Jamie Oliver, chef-champion of the British waistline, is taking his healthy-eating campaign to the US. We’ll see the results next year, when the six-part series is due to be broadcast. Meanwhile, in the UK, public health adverts feature small girls eating fairy cakes under the slogan: “is a premature death so tempting?” Guilt is ladled […]
Continue Reading →Swine flu in Scotland
There’s lots of it about, it seems: 160 cases in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and all but 8 acquired it locally. And most are only mildly unwell. Our locally issued guidelines have changed subtly too: testing was, until recently, limited to those who had particular risk factors for H1N1 (symptoms starting within seven days of […]
Continue Reading →Putting the emphasis on ‘sell’
My interviewee has asked for her surname and current place of work not to appear here. Louise is the perfect science pin-up girl: blonde, slim, and dressed in denim and boots when I meet her on campus. She works as a university teacher, facilitating medical students in “problem based learning” sessions. I have arranged to […]
Continue Reading →Management consultants in the NHS
If you have read the book Plundering the Public Sector (David Craig and Richard Brooks) or NHS plc (Allyson Pollock), then the concerns over the costs to the NHS of management consultants will not be news. A report echoing this was released by the House of Commons Health Committee at the end of last week […]
Continue Reading →Never too late…column
How much does willpower have to do with good health? If, for example, we have pursued a life of booze, fags and indolence, can we reverse the damage if we choose to? Or have our prior actions, and our genes, already determined our fate? Some philosophers, particularly the chain-smoking kind, may accept the idea of […]
Continue Reading →What do Jo Brand, Martin Amis and Lord Rees have in common?
They are all signatories to an open letter (as are FT Science Editor Clive Cookson and myself), condemning the use of English libel law to silence the critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence. This is in response to the Simon Singh case, where the British Chiropractic Association has sued him for libel: he has announced that he is to appeal.
Continue Reading →Getting to the point
Unfortunately, last week’s column of acupuncture seems to have upset a few people. On the one hand, those who believe in acupuncture have accused me of being unfair to complementary medicine. At the other end of the scale, alternative medicine sceptics have said I am too interested in what acupuncture has to offer. In order to solve this long-running debate once and for all, I’d like […]
Continue Reading →Acupuncturing a myth: column
Britain’s backs are in terrible shape. We spend more time off work because of back pain than for any other ailment, according to the NHS. So it’s not surprising that we are keen to relieve our suffering. A new study on acupuncture and back pain tries to do just this, though in truth it is […]
Continue Reading →What is ‘Bogus’?
Simon Singh, as mentioned before, was in the High Court last week facing the British Chiropractic Association over an article he wrote for the Guardian (which is no longer available to read on their website.) In court, the Judge held that the phrase Singh used – ”happily promotes bogus treatments” – was capable of bearing the meaning that […]
Continue Reading →Eye surgery? My view
Squeamishness is relative. I am unfazed by childbirth, urinary catheters and vomit. I am less good with injuries to the ends of fingers or toes, which always make me want to look away. My biggest fear, however, is of eyes. Operative ophthalmology, in particular, sets me on edge – the eyelid clamped back, the surrounds […]
Continue Reading →