Why are children who have experienced sexual violence being denied access to mental health support?
Reports of child sexual abuse are at an all-time high in the United Kingdom. There were 115,000 reported sexual offences against children under 16 made to police in 2024. In 2025, the Children’s Commissioner has gone as far to state...
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NHS Walking Rewards: Can Nectar Points Fix Public Health?
The NHS has announced plans to launch Movement 26.2 next year; a scheme designed to encourage people to walk for 30 minutes per day, or the equivalent of a marathon each month. Participants will be able to log their activity...
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“Progress Meet Backlash” How sociology can respond to calls for violence
Moments of profound tragedy often expose the underlying tensions that quietly shape everyday shared social life. Recent events following convictions in the murder of Henry Nowak in Southampton and the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie early this month in Belfast have...
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If plan A doesn’t work, move to plan B…
The British Medical Association (BMA), the self-ascribed “leading trade union and professional association for doctors and medical students across the UK”, announced at the end of May that the GP Committee for England had voted ‘overwhelmingly’ in favour of ‘Plan...
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On (irrational) health beliefs
Faced with declining vaccine uptake, or attacks on medics managing the Ebola crisis in DRC, it is tempting to rail against others’ irrationality. Why do people believe rumours or conspiracy theories? What has happened to faith in medical progress? But...
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Deployment and Diversity
The UK’s defence posture has changed fundamentally in recent years. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region have resulted in increased commitment to NATO, shaped in no small part by the...
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Why is Healthy Life Expectancy in decline?
Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE), according to a report published last month (April 2026) by the Health Foundation, demonstrates a stark and accelerating trend: healthy life expectancy across the United Kingdom has fallen by two years over the last decade. Healthy...
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Widening the focus on medical misogyny
In recent months there has been a renewed focus on ‘medical misogyny’ with numerous reports highlighting the routine dismissal of female patients seeking healthcare, particularly for reproductive health conditions. A report by the Women and Equalitiies Committee (UK) in 2024...
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Healing beyond borders: Digital mental health support for refugees
Looking around a refugee camp in Somaliland, I saw silent mental health battles everywhere. So I decided to help. My understanding of trauma did not begin with a textbook or a diagnosis. It grew little by little over many years;...
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Why Young Adult’s Loneliness is Political
In recent years, young adults (typically defined as age 16 – 25years) have become increasingly recognised as a group that are vulnerable to loneliness. Most research on young adult’s loneliness takes a psychological perspective and is concerned with individual and...
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Why women have to queue for the toilet
And what it says about how cities are designed Do you remember the last time you had to queue for a toilet? If several examples spring to mind, the chances are you were standing in the women’s line. Whether at theatres,...
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Advice in GP surgeries should be part of healthcare, not an optional extra