I have been watching the French crime series Spiral (Engrenages) . The title refers to the way an investigation into a prostitute’s murder – she is dumped naked on a […]
Columnists
Siddhartha Yadav reminisces about his BMJ Clegg Scholarship
The BMJ has now called for applications for the Clegg Scholarship 2010. So, I think this might be the right time to talk about my own experiences as a Clegg […]
Richard Smith on learning leadership from Henry V
Last week I was privileged to hear a brilliant talk—by Nicholas Janni—on what Henry V or rather Shakespeare has to teach us about leadership. Prince Harry was, as most people […]
Douglas Noble on patient safety
Ineffectively communicated clinical information has been estimated to be responsible for up to 10% of all preventable medical errors. Stanton et al, in their recent book on clinical leadership, reveal […]
Mary E Black on flu suits and holy water dispensers
Plagues create business opportunities and the worried well in any era present a commercial opportunity. In the Middle Ages, the Black Death and the Great Plague saw brisk sales in […]
Liz Wager on Einstein, David Nutt, and academic freedom
I’m just back from Washington DC, where we held the first US meeting of COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics). Engraved onto the building housing part of the National Academy […]
Richard Smith on assessing health technology assessment
The budget of Britain’s Health Technology Assessment programme has grown from £13m in 2006 to £88m in 2010, and it has conducted a swathe of trials on new technologies, published dozens […]
Richard Smith: Rethinking priorities in global health
Last week’s conference to launch Edinburgh University’s Global Health Academy left me thinking that priorities in global health may be very wrong. David Molyneaux from Liverpool said that an alien […]
Richard Smith on promoting health literacy
I’ve just spent five days—yes, five days—talking about health literacy. Before my five day conversation I’d never thought much about health literacy, but now I see myself as an expert. […]
Julian Sheather: Should we help people self-harm?
Once in every while an ethical dilemma will swim across the horizon, a dilemma whose wake will induce in me a bout of moral seasickness. My compass spins, my bearings […]