Fear & Pride in Kiev
I have been to some harrowing places. I have worked in conflict zones, and worked with both refugees and those who preyed on them. But it was at a Pride Parade that I was truly afraid. The setting: Kiev, the... More…
Chubby Boozers with Ageing Hearts
What will the person in the street make of recent public health scare tactics? As the politics of austerity continues to bite into NHS and other public budgets, Britain’s top health promotion brains have decided that precious future health resources... More…
Public Health and the (New) Media
On industry, audiences and health messages Public health campaigners are increasingly focussing on models of media engagement due to the considerable and growing amount of evidence that media campaigns can change population health behaviours. New forms of media (that is... More…
Is there Justice for Trauma Survivors?
Society has an uneasy relationship with trauma. It is easier to look away. Austerity has placed our most vulnerable citizens and those who work with them, in precarious positions, which masks suffering. Currently, mental health budgets are inadequate to meet... More…
Why private alternatives to the NHS are so much more expensive
The NHS has survived to the age of 70 and now costs the UK just over £120 billion per annum. Many advanced economies spend even more on healthcare per head of population. Why do fully paid-up capitalist nations persist with this Stalinist approach to... More…
Online GP consultations threaten to create a two-tier healthcare system
GP at Hand is a medical practice in London with a difference. Unlike a traditional practice, eligible patients can register online in three minutes and have a video consultation on their smartphone with a GP within two hours. Great for... More…
Is it still paranoia if they’re really out to vet you? On Clarivate Analytics
As open access has increasingly been mandated, academic publishers have realized that there’s money to be made in tracking our ‘outputs Imagine that you’re out in public when a call of nature of the excretory variety strikes. At this point,... More…
Compulsory coupledom: in sickness and in health?
Recent research has suggested that people who live together, including cohabiting unmarried and married couples, report better health than individuals who have never engaged in such relationships. Perhaps not surprising when we think about the poor health outcomes that can... More…
NHS staff discover they will get hundreds of pounds less than many thought
BREAKING NEWS: UPDATE 20:15, 25th July 2018: The head of the Royal College of Nursing, Janet Davies, has today taken the unprecedented step of writing to members to apologise that staff were given incorrect information about their pay deal voted... More…
The power of a professor: Health Care Provision for ‘deserving’ refugees in Germany
The power of a professor: Health Care Provision for ‘deserving’ refugees in Germany According to article 20 of German basic law, the Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federal state which implies the provision of social security for everybody... More…
Who really is Matt Hancock?
It was back in September 2013 that we penned a post for Cost of Living entitled “We need to talk about Jeremy”. Way back then we were blissfully unaware of the possibilities of Brexit or Trump. Our major concern was... More…
Matt Hancock- another victim of Perpetual NHS Shock Syndrome (PNSS)