We should not underestimate our role as individuals in stopping the pandemic, writes Abraar Karan […]
Columnists
Margaret McCartney: Christmas covid-19 testing for students needs independent oversight
The UK urgently needs an independent Covid Mass Testing Committee to ensure we do not continue to waste money and mislead citizens, argues Margaret McCartney […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . The Munchausen family
Eponyms are not infrequently included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and the list of biomedical words first cited from 1977 contains two, Pontiac fever and Polle syndrome (Table 1). […]
David Oliver: Care homes need our support in the covid-19 era and beyond
What do care homes have to do to get a break in England right now? Before the first UK covid-19 deaths in March, care homes got precious little attention in […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Folk etymology
The list of words first recorded from 1976 in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED; Table 1) includes, unusually, an erroneous coinage. The words “inotropism”, “inotropic”, and “inotropy” all relate to […]
James Raftery: Who should be first in line for a covid-19 vaccine? Assessing effectiveness and cost effectiveness
If the UK’s planned distribution of a vaccine for covid-19 is to win widespread support it should be both clinically and cost effective. One dilemma is between prioritizing those at […]
Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan: So, doctor, what about the vaccine?
What will it take to stop anti-vaxxers and doubters, ask Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan […]
Richard Smith: A new important study supports wider use of the polypill
By coincidence on Friday my new polypills arrived together with the results of a major study confirming that use of the polypill containing a statin and four antihypertensives in people […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . The “food of Paradise”
Among the words first recorded from 1975 in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED; Table 1) is “sinsemilla”, although it is also mentioned in Jerry Kamstra’s book Weed: Adventures of a […]
Nick Hopkinson: Tobacco industry collaborators sending equality up in smoke
It is widely believed that the American humourist and mathematician Tom Lehrer abandoned comedy because Henry Kissinger was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for bombing Cambodia. A bold new entry […]