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…
Learning to Live With the COVID Virus and Extreme Inequality
Used over a year ago by right-wing commentator John Redwood to denote a new modus vivendi for global capitalism, ‘learning to live with the virus’ has been an idée fixe of the Johnson government for the last few months. Its... More…
Forget the spin – new English NHS bill is all about cutting our right to healthcare
Far from reversing the disastrous 2012 reforms, this new NHS bill makes it even easier to axe and privatise services – that’s the real COVID ‘recovery plan’ We all know the NHS has a huge backlog. As things stand, it... More…
Gallery
What we have seen (‘freedom day’* special) Optimistic? Perranporth Beach – quiet evening For some ‘freedom day’ was freedom to get pinged (like half the UK) Freedom to drink beer Or not ‘Freedom day’ Jaws meme via Twitter What we... More…
Quarantine diary
Ahead of the annual pilgrimage to our country of birth, my family and I have to undertake a new set of rituals. The country formerly known as Great Britain has (belatedly) introduced a set of requirements to keep the COVID-19... More…
Why the hell is the Tory Party still so popular?