My last encounter with a JK Rowling novel was an abortive attempt to get through a Harry Potter boxed set given to me as a present ten years ago (why […]
David Payne
David Payne: Listening to our readers and authors
A year ago today the BMJ’s new website went live. We launched with an explanatory video and a dedicated email address for you, our readers, to provide feedback. This blog is […]
David Payne: How websites changed newspapers
The editor emailed me this to seek my views about how to make her weekly Editor’s Choice more relevant to the journal’s online readers. The article gets posted on bmj.com every Wednesday […]
David Payne: Innovation and scholarly publishing
At a conference I attended in Washington DC last week we discussed innovation in scholarly publishing. One activity was to fast forward to 2022 and imagine what would have changed […]
David Payne: Loos in Lagos
In a hot Washington DC two days ago I needed the toilet. I was on Wisconsin Avene in Georgetown. My English reserve suddenly overcame me. I dreaded the thought of […]
David Payne: The boy who can’t forget
I have a good memory. Actually I’m being modest. I have an amazing memory, according to friends and family. 29 June 1974. A Saturday. I was eight. We went on […]
David Payne: MPs and their mental health
In a Guardian newspaper article this week Juliette Jowitt caught up with four MPs—including the former GP Sarah Wollaston, who stood up in the House of Commons last month to […]
David Payne: Review of “The Doctor’s Dilemma”
Medicine’s big guns beat a path to Dr Colenso Ridgeon’s consulting room after news of his knighthood is announced. Downstairs, the wife of a consumptive painter pleads with his housekeeper […]
David Payne: Lord Ashley of Stoke
The BMJ tends not to commission obituaries of non-doctors. I can understand why. The journal’s print obituary section is already awash with the lives of distinguished doctors from the UK […]
David Payne: Changes to scholarly articles
Should the journal article change, and if so, how? In this multimedia age, the workforce is increasingly populated by people who grew up with the internet, scholarly publishers anticipate the demise […]