Shame & the illegitimacy of dependency
Connecting toxic discourses to the health inequalities debate One of the many toxic features of neoliberalism is the way in which it divides the population into those considered deserving or undeserving. This was recently seen through the ‘strivers’ and ‘shirkers’...
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Whose quality of life?
I was 10 years old when I made a return visit to the neonatal intensive care unit where I was treated after my premature birth. I stared at the tiny occupants in the incubators, seemingly unaware of their sterile, plastic,...
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We are all Dr Strangelove now
It could be argued that there is no greater threat to our health than the possibility that we may be wiped out as a species. The 1964 Kubrick movie ‘Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love...
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Abandoned but not forgotten: hospitals, decay and urban exploration
Do you find the picture above, taken by an urban exploration photographer, unsettling, provocative or even beautiful? It appears to show an old delivery bed set against the clinical white tiles of a hospital maternity room. But the image is...
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The Demise of the Inconveniently Good Beveridge Model: Part 2
Part 1 presented evidence that England is now rearranging one of the world’s most effective and most efficient health care systems into a copy of the world’s least financially efficient system. Part 2 documents the role of politicians and private...
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The inconveniently excellent Beveridge NHS model: Part 1
NHS Model – made redundant for being too good? This is a blog in two parts. Part 1 will consider the international comparisons showing the current changes to the NHS as perverse in terms of the effect the sizeable increase...
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What is the best age to start a family?
The average age that women give birth to their first child has been rising since the 1970s in England and Wales. It was 23.4 in 1969 and by 2012 that average stood at 28.1 years. The data are of course...
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‘Serving the Public?’ Media, Politics and The NHS
We have medical programmes to suit our every taste. Currently viewers can choose high drama with Channel 4s’ ’24 Hours in A & E‘ filming around the clock in Kings College Hospital, London or everyday stories of sore throats, stress...
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Inequality
As sociologists, being against inequality is not enough. To continue to be relevant sociologists much engage in the protest sector.
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Lazing on a sunny afternoon? A historical perspective on risk and sunlight
As we emerge from the wettest winter on record most of us are looking forward to the summer and the chance to maybe get out into some sunlight. The pleasures associated with lying on a beach, going for a bike...
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Is skewing the data any different to juking the stats?
Media representations about NHS scandals focus on ‘bad apple’ professionals, and ignore the crises caused by current government policy, and the commercialisation of UK statutory healthcare.
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Twitter analytics, sociology and #SaveOurNHS
The global interconnected network of computers known as the Web offers opportunities for new forms of social analysis – not least the possibilities offered by ‘big data’ – digital data sets so large they require novel computer processing and software....
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