10 years of NHS legislation reform
The year 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of this blog. I know it does not seem like 10 years since the Liberal Democrats (remember them?) were reneging on their election pledge on university fees in David Cameron’s coalition government. We...
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Time and again? Temporality & public health
One thing that has struck me during the days and months since 23rd March 2020 has been how time has simultaneously slowed down and sped up. Or, more specifically, the passage of time has both sped up and slowed down....
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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...
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Tiers of a clown…
This week I’ve been trying to make sense of the supposed Tory party backbench revolt on the new three-tier system introduced in England after lockdown two. Reports tell us that 55 Tory MPs voted against the government and a further...
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Pick a number, any number…
In the run-up to the 2019 general election, I wrote a piece about Boris Johnsons’ strategy for dealing with awkward interview questions. This outlined comment from Johnson himself, where he sketched his dead cat strategy. When faced with an impossible...
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Sociology in Action: The unfolding COVID crisis
The scale and rapidity of the global, national and local responses to the impact of COVID are daunting, making it risky to comment in real-time. It is difficult to grasp all the fast-moving implications for societies as the crisis develops....
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Election 2019
“McGovern made some stupid mistakes, but in context they seem almost frivolous compared to the things Richard Nixon does every day of his life, on purpose, as a matter of policy and a perfect expression of everything he stands for....
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On the buses with Boris Johnson…
Last week, Boris Johnson claimed to relax by making model buses in his spare time, which were met with some incredulity. It was widely reported, and the general reaction seemed to be it was yet another bizarre interview, with commentators...
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The limits of participation?
All policies which prioritise the need and value of public participation are underpinned by the idea of a democratic deficit. A democratic deficit can be defined as failings in the levels of accountability and transparency in the ongoing operation of...
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Constant anxiety of benefit sanctions is toxic for mental health of disabled people
As the UK government continues to roll out its flagship new benefit system, Universal Credit, it has been beset with difficulties and delays. Now, documents leaked to the BBC show that its full rollout is not expected to be complete...
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NHS Privatisation and who really is Matt Hancock?
It was back in September 2013 that we penned a post for Cost of Living entitled “We need to talk about Jeremy”. Way back then we were blissfully unaware of the possibilities of Brexit or Trump. Our major concern was...
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Rearticulating material inequalities as spatial inequalities (and how to stop it)