Participatory Ideology: From exclusion to involvement
This is not a trick question. What is the link between recruiting a photographer at significant taxpayers’ expense to take cuddly, self-glorifying photos of a pet dog and a high level of successful appeals without precedent by disabled people against... More…
How to Prevent Another COVID-19 Pandemic
The world is still trying to contain the spread of COVID-19. But world leaders must already come up with ways to prevent another pandemic. The novel coronavirus’s adverse impacts prove this need, having infected over 97 million people and resulting... More…
The Lockdown Anniversary Edition…
Anniversaries are dangerous moments. A year after the start of the first UK lockdown on March 23rd , many have noted an escalation of anxiety, as we reflect on the impact of individual griefs and ruptures to the social body.... More…
Sociology and COVID
Sociology has multiple branches and agendas, and there is no gainsaying the need for cautious well-planned sociological research around the coronavirus pandemic (hereafter COVID). And such research takes time, almost as long sometimes as the commission that will doubtless be... More…
Avoiding the blame game: Reframing conversations on racialised health inequalities
Conversations about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 felt by racially minoritised communities in the UK have also highlighted the pervasive and longstanding health inequalities they experience. Reports on COVID-19 by Public Health England and Independent SAGE highlight increased risk of exposure... More…
Gallery
What we have seen COVID Vaccine Centre Cinemas are places of collective joy, of a community of strangers coming together to enjoy the spectacle. It’s so sad when they shut. Quaintly old school message! Dogs hate lockdown as well Even... More…
Gallery
What we have seen Poster in public toilet – there’s nothing that says “Christmas” like anti-terrorist vigilance! Nice to worry about something else for a change, I suppose. Government messages about COVID getting more and more confusing N22 Lockdown: Faith,... More…
Living under the medical gaze in a time of pandemics
It’s a Sin shows us what it’s like to feel the medical gaze in times of pandemics It’s a Sin is a new drama series (Channel 4 and HBO) written by Russell T Davies which chronicles the lives of a... More…
Beyond the academy: democratising user involvement in health & social care
This is a post about user involvement in the context of UK university research. All UK universities are currently finalising and submitting their impact case studies for the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF is “the UK’s system for... More…
Domestic violence, homelessness & safe housing in the wake of coronavirus
Shelter, homelessness and public health As coronavirus took hold earlier this year, states across the world began to lockdown. We were told at various points, across multiple geographies, to protect ourselves and others by staying at home and practising physical... More…
Whose suffering matters to Rishi Sunak? Reduced foreign aid in a pandemic era
A billion-pound cut from the UK’s international development budget in his new spending review, reducing aid down from 0.7% to 0.5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because of the COVID pandemic is both short-sighted and ill-advised. More…
Race commission report: the rights and wrongs