Health
Valium’s 50th birthday: little to celebrate
A recent report published by the charity MIND – which paints a troubling, and important portrait of Britons driven to alcohol, cigarettes and prescription medication to differing extents by the… Continue reading
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The question Labour won’t even consider on the NHS
Labour’s new independent commission on health and social care aims to draw up plans on bringing together health services and social care so that the NHS can be financially sustainable.… Continue reading
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David Nicholson should have no future in the NHS
When T.S Eliot spoke of the folly of trying to ‘Devise systems so perfect, that nobody will need to be good’, he effectively described a distinction between the left –… Continue reading
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Jeremy Hunt responds to the Francis Inquiry into Mid Staffs
‘The quality of patient care will be put at the heart of the NHS in an overhaul of the health and care system in response to the Francis Inquiry.’ This… Continue reading
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An unwanted relation
In June 1981, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control noted in its weekly report that five ‘previously healthy’ young men in Los Angeles had been treated for pneumonia. Two… Continue reading
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Look out Liverpool
Now here’s something to warm the heart. A bunch of medics from Liverpool have set up an organisation called ‘Street Doctors’, where they go out and teach gang members how… Continue reading
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Solve childhood obesity with nudging, not nannying
Whilst I have been a vocal supporter in Parliament of the need to tackle childhood obesity, I am by no means a shining example. My childhood was fuelled by sugar… Continue reading
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The Change4Life adverts have got it all wrong
Have you seen these Change4Life adverts the government has shoved on the television to stop fat chavs eating themselves to death? They suggest that people grate some carrot into their… Continue reading
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Jeremy Hunt’s NHS Mandate will make the service even more cumbersome
Earlier this week my wife called to make a GP appointment for our daughter, who has been experiencing some worrying tummy pains. Middle of next week she was told, earliest.… Continue reading
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The EU commissioner who resigned on the grounds he was innocent
I don’t suppose too many Coffee House readers will have noticed, but the EU is currently without a dedicated health commissioner. This is because the holder of that important office, a nondescript… Continue reading
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Modern life in verse
Julia Copus’s new collection The World’s Two Smallest Humans exists in four parts, each in their own way circling the theme of loss. Two parts – ‘The Particella of Franz… Continue reading
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Fag Burns
It sounds like an episode of The Thick of It: the government is ploughing ahead with its naff “Stoptober” initiative. Next month the country’s eight million smokers will be encouraged… Continue reading
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Anna Soubry’s NHS clean-up operation
Anna Soubry has given a wonderfully colourful interview to The Times today about her new job as Health Minister. The Conservative MP jumps through the usual hoops of having to… Continue reading
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A poem a day
I’m fresh back from the Port Eliot festival in Cornwall where I spent a day prescribing poetry prescriptions to those in need. It was a revelatory experience. Having spent twenty… Continue reading
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Britain is not full
The census figures are out and you know what this means! Yes, the newspapers will be stuffed with articles complaining that this other Eden is now too teeming with foreigners… Continue reading
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Ageing Britain needs more immigration
Some generalisations hold good. Young people, for instance, tend to be less hostile to immigration than their elders. This speaks well of their decency but also, as today’s report form… Continue reading
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Obamacare and the Supreme Court: Partisan goose for the partisan gander
Like the French Revolution it remains much too soon to say what the consequences of the United States Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare will be. Except this: defeat would… Continue reading
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A smoke to liberty
On the eve of the smoking ban five years ago, hundreds of liberty lovers came together to rebel and enjoy one last night of freedom. A reunion was held on… Continue reading
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Twinkle eyes turns on the charm
William Hague met Harriet Harman at PMQs. They were like old lovers bumping into each other at a party. The tension had vanished and little remained but warm mutual regard.… Continue reading
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More evidence of the need for NHS reform
If you want to know why the great Labour-NHS argument about healthcare is wrong, read today’s National Audit Office report on the provision of diabetes care in England. Diabetes is… Continue reading
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