In 2010 adult mental health services in Lambeth in South London were at breaking point, with most acute wards running at over 100% capacity (possible because of overspill into the […]
Richard Smith
Richard Smith was the editor of The BMJ until 2004.
Richard Smith: What if all the works of Democritus had survived and those of Aristotle been lost
Richard Feynman, the great physicist, conducted a thought experiment in which he asked what one statement would he save if all of scientific knowledge was lost. His answer: “All things […]
Richard Smith: The dead journalist and social care
The juxtaposition of an article by a dying (indeed, dead) journalist bemoaning the NHS denying him an expensive cancer drug and a spate of articles illustrating the “crisis in social […]
Richard Smith: Rethinking the publication of surgical innovations
A scandal in cardiothoracic research has led Martin Elliott, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Great Ormond Street, to conclude that current methods of publishing surgical innovations are not only inadequate but […]
Richard Smith: Working to make cholera a disease of the past
Until last year the Cholera Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, could have a thousand admissions a day before and after the monsoon. On a calm day now it still has hundreds. […]
Richard Smith: Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world, and why are Facebook and Harry Potter so popular?
When you enter the room in the Louvre that contains the Mona Lisa you find people crowded around the bullet-proof case that contains the Mona Lisa and largely ignoring the […]
Richard Smith: Death and the inescapable logic of greed
Martin Shkreli is the man who became infamous through buying the rights to Darapim (pyrethamine) and raising the price by 5000% from $13.50 to $750 per pill. There is, I […]
Richard Smith: The optimal peer review system?
Peer review is faith not evidence based, but most scientists believe in it as some people believe in the Loch Ness monster. Research into peer review has mostly failed to […]
Richard Smith: Holbein’s Dance of Death—the perfect Christmas present
Hans Holbein produced his Dance of Death in Basle in 1526, mainly because he needed the money. Pictures of the dance of death were fashionable, featuring on the walls of […]
Richard Smith: STPs—too much sustainability, too little transformation?
STPs (Sustainability and Transformation Plans) are the device that it is hoped will save the NHS in England by dramatically improving efficiency and allowing NHS bodies to balance their budgets. […]