Dr Daniel Rankmore

01/02/2026

Gentleness came up today, and got me thinking.

I often consider gentleness as being calm, reasonable, quiet, and non-reactive. But a definition I heard today reframed it: gentleness is strength withheld, and strength used to protect.

In leadership, especially without a title or formal authority, I’ve found this tension difficult to navigate. At times I’ve overcorrected toward assertiveness when pressure rises. More often, though, I’ve chosen gentleness and found myself spoken over, unheard, or quietly sidelined. When strength is consistently restrained but rarely visible, it can be mistaken for passivity.

Today’s sermon highlighted three pressure points that tend to expose our character: distraction, disappointment, and division.

👀 Distraction draws our attention away from what truly matters.
😭 Disappointment tests whether we remain faithful to the path or allow ourselves to harden.
➗ Division tempts us to turn our strength against one another rather than using it to protect unity and purpose.

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” Proverbs.

Not louder voices, but steadier ones. Not force, but direction.

27/01/2026

Here's one from Tamworth Surf Club. I'm back to work this week after a solid break over the summer, travelling and making memories with family.

23/01/2026

Dropped in at Parliament House this morning.

Few places feel more quintessentially Australian than the National Triangle. Open space, big ideas, and key buildings that remind us of our country’s past while quietly shaping its future.

Parliament wasn’t sitting, and it was a bit early for stirring rhetoric before breakfast. My invitation also appears to have been lost in the mail.

It did get me thinking though.

If I ever had a chance to speak to Parliament, what would I say?

Probably start with sustainable healthcare, where lifestyle, prevention, and strong primary care are the foundation rather than the afterthought. Where the artificial divide between state-run hospitals, federally funded systems like Medicare, and disability care through the National Disability Insurance Scheme is reduced, and care is designed around patients rather than funding silos.

About national sovereignty, with energy security, defence, and manufacturing that are local, resilient, and built for the long term rather than the next election cycle. Where we prepare for practical realities, not just ideals.

About economic policy that genuinely supports families, where tax settings recognise family units, and financial mobility comes from effort, contribution, and innovation rather than inherited advantage. Where buying a house feels possible again.

And about education being treated as a national investment. Schools properly resourced, teachers respected, trusted, and remunerated accordingly, because no serious country underfunds the people shaping its future.

Maybe it’s better left as a thought experiment on a quiet Canberra morning. Legs ticking over, sun coming up, democracy doing its thing.

Onward, listening to Dominion by Tom Holland, I continued my run.

21/01/2026

👨🏻‍💻 My Health Record updates – what this means for you
Since mid-October 2025, most pathology results (such as blood and urine tests) are visible in My Health Record or the 1800MEDICARE app as soon as they are uploaded.

From July 2026, most pathology tests and scan reports (such as X-rays) will be uploaded to My Health Record automatically.

⏰ What this means
Results will usually appear sooner, without you needing to chase them. In some cases, you may see a result before your doctor has had a chance to contact you.

If you are unsure or worried about a result, it is always best to book an appointment so it can be explained properly and in context.

👨🏻‍⚕️ A clinician’s perspective
Overall, I’ve found My Health Record to be a net positive.

I often see patients in the emergency department, for pre-operative assessments, or for skin checks, where I am not their usual GP and don’t automatically have access to their medications or past test results. My Health Record allows me to look up important information while I’m with the patient and make better-informed decisions.

Before this, my team or I would often be calling other clinics to chase results, which sometimes meant recalling patients for another visit. I understand the privacy concerns, but in my experience, having this information available helps improve workflow and, importantly, patient care.

21/01/2026

I’ve just finished The Ship That Never Was by Adam Courtenay, and it is one of those books that keeps nudging you to stop, look up a map, and mutter “surely not” under your breath.

It tells the true story of James Porter, an English convict sent to Van Diemen’s Land, a sailor and singer with a stubborn streak a mile wide. His life reads like an improbable odyssey. England to to Australia to Chile. Then back to England, Hobart, Macquarie Harbour, Valdivia in Chile again, back to England, Hobart once more, Norfolk Island, Sydney, and Newcastle. Along the way there are escapes, some successful, some not, shipwrecks of the moral and nautical kind, romances, feasts, trials, and long stretches of brutal hardship. It does not quite have the mythic sweep of Gulliver or Odysseus, but the uncomfortable magic is that this actually happened.

What really caught my attention was a recurring side character, Alexander Maconochie. A former prisoner himself during the Napoleonic Wars, he later appears as Governor of Norfolk Island with a radical idea for the time. Courtenay writes that Maconochie believed kindness and respect could rehabilitate more effectively than the lash, the cell, or the ever present threat of the rope.

It is a vivid, human window into early nineteenth century Australia.

19/01/2026

Found this absolute gem in a museum collection today. The Illustrated Australian Medical Guide by Dr Philip E. Muskett, published in the 1890s.

Muskett was a Sydney physician and public health reformer who believed strongly in hygiene, prevention, and making practical medical knowledge available to ordinary Australians, especially those living far from hospitals. In colonial Australia, that meant almost everyone.

