I just shared a sofa with a 25-year-old Canadian inventor, a Texan neuroscientist turned fiction writer who authored a recent BMJ editorial on synaesthesia, a former lawyer and journalist who […]
Editors at large
Georg Röggla on avalanches
The avalanche danger level was the second highest possible this week in most parts of the Alps. But the warning did not help: six alpinists died in avalanches within 24 […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Lasting memories
Memory is short. I learned this early when, as a junior doctor, my consultant retired. He was a legend, irreplaceable, the backbone of the hospital. But, it takes less than […]
Tony Delamothe asks: Are public schools a blight on British society?
Compared with 7% of the population who went to private school (in the UK known as “public” schools, for historical reasons), 50% of doctors did, with the proportion not budging these […]
Domhnall MacAuley on armchair winter sports
The Olympics are imminent. Not 2012, but the Winter Olympics in Vancouver opening in less than three weeks. Coming from a country where rare snowfalls are wet, soggy and turn […]
Sally Carter and Birte Twisselmann: Imagining synaesthesia
Mixing of the senses Synaesthesia, this “mixing of the senses,” is a difficult thing to describe. I have read David Eagleman’s editorial and an anonymous patient’s and psychiatrist Steve Logdail’s […]
Tony Delamothe: Chekhov and the doctors
Chekhov published his first short story as a 20 year old medical student. Over the next 24 years, he published nearly 600 more, along with a string of plays including […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Achievements of academic primary care in the last decade
What do you think were the achievements of academic primary care/ general practice in the last decade? We discussed this recently by email in a BMJ advisory group of primary […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Apres Ski and A&E
Heading for the slopes? Sunshine, blue skies and an exhilarating holiday. Cant wait! You don’t need any gloomy doom sayer spoiling your excitement. But, as you board your flight, look […]
Peter Lapsley: Out with the QOF!
Why was I not surprised last week to hear that talks between the BMA’s GP Committee and the government had broken down when the BMA had asked for GP targets […]