The Secret Nuclear War
The period from 1947 to 1991 is often referred to as the “Cold War” – so named because the main protagonists possessed massive nuclear arsenals but never engaged in direct military conflict. Despite the threat of mutually assured destruction the... More…
Measles, MMR vaccination and the Media
The measles outbreak in South Wales is the largest in a decade and over 800 children are affected. Public health officials are warning that this childhood disease can be life-threatening with complications including pneumonia and long term damage to the... More…
The BSA Medical Sociology Group 45th Annual Conference
The BSA Medical Sociology Group Annual Conference celebrates its 45th Anniversary conference at the University of York, from 11-13 Sept 2013. The conference programme includes research papers from all areas of study within the field of medicine, health and illness. ... More…
Black masculinities and ‘the Beast’ that is prostate cancer
A new report Hear me Now by the organisation BME Cancer Communities has highlighted an ‘uncomfortable reality’: black African Caribbean men in the UK are 30 per cent more likely to die from prostate cancer than white men. They have... More…
BLACK APRIL – There IS an alternative
Right wing politicians throughout Europe and beyond are working desperately hard to establish a new, shared and ‘objective’ fact – that the collective benefits of social care, community welfare, freely-accessible education and equitable healthcare are no longer affordable in the... More…
“Processed meat” – it is advisable to engage brain before opening mouth
When the number crunchers at the EPIC project noticed a significant statistical association between processed meat consumption and premature death, someone involved thought it was a good idea to go public. And what better way to draw their findings to... More…
Our NHS: a place for ethical consumption?
Two weeks ago the news covered a tragic death: a seven week old baby, Axel, succumbed to a chest infection despite repeated contact with the health services. The story gained traction not so much as a narrative of professional mistakes,... More…
Doctors in Popular Fiction: The Everyday Drama of Medicine #1
‘Medicine is drama, doctors are human, and patients are trouble or troubled’ The medical drama occupies an extraordinary position in contemporary television and film and we can all probably list our favourite shows and characters. These stories deliver intense drama... More…
Welfare reform and the vilification of the ‘undeserving poor’
The universal credit (UC) proposals involve amalgamating six pre-existing means-tested benefit payments and tax credits into one monthly payment. This new payment is purported to simplify an overly complex, bureaucratic system of social welfare. Simplification of the complex UK system... More…
Counting the cost of heroic surgical intervention
The practice of medicine involves interesting contradictions. In the name of treatment, clinicians regularly inflict pain on people who are already suffering. Medicine promises to alleviate pain in the long-term through an intervention that exacerbates it. Such is the strength... More…
Playing the blame game: political capital and Mid Staffs
The much-anticipated Francis Report on the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry was published last week. At the centre of the inquiry was the elevated level of Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMRs). Essentially this means that death-rates in this... More…
Older and cared for