Health
Criminalising mothers: the beginning of the slippery slope
The recent case reported in the press of a 17 year old mother who deliberately binge drank alcohol during her…
Rest in peace: seven ways to stop snoring this Christmas
Did you know that snoring was bad for your heart? It’s thought to cause changes in the carotid artery and…
Seven big fat myths about fitness
When it comes to exercise and health, there’s a lot of dodgy advice out there (including plenty from friends and…
Reckless criticised by Medway NHS for Ukip election leaflet
Mark Reckless is in trouble for reckless campaigning. One of his promotional leaflets (pdf), noting his plans for the NHS…
How does naturopathy work? A bit like a flying vacuum-cleaner to Mars
Every so often you read a piece about alternative medicine that asks: how does it work? How does homeopathy work,…
Old, vulnerable and hungry – the shocking view from inside the NHS
I am leaving London soon, coming to the end of my time as a voluntary hospital visitor working from a…
Keep your hair on! Seven tips for doing so, past Movember
[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_30_Oct_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”Henry Jeffreys and Sarah Coghlan join Mary Wakefield to discuss Movember and other wackiness.” startat=1456.1] Listen [/audioplayer]Some men…
Overpaid, underworked, ineffectual – the myth of the NHS doctor
[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_15082013.m4a” title=”Andrew Haldenby and Sean Worth join Sebastian Payne to discuss NHS reforms.”] Listen [/audioplayer] GPs enjoy the salary…
The idiot diet – nonsense vs common sense in ‘Paleo’ nutrition
Looking for real power? Get a jump-start on the future of global fuel at The Spectator’s energy conference on 1 December. Tickets are still…
Sex-specific abortion is gruesome – but not explicitly illegal in Britain
Imagine that you became pregnant. Imagine that you were entirely dependent upon your husband. Imagine that you became the victim…
Want babies? Get a job, lose the Lycra – and other fertility tips
Did you know that one in six couples in the UK have difficulty conceiving? That’s roughly 3.5 million not very…
Herbal medicine – not just for new-age hippies anymore
Lacking in pep? Looking for some extra zing as winter sets in? The Spectator recommends our energy conference on 1 December.…
Lies, damn lies and health statistics – smoking is more deadly than serving in Afghanistan
Basically nothing is as bad for you as smoking. Short of fairly obvious things like blunt-force trauma or falling out…
How do you solve a problem like the NHS? The Spectator asks the experts
So ingrained is the NHS as part of British life that it’s hard to imagine it disappearing. But it can’t…
Calorie-counting six sweets at a time
Anyone who is trying vaguely to control their weight and still eats tasty, nasty processed foods — me, for instance…
Smoking weed won’t make your kids smarter, but it won’t make them brain-dead, either
Lacking in pep? Looking for some extra zing as winter sets in? The Spectator recommends our energy conference on 1 December.…
How to cure bad breath (and continue eating smelly foods)
Have you ever tried that good old test for halitosis – licking your wrist, letting it dry, then having a…
Call them crazy – the foolhardy new incentives for dementia diagnoses
Remember this time last year, when Jeremy Hunt decried the ‘national shame’ of neglected old people suffering from undiagnosed dementia?…
Ed Miliband’s windfall tax on tobacco to fund the NHS is economically illiterate
The ‘windfall tax’, a concept introduced in the UK by the Blair government, is by definition a one-off seizure of…
Sod the diet and lose weight anyway – here’s how
Who enjoys all that calorie counting? If you hate diets but love the idea of losing a bit of weight,…
Winter is coming – the other terror stalking Iraqi Kurds
The heroic Kurdish resistance in Kobane rightly commands headlines. A larger disaster, however, looms in Iraqi Kurdistan where – absent…
Keep calm and address Ebola: a brief history of pandemics at The Spectator
Ebola clinics in many parts of West Africa are full, so more and more people are being told to stay…
Labour’s NHS strategy – tax tobacco, save the cancer patients
Labour wants the next election to be about the NHS, one of their strongest issues. Party strategists have been struck…
Meet the bloated, useless General Medical Council
There was a time, not long ago, when British GPs provided the best home doctor service in the world. Patients…
How to fix the NHS: a doctor’s prescription
I’m a doctor, and I don’t care about the NHS. In this country, that’s an almost heretical statement — but…
The limits of ‘superfood’ – debunking broccoli
Over in my day job, I recently wrote a piece about ‘superfoods’ and the myths that a particular kind of…