Health

In search of a second epiphany

16 December 2023 9:00 am

Rishi’s smoking ban inspired me to light a cigarette

28 October 2023 9:00 am

What has Rishi Sunak’s government achieved in its first year? The highlights include a renegotiated Brexit policy and setting more…

I’ve turned 60 – but all is not lost

21 October 2023 9:00 am

By the time you read this I’ll be 60, having passed that milestone on Tuesday. My older friends tell me…

How do I know I’m an adult? I’m given unsolicited feedback

30 September 2023 9:00 am

Adulthood was once determined by age, but now we’ve extended childhood far beyond the teenage years. If the government gets its…

Could I be pregnant?

9 September 2023 9:00 am

At the age of 59 I thought it was time to get my body thoroughly examined. So last week I…

Barometer

9 September 2023 9:00 am

High life

9 September 2023 9:00 am

Why won’t my British friends see a GP?

2 September 2023 9:00 am

Having lived in the United Kingdom for almost my whole adult life, I like to think I’m well assimilated. I…

The rise of vampirism in Silicon Valley

2 September 2023 9:00 am

The Immortals, which begins on Radio 4 this week, is not for the faint-hearted. While it professes to be about…

Is the glucose monitoring craze really so healthy?

1 July 2023 9:00 am

The curious obsession with glucose monitoring gadgets

Wuhan clan: we finally know the identity of the scientists in the lab linked to Covid

24 June 2023 9:00 am

We finally know the identity of the scientists in the lab linked to Covid

My life as a meth addict

3 June 2023 9:00 am

The highs and lows of being a meth addict

Why Sunak backtracked over fines for missed GP appointments

28 October 2022 11:37 pm

Not surprisingly, Rishi Sunak has dropped plans to fine NHS patients £10 for missed appointments. It was one of the…

Why can’t I give blood?

22 October 2022 9:00 am

I read about the national shortage of blood last week with a feeling of gloomy inevitability. The brains of the…

Smoking is more hassle than it’s worth

8 October 2022 9:00 am

I gave up smoking one year ago this week, as part of a series of pitiful capitulations to the forces…

We still love our failing NHS

29 August 2022 8:00 pm

A new poll about the NHS, the Sunday Times tells us, has discovered ‘a decline in support’ for the National…

How the ancients treated gout

27 August 2022 9:00 am

Medical problems come and go in the media, and at the moment the flavour of the month appears to be…

Why I donated a kidney to a stranger

27 August 2022 9:00 am

Why I donated my kidney

Yoga has become a hot cultish mess

27 August 2022 9:00 am

The dangers and distortion of yoga

How we fell for antidepressants

21 August 2022 4:00 pm

The French novelist, Michel Houellebecq, with his accustomed acuity about modern culture, titled his last novel but one Serotonin. By…

Finally, some justice for the infected blood scandal's victims

17 August 2022 9:34 pm

Why has the greatest patient scandal in the history of the NHS rumbled on for so long before its victims…

The small NHS failings that let down patients like my mother

30 July 2022 9:00 am

The NHS is letting down patients in small, crucial ways

Why I won’t have a Covid booster

23 July 2022 9:00 am

In the news recently, we’ve heard from multiple Britons who’ve lost family members or sacrificed their own health to Covid’s…

Medical emergency: general practice is broken

4 June 2022 9:00 am

General practice is broken