The yearly flu crisis is entirely avoidable
Each winter our NHS is struck by an ‘unprecedented’ number of cases of seasonal illness. Politicians talk gravely of the…
Why are world leaders shocked by the Bondi Beach attack?
Micheál Martin, Ireland’s Taoiseach, said he is shocked by the anti-Semitic slaughter on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Ursula von der Leyen,…
How terror triumphed at the Christmas market
Mulled wine and Heckler & Koch assault rifles don’t belong together, except in Christmas films like Die Hard. Festive visitors to…
Is racism to blame for the NHS maternity crisis?
‘Nothing prepared me,’ said Baroness Amos as she released her ‘reflections and initial impressions’ about England’s maternity and neonatal services,…
The joy of receiving Christmas cards – even from people I loathe
These days I barely know what my own handwriting looks like; about my friends, the knowledge is all but lost.…
Why GPs are reluctant about online booking
‘Moaning Minnies’ is how the Health Secretary Wes Streeting has described GPs opposing his rollout of online appointment booking. Originally,…
Junior doctors are striking for the wrong reason
Oh God, another junior doctor strike. That seems to be the feeling of the country and of the junior doctors…
Only radical change can cut NHS waiting lists
A research letter in the Future Healthcare Journal, laying out the scale of performance failings in the NHS, has attracted a…
Junior doctors’ strikes are good for my wallet – but totally avoidable
Until Tuesday, I’m once again working as a junior doctor: trying to remember how to take blood, print labels, and…
Are we forgetting how to remember the glorious dead?
The generation that fought in the First World War is gone, and the days are closing for those who served…
How did Birmingham succumb to ethnic strife?
It is strange to see Maccabi Tel Aviv fans banned from a Villa match because the British state won’t protect…
Can the NHS’s anti-Semitism problem be fixed?
The NHS has an anti-Semitism problem, and Wes Streeting wants to fix it. This week he announced plans to ‘make…
The problem with Labour’s plan for ‘NHS Online’
Party conferences are less about conferring than about speeches and announcements. Today Keir Starmer revealed NHS Online, a virtual hospital…
Starmer’s ‘racist’ Reform remark is his ‘deplorables’ moment
Reform’s migration policy of scrapping indefinite leave to remain is racist, according to Keir Starmer. ‘I do think it’s a…
The problem with Jess’s Rule
NHS England has today introduced Jess’s Rule, asking doctors to take a ‘three strikes and rethink approach’. The rule is…
How I came to (reluctantly) like Trump
The Donald is in Britain. As a holidaymaker used to budget flights, I associate Stansted airport, where Trump landed last…
A farewell to aspirin
At last weekend’s European Society of Cardiology conference in Madrid, a quiet funeral bell tolled for aspirin. The drug has…
Britain can’t win its fight against Big Pharma
Britain has picked a fight with the pharma industry, and it isn’t clear why we think we can win. Not…
Why the English fly their flag
For a Brit in America, flag-flying feels so overdone, almost cultish. Why do Americans fly their flag on houses, lawns,…
We need more unemployed doctors
In medicine, the working year begins today, as freshly qualified doctors start and others rotate to new attachments. Mismanagement means…
I work in the NHS: the government cannot accept doctors’ pay demands
Junior doctors are set to strike, despite winning little public sympathy with their demand for a 29 per cent pay…
We should raise, not lower, the voting age
Keir Starmer’s decision to lower the voting age to 16 is widely seen as a cynical attempt to secure votes,…
Wes Streeting has learnt nothing from the NHS’s past mistakes
Yesterday, Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer announced a ten-year plan to save the NHS. ‘There are moments in our national…
The flaw in Wes Streeting’s AI NHS app plan
Speaking at Blackpool Football Club earlier this week, Wes Streeting announced his latest bid to modernise the NHS: bold new…
NHS ‘spy scales’ won’t tackle childhood obesity
NHS England, ostensibly wishing to respond to the challenge of childhood obesity, announced yesterday the introduction of ‘spy scales’ to…
