More than 200 years ago, the English artist, William Hogarth produced two prints depicting the evils of gin in contrast to the benefits of drinking beer. The inhabitants of Beer Street were portrayed as happy and healthy, nourished by English ale in contrast to the residents of Gin Lane. Gin Lane contained scenes of infanticide, […]
Category: David Kerr
David Kerr: Pooky night
When I was growing up in Scotland, celebrating Halloween was a major event in the calendar and something to look forward to at this grim time of year. Everyone got dressed up (to go “guising”) and participating households carved lanterns out of turnips (a Scottish turnip is an English swede) rather than the now ubiquitous […]
David Kerr: Man of the people
So David Cameron does not know the meaning of the phrase Magna Carta (The Great Charter) or who composed the music to Rule Britannia (Thomas Arne). The prime minister was appearing on the David Letterman show in the US following in the footsteps of his political adversary, Boris Johnson who also made a similar appearance […]
David Kerr: Welcoming the world
Over the next few weeks more than 14 000 athletes from 205 Olympic teams and 170 paralympic teams, and 4 million spectators are expected to attend the London 2012 Olympic Games. For the athletes the British Olympic committee has advised against too much hand-shaking in case they pick up some performance damaging infectious disease. The […]
David Kerr: The dangers of going to hospital
Hospitals can be dangerous places. Two things happen to everyone admitted to hospital for more than a few hours—they are put to bed and are fed. Over half a century ago Richard Asher highlighted the obsession hospitals have with beds and the dangers of being confined to bed (BMJ 1947; doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.4536.967). Asher’s description of […]
David Kerr: Medical underwear
Could the e-bra save the NHS? Recently researchers at the University of Arkansas announced that they had developed a remote monitoring system that could be integrated with an individual’s underwear. The “e-bra” consists of a series of nanostructured, textile sensors integrated into clothing using a wireless module that communicates wirelessly with a smartphone, which then […]
David Kerr: The French Connection—one solution to social care?
Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternative wrote the French actor and singer, Maurice Chevalier. In the UK this week, the government announced a forthcoming White paper on social care will be published in June detailing a new system for looking after the elderly in care homes and through improved home […]
David Kerr: Medicine and the new media
“We’re doomed” was the familiar catch phrase of Private Fraser—the dour, Scottish ex-undertaker turned home guardsman from the popular BBC television series Dad’s Army. According to his Wikipedia page, Fraser was also president of his local Caledonian Society but was the only member. I was reminded of Private Fraser during my daily ritual of perusing […]
David Kerr: Saving the world–pharma dips a toe into social media gaming for health
“I’m afraid I’m currently out of the office right now on the never-ending mission to restore world health—I am very interested in your message and will endeavour to reply to it as soon as I am back.” This rather immodest response to my request to sign up to a new soon-to-be launched on-line game (http://www.syrum-game.com) […]
David Kerr: TV dinners
Almost every home in the country has one and unlike the background population they have tended to become slimmer and slimmer over recent years. The television set has managed to hold onto its place as the epicentre of home entertainment, despite the assault from the personal computer and the ubiquitous iPod, iPhone, and iPads. One […]