It was the White Queen who told Alice that she had at times thought six contradictory things before breakfast. We humans have a remarkable tolerance for incompatibility, happily living with […]
Columnists
James Raftery: Bypassing NICE for the sake of innovation?
Recent reports that NICE was to be bypassed by drugs which were “innovative,” with funding from a new separate budget, sent me in search of the source report – the […]
Anna Donald’s last blog
Anna Donald died on 1 February 2009. The blog below was found on her computer posthumously. At a memorial service for her at UCL on 26 April 2009, a six […]
Richard Smith on living funerals
As we begin to assimilate the reality of assisted suicide we should also take the next step to living funerals. I’ve never been to one, but a living funeral is […]
James Raftery on the Kennedy report
” Appraising the value of innovation and other benefits: a short study for NICE, ” the report by Sir Ian Kennedy contains one of the best critiques of the new […]
Liz Wager: Spreading the word
A journal editor told me he was once asked to act as an expert witness defending a doctor accused of negligence for failing to diagnose a rare condition. The defence […]
Julian Sheather on playing God – again
So they’ve been at it again, the men in white coats. Putting on their grey beards and playing God, getting the jump on poor old mother nature. There are times […]
Richard Smith asks: How international do we want to be?
How international do we want to be? Many organisations find themselves discussing that question in a globalising world—and most don’t find it easy to answer. Britain itself can’t answer the […]
Richard Smith: Don’t panic, regret, worry, or feel guilty
I’m fed up of being told not to panic over swine flu. If I want to panic then I’ll panic. I’ll run naked and screaming down the street imploring my […]
Richard Smith on doing the right thing – but at a snail’s pace
One of the things about being an “old guy” is that you realise how extraordinarily slow we are at doing the right thing. You also see wheels being constantly reinvented. […]