from a fellow horse-man from my part of the world, Adam Lindsay Gordon. I dedicate this to my fellow Executive Board members who have been exceptionally hard- working, wise, kind and brave.

“Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.”

I give the deepest thanks possible for their friendship and companionship.

Otherwise, as Ray puts it:

Best to all,

Fergus