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, as the twin imbecilities of Brexit at home and Trump abroad pile up, we have posted a diverse range of articles. 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).
The Interpretive Difficulties of SELF-harm in “Sharp Objects”
Veronica Heney discusses the critical responses to representations of self-harm in the HBO series ‘Sharp Objects”
Fear & Pride in Kiev
An anonymous author discusses questions of activism and sexual politics in Ukraine and raises questions about how we combine the personal and political in research.
The NHS At 70: For Platinum-Level Care, IT’S Time For Everyone To Reaffirm Their Vows
Jessica Potter examines the effects of the making the UK a ‘hostile environment’ on the NHS and public health.
22 July
Simon Carter reviews “22 July”, where Paul Greengrass tells the story of the 2011 Norway terrorist attack. Using a docudrama style, this film recounts how a neo-nazi terrorist murdered 77 people and the ensuing aftermath.
Who Really is Matt Hancock?
Ewen Speed ask what the new Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock, has in store for the NHS in the age of Brexit and Trump and the answer does not look good.
Seriously Laughing at Fantasies of Race and Gender
Hannah Bradby reviews Wise Children and BlackkKlansman and asks if humour has a place in combatting sexist and racist dogma.
Chubby Boozers with Ageing Hearts
Charlie Davison asks in the recent Public Health (England) campaigns around drink and heart disease really add up?
Digital Health Divides
Judy Green asks who are likely to be the biggest winners and losers from the possible health gains from the digital revolution.
Solving the Problem of Plastic Pollution: Beyond the natural sciences?
Lesley Henderson asks what have social scientists got to contribute to the growing concerns over plastic pollution and health.
Compulsory coupledom: in sickness and in health?
Jen Remnant asks if compulsory coupledom is really the best way to organise our collective health and wellbeing.
From Period Poverty to Menstrual Cups
Sasha Scamble looks at campaigns to help with period poverty and asks what’s really behind period poverty.
Resuscitating CAMHS: Something has to be done
Carl Walker looks at how Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are at crisis point and young people deserve better mental health services.
Hygiene for all?
Catherine Will looks at new developments to help homeless people, delivered by religious organisations, raise interesting questions for how a secular sociology might characterise these interventions.