BMJ blogs

Thank you for all the replies to my last blog - I’ve had a lot of very kind feedback and sympathy from readers.  (more…)

Last week the geopolitics of the biofuel debacle looked something like this. On the left both geographically and politically, we had Evo Morales, President of the very poor and increasingly hungry Bolivia, pleading “la vida primero los autos segundos” (life first, cars second), exhorting the wealthy world to stop burning food in their cars.

On the right, we had Gordon Brown, fresh out of his food summit, calling for more agricultural research, free trade and food aid for the starving. (more…)

Congratulations with the first BMJ on recycled paper. Being an old editor myself it is nice to see that the usual high quality of illustrations is unchanged in spite of the recycled paper, So no downsizing of quality and a better output for the global climate. Great. (more…)

Paris in the spring clearly caught the imagination of the record 2000+ delegates attending the International Quality Forum. Some fascinating lessons in quality improvement but as often, not the ones you anticipate. The first message was never to make changes on a Tuesday- because in any health care system that is when you will have a full complement of staff and the system working at its best. (more…)

I am back from purdah, having just returned from 10 days of ‘Noble Silence’ at a Vipassana meditation retreat in Sydney’s Blue Mountains. These charitable Buddhist programmes are run on a pay-by-donation basis in many countries, including Britain (in Herefordshire).  (more…)

Dear Reader,

I should introduce myself before launching into a blog which I hope is not too depressing: living in the shadow of death. This is my starting point, as I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (I lit up “like a Christmas tree” on the scans) in February 2007. It was not a complete surprise - I’d had primary breast cancer - not terribly high risk - in 2003. But disappointing that so much treatment hadn’t cured it. (more…)

One of the reasons London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics was successful was apparently the detailed health legacy it proposed. As well as the development of new sporting facilities, the aim is to promote greater levels of physical activity right across the country. In London alone, Department of Health statistics suggest that over 65% of men, 75% of women, 33% of boys and 50% of girls are not sufficiently active for good health. (more…)

Had an interesting conversation at the weekend - some feel that “Palliative care beyond cancer” and “Multiple health problems in elderly patients” address very similar issues and populations. Not sure that I would agree, but what do you think? (more…)

Earlier this year I declined an invitation to fly all expenses from Sydney to Geneva to speak for 15 minutes at an international cancer conference. There was a hole in my calendar. Geneva is a hop from Lyon, where I have good friends. I have a son in London who I haven’t seen for a while. It was tempting.  But the carbon footprint and the derisory speaking time got to me.  (more…)

At an international research integrity meeting in Lisbon last year, I was horrified when a US scientist told me that UK universities didn’t reply to her concerns about alleged research misconduct. We cannot be proud of the fact that the UK scientific establishment took so long to set up a body to investigate research misconduct. And, even more embarrasing is the fact that, now we have the UK Research Integrity Office (RIO), it is hasn’t even got permanent funding. (more…)