Health
Monkeypox, Covid and the trouble with our species
I hate to be one of those columnists who says ‘I told you so’. But I told you so. Looking…
The truth about Britain’s Covid deaths
There has been a considerable hoo-hah in the press about the recent World Health Organisation report estimating Covid-related deaths internationally…
The march of the ‘menosplainers’
The march of the ‘menosplainers’
Are we falling out of love with the NHS?
Clap for carers now feels like ancient history. Public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest since 1997, according…
The cancer care timebomb that desperately needs to be fixed
As many as 100,000 patients had a cancer that was missed, or had their diagnoses or treatments delayed during the…
The delicate business of writing poetry
Living, as Clive James put it, under a life sentence, and having refused chemotherapy, I find I respond to the…
The healing power of medieval austerity
Eighty yards west of the high terrace where I’ve sat for three weeks recuperating is a hospice built for Napoleon’s…
I got Covid (again) – is it time I got jabbed?
I got Covid a couple of weeks ago. Second time for me, which was annoying because I’d told Caroline that…
The best podcasts about money
Stories about money are never about money. They are about pain, about family, about atrocity, about luck, about health, about…
Do you really need to see the GP in person?
Only later, perhaps even a decade later, as the pandemic of 2020-22 shrinks in our rear-view mirror, may we be…
Do we want the nanny state tracking our every step?
The best thing that can be said about the government’s latest anti-obesity scheme is that it’s cheap. For now. The…
Why did we decide that Covid was over?
Look, I don’t know much epidemiology. Can’t pretend to. So what follows is, necessarily, a personal finger to the wind.…
‘I’m entitled not to listen to Sage’: an interview with Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid has big plans for the NHS – if Covid lets him
Boris Johnson and the Tory identity crisis
The Tory conference in Manchester will be a relatively muted affair. In part, this is because — as I say…
There’s one upside to having Parkinson’s disease
I am just back from my final salmon fishing trip of the year. I have never had a worse season…
End of the line: it’s time to rethink the queue
It’s time to rethink the queue
Am I alone in not wanting to download the Covid app?
As I begin, I’m tortured by the doo-do-doo-do of The Twilight Zone’s theme music. I’ve hurtled back in time. Suddenly…
Sajid Javid: My isolation diary
You always remember when a prime minister calls you to ask you to take on a new role, and you…
Organic food isn’t better for us – or the environment
The case against organic food
What did the Romans ever do for us?
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is planning to install a statue of John Chilembwe in Trafalgar Square. Mr Chilembwe…
Why are GPs still not seeing patients in person?
The GP won’t see you now
Hospital wards are filling up again – with fakers
As Covid retreats, the malingerers are making a comeback
The mysteries of ‘long Covid’
Why do some people’s symptoms not go away?