The unaffordable cost of living
Rishi-eat-out-to-help-out Sunak has been busy recently trying to address the snowballing cost of living crisis faced by millions of UK citizens. He announced new policies to help those who will find the ‘struggle is too hard and the risks too...
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Support workers as invisible healthcare providers
Book Review: Support Workers and the Health Professions an International Perspective, the invisible providers of healthcare Support workers are: ‘a worker who provides face-to-face care or support of a personal or confidential nature to patients and/or service users in clinical...
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Reasonable adjustments: work in the time of corona
Our universities have shut, and we do not know for how long. Many of us are adjusting to working remotely. The global pandemic of coronavirus is changing the way we interact socially, and changing the way we work. While employers...
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Alcoholism Abandoned: what now for Scotland’s low income problem drinkers?
‘Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God’ Corinthians 6:10 Alcoholism is situated in a very particular place in relation to public opinion, health and social services and research. Though it is...
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Political Suicide
Last week it was #WorldSuicidePreventionDay – social media was awash with supportive messages being thrown into the ether for whoever might see/need them, or to virtue signal. We are told it is ok not to be ok, that we should...
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Her bloody project – managing menstruation at work*
Recent legislative limitations placed on women’s rights to abortion in the US, similar to those in Northern Ireland, are a timely reminder of how certain aspects of society hate and want to control women, and the ways in which that...
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Trade Unions: Working from the Margins
How UK trade unions can meet the needs of the contemporary labour force In a very poor attempt to offer up some ‘good’ news, Conservative party supporters continue to make much of the increased UK employment rate. Something that, on...
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White fluff
Despite extensive awareness and evidence of the dangers of working with asbestos, it continues to feature in domestic and international decision making. The ramifications of its use are felt at an individual level in the experiences of people with asbestos...
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Compulsory coupledom: in sickness and in health?
Recent research has suggested that people who live together, including cohabiting unmarried and married couples, report better health than individuals who have never engaged in such relationships. Perhaps not surprising when we think about the poor health outcomes that can...
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Unlearnt Lessons: dying from ‘choice’ in the care of the state
Two days before he died of faecal impaction on November 17th2012, Richard Handley had 10kg of faeces surgically removed from his body. His family raised the alarm because his distended abdomen made him look as though he was ‘full term...
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I, Daniel Blake – is this the collapse of the social contract?
Ken Loach’s most recent film I, Daniel Blake tells the story of Daniel, a fifty nine year old joiner from Newcastle, and Katie, an out of work single mother of two from London. They become perhaps unlikely friends after meeting...
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Lucky strike