NHS
Rishi’s smoking ban inspired me to light a cigarette
What has Rishi Sunak’s government achieved in its first year? The highlights include a renegotiated Brexit policy and setting more…
How do I know I’m an adult? I’m given unsolicited feedback
Adulthood was once determined by age, but now we’ve extended childhood far beyond the teenage years. If the government gets its…
Could I be pregnant?
At the age of 59 I thought it was time to get my body thoroughly examined. So last week I…
Why won’t my British friends see a GP?
Having lived in the United Kingdom for almost my whole adult life, I like to think I’m well assimilated. I…
Letters: The Lucy Letby killings shouldn’t mean we lose trust in all NHS managers
Murder mystery Sir: I once made a diagnosis of a very rare condition too late to cure the patient. She…
Why can’t NHS managers spot a serial killer?
No one who has paid any attention to NHS scandals over the past few decades should be at all surprised…
How the Tories plan to take the fight to Labour on the NHS
Brace yourselves for health week. After the rip-roaring success of the government’s ‘stop the boats’ week, you might forgive the…
Testosterone transformed my life. Why won’t GPs prescribe it?
Where’s my testosterone?!
How to bag the best spot in the supermarket car park
Our local Sainsbury’s, though admirable in every other way, has a slightly inflated estimate of the disabled population of Seven-oaks,…
Why Sunak backtracked over fines for missed GP appointments
Not surprisingly, Rishi Sunak has dropped plans to fine NHS patients £10 for missed appointments. It was one of the…
Letters: The case for legalising cannabis
Paying the price Sir: Lionel Shriver’s piece about university standards rang true to me (‘University is supposed to be hard’,…
Why can’t I give blood?
I read about the national shortage of blood last week with a feeling of gloomy inevitability. The brains of the…
Has the pandemic made us appreciate nature more?
Out to grass If Liz Truss is forced out of office (and doesn’t also resign her parliamentary seat as Tony…
Liz Truss can’t ignore the issue of NHS reform
It’s hard to think of any Prime Minister who has entered office surrounded by such low expectations. Liz Truss was…
It’s time for some home truths, Rishi
I wonder how many people in the country are bitterly disappointed that Liz Truss pulled out of her exciting one-to-one…
We still love our failing NHS
A new poll about the NHS, the Sunday Times tells us, has discovered ‘a decline in support’ for the National…
Letters: How to reform the GMC
Overhaul the GMC Sir: Max Pemberton’s cogent criticism of the GMC (‘Unfit for purpose’, 20 August). is one of the…
A four-way race between poet, actor, video artist and sound engineer: Edinburgh Festival's Burn reviewed
In a new hour-long monologue, Burn, Alan Cumming examines the life and work of Robert Burns. The biographical material is…
Finally, some justice for the infected blood scandal's victims
Why has the greatest patient scandal in the history of the NHS rumbled on for so long before its victims…
