Every day one of our national newspapers publishes a piece reporting on “scientific research” and nearly every day the report is misleading, inaccurate, shows poor understanding of science and scientific […]
Guest writers
Michael Adler and colleagues on HIV today
It has been 25 years since HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was isolated. Since that time, 25 million people have died of HIV related illnesses. In 2007 there were […]
Paul Vincent: Practise what you preach
“Judge not, lest you be judged,” so goes the popular Christian refrain. Less known, but equally striking is “Never trust a fat preacher.” Is it ok to judge if you’re […]
Heather Payne: Baby P and now the completely nameless
As if “Baby P” wasn’t bad enough, now we hear about 2 women and 19 pregnancies resulting in 7 surviving children. The nearest we have to a name for this […]
Vidhya Alakeson on Obama’s health team
If, like me, you’re used to a parliamentary system where the party with a majority in Parliament runs the government and, if it has a big enough majority, pushes through […]
Ohad Oren on euthanasia, supermarket style
Debbie Purdy, a 45 year old woman with progressive multiple sclerosis, failed in her bid last month to be able to end her life when her excruciating symptoms become unbearable for […]
Sheila McLean: Whose decision is it, anyway?
The case of Hannah Jones has unsurprisingly provoked intense, and often emotional, debate. It is somehow counter-intuitive that a 13 year old should choose a path that will inevitably result […]
Jeanelle de Gruchy on Obama and equality
Last week’s historic election of the United States’ first black president was an uplifting event that speaks of possibilities, to being able to trounce racism and collectively help shape a […]
Matiram Pun: Obama wins – a pretty optimistic outlook for the world
Kenya’s people have shown an enthusiasm bordering on fanaticism over the US presidential election and declared a national holiday after Barack Obama’s win. But it was not only Kenya and […]
Tauseef Mehrali: Attack of the clipboards
I sat riveted through Kenneth Branagh’s perceptive portrayal of Ivanov in Chekhov’s eponymous play. Witnessing the desperate depression of the protagonist unfold I couldn’t help thinking how many points he […]