Continuing the theme started on Monday, this is the third of three Newcastle’s cathedrals: the Cathedral Church of St Mary, opened in 1844.

St Mary’s was designed by the famous and prolific architectural genius Augustus Pugin, who also designed the Palace of Westminster and, more parochially, my secondary school.

A small confession (appropriate, I guess, when featuring a Catholic cathedral): I actually took this photo yesterday, as St Mary’s is a stone’s throw from St Nicholas’s, which I featured yesterday: I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

The second in my series of three cathedrals of Newcastle is the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas Newcastle upon Tyne. I know that doesn’t scan properly, but that’s what they call it. This dates from 1359, and is the seat of the bishop of Newcastle, who – strangely enough – I’ve mentioned once before on here.

Of particular interest to my organist brother, it boasts a fine four-manual Grand Organ built by TC Lewis. I don’t really understand the meaning of those words in that order, but the organ has its own webpage, with very pretty pictures, which I’m sure Glenn will enjoy.

A little while ago, my organist brother Glenn and his family came to visit. Pete McGovern may have said of Liverpool that “if you want a cathedral, we’ve got one to spare”, but I was able to impress Glenn by pointing out that Newcastle boasts three cathedrals – or two to spare, depending on how you look at it!

He was a little less impressed when I confessed an inability to name them – mainly because he wanted to look them up in the National Pipe Organ Register (such fun!)

So, especially for Glenn, I’m going to try and feature photos of all three of Newcastle’s cathedrals this week. Here’s the first: St George and St Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Fenham.

Waitrose sent this card to me a few weeks ago, yet I really don’t understand what its point is. The literature that accompanied it told me that I should scan it each time I shop (aka volunteering my data), but didn’t explain what I could expect in return, beyond vague statements like “more of what you love”.

Even having been on their website, I still don’t understand how it’s supposed to benefit me. And beyond that, given the infrequency with which I shop at Waitrose, I don’t really understand why I got it in the first instance. It’s really not the kind of transparent communication I expect from the John Lewis Partnership.

It’s the least well explained “loyalty” scheme I’ve ever encountered, and since I don’t understand what I’m exchanging my data for, the card won’t be jumping into my wallet just yet!

This is (slightly modified) from a blog post by Marco Arment, writing about the entertainment industry:

Relying solely on yelling about what’s right isn’t a pragmatic approach to take. It’s unrealistic and naïve to expect everyone to do the “right” thing when the alternative is easier, faster and cheaper for so many of them. The pragmatic approach is to address the demand.

I came across this quote via Jonathan Rothwell’s blog post, and, in truth, I’m fairly ambivalent about the entertainment industry.

Yet the sentiment of the quote (perhaps better expressed in the full article) – the importance of marrying the “right” with the “pragmatic” – is applicable in so many areas of life, not least public health. And yet, it strikes me as an often forgotten, or perhaps often ignored, tenet.

It’s easy to say “lose weight”, “drink less”, or “stop smoking”, and we all know that such messages are right. But all have a multitude of maintaining habitual behaviours and causal factors, and maintaining the status quo is all-to-often “easier, faster and cheaper”. The secret of great public health interventions is to turn the “right” choice into the “pragmatic” choice – and, in truth, we’re not always great at doing that.

Marrying “right” with “pragmatic” can be hard, and requires seeing a problem from multiple points of view. It’s easier to concentrate on the “right”, but it rarely works. We all need to get better at making out solutions pragmatic, even if it means approaching problems in unfamiliar, unusual ways.

Here endeth the lesson.

The end of mum’s lovely birthday dinner at Don Alberto in Tarleton, Lancashire.

This is the view from the independently-owned and frequently highly-rated Tebay services, on the M6. It might look pretty, but the last time I was here I paid about £7 for a chicken curry that was inedible. Today, I’ve just stuck with a bag of Mini Eggs – though, as a public health doctor, I’m not sure I should admit to either of those choices!

St Mary’s on Gateshead quayside is over 900 years old. It’s over 30 years since it was last used as a church, having been an auction house, a tourist information centre, and now – appropriately – home to Gateshead Heritage.

It caught my eye because of its plain glass (rather than stained glass) windows, which give it an unusual sort of ethereal quality… which, I suppose, is appropriate for a former church. I think this photo might just be a little too light to really show it, though.

I am a dog lover and had many as pets over the years and I ask the question to irresponsible dog owners: why can’t you clean up after your dog?

This teaser was posed by Mrs Sharon Hawkins in a letter to the Southport Visiter. I’m not a dog downer, but I suspect that the irresponsible behaviour of irresponsible dog owners may reasonably be attributed to their irresponsibility. Any other theories would, however, be welcomed.

This is the clock tower of Darlington’s Victorian Market Hall, with a Greggs and a closed down Past Times in the background. I don’t think there’s much else to say about it…!