Emily Colas’s Just Checking is a riveting, often unsettling, account of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Reading it got my stream of consciousness ruminating about the link between disgust and stereotypy. Neasden […]
Columnists
Richard Smith: Why the faithless need to work with faith based organisations
Perhaps because Britain is a land of atheists, the British don’t understand the importance of faith based organisations as well as they should. Stephanie Ferguson, director of the International Council […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Cough drops
Conversations with my patients can be very revealing. “I know you say they’re ace, Doc, but I can’t take these tablets.” “Why not, Pat?” “They give me a terrible cough. […]
William Cayley: What are the (hidden) costs?
“The economics of education are changed dramatically by delivering online courses to large numbers, making expensive education much cheaper.” That line in Richard Smith’s blog post describing a proposed “global […]
Sandra Lako: The challenges of identifying and isolating Ebola cases in Sierra Leone
Although the situation in Sierra Leone with respect to Ebola has improved considerably since November, there are still cases in Freetown every day. With Ebola still present, it is important […]
Richard Smith: A global university for healthcare workers
WHO estimates that the world is short of 12.9 million healthcare workers, and Devi Shetty, the cardiac surgeon and chairman and founder of Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals, thinks that radical steps […]
Richard Smith: Surgeons spend their time putting a price tag on human life
Physicians and surgeons across Asia, Africa, and Latin America spend their time putting a price tag on human life, said Devi Shetty, cardiac surgeon and chairman and founder of Narayana […]
Richard Smith: Writing an obituary of the living
Just as I think everybody should have a living will, a plan for their funeral, and clear instructions on whether you want to be buried or cremated, so I advise […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . No
“Aah,” the maximally low and back rounded vowel sound, produced by opening your mouth and glottis and phonating, is not the only phoneme that could have formed the first linguistic […]
Richard Smith: Learning about alcohol problems from a taxi driver
When journalists arrive in a country at war their learning usually starts with taxi drivers. They see and hear a lot. They know the dark side of life, particularly those […]