Blinded by the Christmas lights: NICE depression guidelines
Reflections on the latest draft of the NICE depression guidelines There is an episode in The Good Fight, (an American legal drama), where in the background to several scenes, a steady flow of evidence boxes are wheeled into the offices... More…
The Richer, The Poorer
Lansley, S. (2021) The Richer, The Poorer – How Britain Enriched the Few and Failed the Poor A 200 Year History, Bristol, Policy Press. You might think that someone who starts a book with a quote from singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen like,... More…
An unpatriotic agitation? Public health versus the right to health
Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, medical ethics has incorporated a duty to protect human rights, while rights to a minimum standard of health and access to health care have been successively articulated and elaborated. One recent... More…
Why the hell is the Tory Party still so popular?
When I woke up on Friday 13 December 2019 to a Tory Party majority of 80, I, like many people, knew it would be dire. However, I don’t think anyone envisioned quite how bad things would get. Johnson’s promise of... More…
The Social Causes of Health and Disease
Cockerham, W. C. (2021) Social Causes of Health and Disease (3rd Ed). Cambridge, Polity Press. It’s never a bad idea to return to a disciplinary handbook that offers up the fundamentals of a subject. Regarding this blog, that core discipline... More…
Chaplains: what do they do, and why is it important?
I have been working on a postdoctoral research project during the recent two years which has specifically examined the experiences of Swedish military chaplains, healthcare chaplains, and the lives of military veterans in the aftermath of PTSD or moral and spiritual injury. One shared conclusion across these interview studies... More…
Why Public Health Initiatives & Legislation Need to Engage with Fat Food Justice
Food justice is a movement which confronts the various problems around food (in)access and hunger, along with oppression in different stages of food systems. Attention to structural barriers like poverty, racialization, and environmental degradation are foundations of the movement’s work.... More…
Help-seeking: where’s the help?
Please note: This piece contains mentions of self-harm and suicide When I [Veronica] present my work, I often begin with statistics highlighting the disparity between the prevalence of self-harm and rates of help-seeking. It often feels that this disparity communicates... More…
Gallery
What we have seen Is this a metaphor? Local Sainsbury’s. Most aisles with empty shelves – another BREXIT win! These two Tweets are right next to each other A small study of comparative pub-messaging War Inna Babylon – exhibition... More…
Criminalising nitrous oxide users is no laughing matter if it distracts from more serious drug problems
In England and Wales, it is not illegal to possess nitrous oxide – but that could soon change. The UK’s home secretary, Priti Patel, has asked her scientific advisers to review the evidence on the harm associated with its use.... More…
What are (sociology) books for?
Rumours of the death of the book may be exaggerated, but its persistence remains a puzzle. Who and what are academic books for, now that information is largely accessible at the press of a button? Reviewing the three books shortlisted... More…
Uncertainty, Polarisation and COVID