Washington in spring is a visual treat, the spectacular arrays of cherry trees in bloom adding a frothy filigree to the sober magnificence of the iconic National Mall. Throw in […]
Columnists
Richard Smith: Should the first priority of the NHS be to stop us dying or to help us die well?
Good Friday is an excellent day for thinking about death, but I think about death every day. I find it energising. As I write this blog on Easter Sunday, I read […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: Research misconduct, actually
This month the open access journal with the highest impact factor: PLoS Med (short for Public Library of Science Medicine) will publish a set of articles on research misconduct. The […]
David Lock: A new and very different type of NHS in England
April 1 2013 saw the launch of a very different type of NHS in England. The current government has grappled with the same problems as all previous governments, but imposed […]
David Lock: Government creates bedblocking headache for CCGs on the day CCGs are created
The fact that 1 April is “April Fool’s day” ought to be enough to warn governments of all shades that it is a bad day to make major changes to […]
Richard Smith: I was a flop
I give a lot of talks, probably far too many. Sometimes they go well. Sometimes they are awful. A recent talk I gave was a flop. I failed to deliver […]
Richard Smith: Should the NHS be scrapped?
I’ve just been listening to a report on the radio about people with learning disorders dying 20 years prematurely because the NHS doesn’t treat them adequately. The Care Quality Commission […]
Pritpal S Tamber: Innovation, lazy commentators, and data Darwinism
One of the most common questions I have had since becoming the clinical editor of TEDMED is what’s the “next big thing.” When I started the role I actually tried […]
David Kerr: The social media medical highway
Should doctors avoid fame or notoriety? More than 10 years ago I achieved a modest mixture of both after being asked to leave a public house one Sunday evening for […]
Richard Smith: 14 years at the helm of NICE
“You’ll do, but you’re not my first choice,” said Frank Dobson then Secretary of State for Health when he appointed Mike Rawlins as the first chairman of the National Institute […]