This section on “Wounds and Cuts” is fascinating. It covers stringent handwashing, careful wound cleaning, applying pressure to control bleeding, and avoiding unnecessary pain. Yet no sign of antibiotics, IV fluids or blood transfusions, no modern operating theatres and no tetanus boosters.

Yet the thinking is logical and surprisingly familiar to anyone in healthcare today. Some treatments make modern readers wince, but the reasoning is careful and grounded in the best science of the time. It feels like medicine standing at the crossroads between folk remedies and the modern era.

Sadly, this one was not for sale. Probably for the best. Some books belong exactly where they are.

14/01/2026

“But I haven’t been drinking!”

New Scientist has a remarkable article about a man whose own gut microbes were producing alcohol inside his body, leading to signs of intoxication despite not touching a drop. The condition is called auto-brewery syndrome. It is rare, but apparently very real.

In this case, symptoms improved after a faecal microbiota transplant, effectively resetting the gut ecosystem. This is early research, not a miracle cure, but it is a striking reminder of how powerful and strange the microbiome can be.

Link in the comments

14/01/2026

Happy Wednesday! I saw the Pizza Pyramid on a shop front the other day and had a proper laugh 🍕😄.

13/01/2026

Injectable medications for weight loss do work. But they come with important limits.

Like blood pressure tablets, they only work while you take them. When you stop, the condition they are treating returns. In this case, that often means weight regain, as shown in recent BMJ data.

These medications have a real role and they have helped many patients. But people deserve to understand what they are signing up for. One possible outcome is that after 52 weeks, the weight comes back unless the underlying drivers of weight gain have changed.

Used well, they can be a powerful tool. Used without context, they risk becoming an expensive and temporary fix.

Stopping weight loss drugs is followed by weight regain and reversal of beneficial effects on heart and metabolic health markers such as high blood pressure, finds new BMJ review.

Regain was faster than after behavioural weight management programmes
https://bit.ly/3Lf7CPX

11/01/2026

Several reflections on the new American dietary guidelines are circulating, and one of the more rigorous critiques was pointed out to me by Jessica Stokes-Parish. Credit to Kevin C. Klatt, PhD, RD, for the original article.

This is a long, energetic, and deeply nerdy read. If nutrition policy genuinely interests you, it’s worth reading the original in full. Here’s the TLDR.

Klatt’s core argument is that while the guidelines *sound* reasonable, much of the advice is so vague that it limits real-world implementation. Clear numerical targets matter. Saying “avoid too much sugar” is meaningless for policy. Saying “less than 10% of calories from added sugar” allows school lunch standards, product reformulation, labelling rules, and enforcement.

He highlights signs that the document was rushed, written by many authors, with internal inconsistencies and potential unintended consequences. Examples include a lack of clarity on refined grains despite their role in folic acid fortification, and higher protein targets that will likely drive more ultra-processed “protein-boosted” foods rather than better whole-food choices.

A major concern is the shift from the defined term “ultra-processed foods” to the vague phrase “highly processed.” Without a clear definition, this becomes a vibes recommendation rather than something regulators can act on. Under this wording, foods like canned beans, yogurts, and plant milks could be lumped in with obvious junk.

He also flags watered-down alcohol guidance, oddly specific but non-quantitative gut health advice, and food pyramid visuals that don’t clearly match the written recommendations. The evidence review process itself is criticised as non-transparent and shaped toward pre-formed conclusions.

Klatt’s bottom line is blunt. These guidelines may not say anything dangerous, but they may not say much that is concrete enough to matter. Any impact may come more from cultural attention than from durable policy change.

11/01/2026

Several reflections on the new American food guidelines are popping up online.

One worth paying attention to comes from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. They’ve voiced support for the overall direction of the guidelines, and for good reason. There’s a clear shift away from ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks, and back toward whole foods, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and minimally processed meals.

But they’re not in complete agreement.

ACLM has also been clear that the science goes beyond the guidelines. In their view, the recommendations are still cautious. Too gentle on ultra-processed foods. Too careful around red and processed meats. More compromise than conviction.

So yes, this is progress. A meaningful step forward. But not the final destination.

That’s often how public health moves. Evidence advances quickly. Policy follows more slowly, shaped by culture, industry, and politics.

08/01/2026

“The message is simple: eat real food.“ The updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans move away from the old idea that a healthy diet needs to be built on a heavy foundation of refined carbohydrates. That matters in a society already struggling with obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

What stands out to me is the renewed emphasis on real food. Natural proteins. Vegetables. Fruits. Whole foods that actually look like food. There is also a clearer step away from ultra processed products that dominate supermarket shelves and confuse people about what “healthy” really means.

This feels like a more honest conversation about metabolism and health. Less push on cheap calories. More focus on nutrient dense choices that support muscle, energy, and long term wellbeing.

Nutrition is never one size fits all, but this direction makes a lot of sense.

Love seeing common sense make a comeback. Thanks to Grainne for pointing this out. 🥦🥩🍎