Most science—and I am going to include medicine here—is based on the idea that you build on the work of others. To do this meaningfully requires that you can challenge […]
Guest writers
Nataša Škaričić: Asim Kurjak’s appointment as dean of the faculty for health studies at the private International University, Dubrovnik
In 2006, Sir Iain Chalmers, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration, accused Asim Kurjak, a former professor at the Zagreb School of Medicine, of repeated plagiarism and criticised […]
Jeremy Sare: Drug driving limits
Very few scientists become politicians, and this is hardly surprising. A scientist will usually only present a new finding once it has been carefully researched, tested, and peer reviewed, whereas […]
Balaji Ravichandran: Sugar is the new tobacco
Sugar is the new tobacco. It is dangerous, addictive, and toxic, and it cannot be controlled by education or legislation alone. This is a war, between public health and private […]
David Zigmond: “Fixing the NHS is straightforward.” Really?
In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Gerry Robinson tells us that “fixing the NHS is straightforward.” He writes with optimistic alacrity of pragmatic, logistical, data-fuelled managerial devices to sharpen […]
Rachel Hendrick on the “Selling Sickness: People before Profit” conference
The conference “Selling Sickness: People before Profit” was held in Washington, D.C. on 20 – 22 February 2013. It was organised by Leonore Tiefer, a scholar and activist in sexuality, […]
Balaji Ravichandran: Are all calories equal, or are some more equal than others?
Is a calorie just a calorie? Or is the energy derived from carbohydrates, calorie for calorie, qualitatively different from that derived of fat? Put another way, is obesity a disorder […]
Partha Kar: The consultant of the future
Type “define an NHS consultant” into Google and you’ll get more than 5 million results—none of which actually crystallises what the role involves. It’s a term that’s ever more shrouded […]
Katy Cooper: NCDs, MDGs, and SDGs – latest update
This is an update of an earlier blog (15 November 2012 – here), which described what is happening around the global framework on non-communicable diseases, and how NCDs link into […]
Marge Berer: Depo Provera
The recent news that Ethiopian Jewish women had been given the injectable contraceptive Depo Provera without their knowledge or consent awakened a strong feeling of déjà vu for me. When I […]