The Guardian today publishes this story on Frank Gardner, a BBC journalist who, together with a colleague, was attacked by gunmen while filming on their last day in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It is a gripping story of fighting for your life, of attackers who aren't lead to committing their heinous deeds from personal reasons but rather muddled, political ones, and of the way Gardner has fought to come back. His colleague did not survive the attack.

When I worked for Professional Connections as Secretary (in an otherwise all-female office, mind you! I wonder if that is what sparked my interest in gender issues?) the recruitment staff spent all their time trying to get hold of Swedish hospital personnel who wanted to go to Saudi Arabia (and a few other countries). I remember this because Frank Gardner was rescued by an emergency team from the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, where we sent a few people. Go on, visit their web site and realise that their area of expertise is saving people, not creating web sites.

I like working at places where I do something that touches people directly, or at least indirectly. Where I work now, at the Swedish Social Services in Stockholm, really makes a difference to me. My work helps people who are in need, and getting to combine that with my interest in technology, testing, planning and educating makes me smile to myself at times. I prefer that a lot more to making big-wigs rich.