Isolation and quarantine throw harsh light on the complex tensions in public health, between the rights and duties of individuals and concepts of the public interest, says Julian Sheather […]
Columnists
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Painkillers—a linguistics based approach
Jamie Coleman, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology in Birmingham, has proposed replacing the term “painkiller” with “pain reliever”, in the hope of reducing people’s expectations of the therapeutic effects of opioid […]
Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan: It’s time to be super heroes for scientific truth
Don’t get frustrated, get involved, say Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . The Oxford comma
In his inaugural Presidential address on 4 March 1801 Thomas Jefferson enunciated what he called “the essential principles of our government”. The list (see the Box) included “Peace, commerce, and […]
David Oliver: Outdated rants provide no solutions for a modern NHS
Earlier this week, Norman Tebbit, a high profile cabinet minister and spokesperson during Margaret Thatcher’s government, used a Daily Telegraph column to share his views on solutions for the crisis […]
Julian Sheather: No more safe haven—Greece announces a wall in the sea
Consider the word refuge: a place offering protection from danger. It’s a powerful noun, strong connotations of safety and security, of haven or harbour. Consider somebody seeking such protection: a […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Coronas
The Coronaviruses were first identified by a group of virologists (J D Almeida, D M Berry, C H Cunningham, D Hamre, M S Hofstad, L Mallucci, K McIntosh, and D […]
Abraar Karan: Coronavirus—containing the parallel epidemics of xenophobia and misinformation
There is a grasp for the right information amid an evolving and even bigger epidemic of misinformation […]
Richard Smith: Must capitalism end to avoid climate collapse?
Before last night’s passionate and well argued debate at the Royal Geographical Society on the motion “To stop climate collapse, we must end capitalism,” 38% of the well-heeled audience of […]
Richard Smith: Junior doctors in Russia 1917; Edinburgh 1977; and now—all the same?
In A Country Doctor’s Notebook Mikhail Bulgakov describes his experiences of being a newly graduated doctor sent alone in 1917 to run a hospital in rural Russia some 24 hours […]