Ant McPartlin’s painkiller problem shows us the future of addiction
So Ant McPartlin, one half of Ant and Dec, has disappeared into rehab in order to address his addiction to…
The perils of a potent painkiller: my stupid run-in with Tramadol
Prescription painkillers are now more widely used in the United States than tobacco, the Washington Post reported this month. Thirty-five…
‘Vomit up your past’: a truly sick-making ‘detox cure’ for addicts
Puke your guts up in order to keep off drugs. Honestly, I thought the detox industry was incapable of surprising…
What went wrong with the Brooks Brothers shirt?
The classic button-down is no more – unless you know where to look
Soon, dementia homes will be full of old people. Visiting their parents
‘How can we ensure that ageing societies are more prosperous societies?’ That’s the question posed by the latest Charles Street…
My battle with the demon drink – ‘healthy’ freshly squeezed orange juice
‘Sugar is your enemy’, said a doctor friend as I was complaining about my waistline, still 35 inches despite a health…
Acupuncture: how its supporters move the goalposts
I’ve always been suspicious of acupuncture. I had it once, and although the needles didn’t bother me the garbage being…
Woman dies from measles in America. Take a bow, anti-vaxxers
This article from Slate reports that a woman in Washington State has died from measles – the first death from…
Now John Noakes has Alzheimer’s. Is there no hope of curing this disease?
For people of my age, the news that John Noakes has Alzheimer’s is terribly poignant. He was the daredevil of Blue…
Eating ‘organic’ food is like keeping Kosher. It’s about piety, not taste
What fun to read in the Mail today that volunteers in an experiment couldn’t tell the difference between organic, ‘ethically sourced’ products…
Pharmacies should ‘strip homeopathy from their shelves’, says Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Professor Jayne Lawrence FFRPS FRPharmS, Chief Scientist of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, is unlikely to be invited to dinner at Highgrove any…
Roll of shame: MPs who back homeopathy fan David Tredinnick for chair of Commons Health Committee
The list of supporters for a man who believes that a full moon can cause internal bleeding.
The white-knuckle terror of being driven by a dopehead
‘Hidden menace of the drivers high on drugs,’ says the headline in today’s Daily Mail, revealing that – according to…
Charles’s ‘spider letters’: The Guardian falls for the pseudoscience of graphology
The Prince of Wales’s ‘spider letters’ are out today – his letters to government ministers written or annotated in his distinctive…
Porn and video games: more hysteria about ‘rewiring brains’
Here we go again. What effect do you think watching porn and video games have on young men? Yup, they…
I know I shouldn’t ask this, but is cocaine really that addictive?
Cocaine addiction is a dreadful thing. I’ve seen it so many times: bright, once-pretty people with washed-out grey faces who…
We don’t think of highly gifted people as mentally disabled. Perhaps we should
I’m intrigued by this recent study suggesting that intellectual gifts and learning disabilities, far from lying on opposite ends of a…
Muslims, Jews and Christians use identical twins to ‘prove’ homosexuality isn’t genetic
The subject of identical twins has been on my mind ever since I read a magnificently creepy thriller called Ice…
Snobbery with violence
The ginger-haired man in the three-piece suit had been standing at the bar all night, ordering gin and tonics in a proprietorial…
America declares war on e-cigarettes. But it’s an ideological battle, not a medical one
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have launched a wildly expensive campaign against e-cigarettes because… well, I can’t really…
Solved at last: the mystery of David Cameron’s generous waistline
Why is the Prime Minister inviting everyone into his kitchen, asks Isabel Hardman. Good question. Doesn’t he realise that for…
Ritalin is a fun drug. That’s why it’s crazy to be handing it out to millions of kids
The weekend brought yet another warning by an American website about Ritalin. Addiction.org wants people to know about the dangers of…
Plain cigarette packs will help Isis, says Tory MP. Somebody buy this man a tin-foil hat
A Tory MP called Brian Binley has written an article suggesting that plain cigarette packs – which the House of Commons…
‘Smoking kills, nicotine doesn’t’: a huge boost for campaigners who say e-cigs save lives
Dr Derek Yach has done more than any man alive to eradicate smoking. A former professor of global health at…