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Dear Readers,

Thanks for reading our posts and for following us on Twitter. Also thanks to the many guest authors who have blogged for us over the last year. We hope you all have a merry break over Christmas and a very happy new year.

Over the last year, we have posted a diverse range of articles and here is our own selection of the blog’s highlights for this year (click on the links in the titles to go to the original post).

VIDEO: Public Health in the Calais Refugee Camp

This year’s ‘Cost of Living’ Symposium was on public health in the Calais Refuge Camp and was presented by Surindar Dhesi and Arshad Isakjee and can be seen by following the link above.

Guidelines for Depression: More Gourmet Nights from NICE

Susan McPherson looks at new guidelines for depression as suggested by NICE.

Making a virtue of variation? The fragmentation of the English NHS

Adrain Mercer asks if geographical fragmentation systematically undermines the national in the NHS?

Zygmunt Bauman: On the Quest for Health

Anne Kerr remembers Zygmunt Bauman.

Three Weeks in June and One Night in November

Simon Carter reviews possible cultural explanations of how BREXIT and Trump took place.

On Vincent & Nina: Images of genius & madness

Ewen Speed argues that there is a need for the cultural re-appropriation of emotional distress and the ways that we understand the art created by cultural icons.

Placebo, participation and surgery

Hannah Bradby explores the placebo and how their use raises important clinical and ethical issues that need a full discussion across the medical professions.

The Pain in Spain

Charlie Davison looks at the Brexit vote and how it has far-ranging implications for the health of British immigrants living in Europe which have gone largely unnoticed in Brexit discussions.

On ignorance, knowledge and health

Judy Green asks what effects living in the age of alternative facts and fake news may have on public health.

The “snowflake generation”

Lesley Henderson explores the myths surrounding the ‘snowflake’ slur and asks what it tells us about young people and mental health.

A Question of Sport?

Jen Remnant considers who may be excluded from the health benefits of exercise and sport by taking a close look a rowing.

On Brexit, Nurses and Migrant Workers in the NHS

Sasha Scambler assesses the role of workers from outside the UK in the NHS after the BREXIT vote in light of a 96% drop in EU nurses applying to work.

What to do about our toxic universities?

Carl Walker asks if the UK’s Higher Education institutions are becoming toxic to the mental health of both staff and students?

Governing in the heat

Catherine Will examines what the role of public health should be in a heatwave and what different approaches have been taken in different countries.