As we muddle through relaxing our lockdown, the overwhelming public mood seems to be one of anger
What does it mean to reduce the stigma of mental health?
We shouldn’t alter the reality of mental illness to suit public opinion
The global community are failing on health conditions in Palestine
Acute and chronic challenges affect both patients and staff
Studying medicine in a war zone
Interviews with three Syrian medical students about life during the crisis
The Charlie Gard case should make us question our attitudes to parental autonomy
This article was originally published on BMJ blogs and can be found here. — The year is 2040. After years of campaigning, the UK introduces its first assisted dying legislation. Active euthanasia is legalised for those suffering from a terminal illness and a number of patients make use of the legislation in the following months….
Theresa May wants to “rip up” the Mental Health Act. Why?
The prime minister has criticised current legislation without explaining what will take its place
“Communication skills” and the problem with fake patients
Is an obsession with communication side-lining our ability to care?
Down’s Syndrome: from diagnosis to identity?
How a mother taught me more about Down’s Syndrome than any doctor could have
The quiet doctor
Are medical schools doing enough to support their introverted students, and can a quiet doctor excel in medicine?
Oxbridge’s failure on diversity: so severe it’s time to ask if it’s wilful
This article was originally published in the New Statesman. It can be found on their website here. — “We’re not the best”. It’s the open secret that every Oxbridge student eventually comes to accept. Some realise it during their first term, informed by the mundanity of their year group’s Received Pronunciation-dominated conversations. Others learn the…
Electives, voluntourism and the ethics of selling poverty
This article was originally published in Student BMJ, a magazine produced by the British Medical Journal for medical students. An online version can be found here. — Big Business With an estimated annual worth of $1.7-2.6 billion (£1.1-1.7 billion), overseas volunteering has become big business, with the term ‘voluntourism’ having been coined to describe the trend. Medical…
The West’s big lie about Mother Teresa
Creating a saint in a secular world.
The approval of ‘female Viagra’ is nothing short of a disaster
This article was originally published in the Spectator, and can be found here. Last week, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first ever drug targeted to enhance libido in women. Media outlets churned out adoring articles; the licensing of flibanserin, or ‘female Viagra’ as it rapidly became known, was hailed as…
Why it’s dishonest to claim that the NHS isn’t being privatised
To hold ideological support for the privatisation is one thing, but to pretend it isn’t happening is a far more insidious lie. Last week on BBC’s Question Time, the panellists were met with yet another question about NHS privatisation. The Times columnist Camilla Cavendish attacked the “misleading” use of the word “privatisation” and immediately asserted…
NHS drugs, Aristotle and health economics: the problem of quantifying life
This article was originally published in the New Statesman, and can be found here. On Friday it was announced that abiraterone, a new prostate cancer drug, will not be made routinely available to NHS patients before receiving chemotherapy. The decision has been criticised by patient groups and scientists alike – a statement from the Institute of…
The UK’s mental health care is in crisis – the next government must act urgently
This article was originally published in the New Statesman, and can be found here. A report this week was grim reading for those involved in mental health care. The survey of GPs revealed that one in five had seen patients harmed as a result of “delays or a lack of support” from mental health services, while…
Alternative medicine could work – but that’s not reason to embrace it
This article was originally published in New Statesman, and can be found here. David Tredinnick MP, a member of both the science and technology select committee and the health select committee, made headlines last week for suggesting that astrology should be incorporated into medicine. This isn’t the first time the member for Bosworth has caused…
Loving Vicariously
On ITV2’s Love Island
On chasing happiness (and becoming content)
The happiness industry is booming, yet few of us are happier. Why not?
What will the Charlie Gard case mean for euthanasia campaigners?
This article was originally published in the Spectator, and can be found here. — The tragic case of Charlie Gard, an 11-month old baby suffering from a rare genetic condition, has divided the nation. In January, doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital advised that Charlie, who is currently being kept alive with a ventilator and feeding tube,…
The myth of post-truth politics
Ignore the experts: why the “post-truth era” is a welcome revolution against the marketisation of everyday life
GEORGE GILLETT 