The long awaited Brexit White Paper has finally appeared. Yet Martin McKee finds it fails to shed any light on how Brexit’s consequences for health (or much else) will be addressed. […]
Theresa May is an unlikely revolutionary. Yet, on the day she entered 10 Downing Street, this was how she defined herself. She spoke of the need to tackle shorter life expectancy of those born poor, the harsher treatment of black people in the criminal justice system, and low educational attainment among white working class boys. […]
The ruling by three of the most senior judges in England and Wales that Theresa May must seek the approval of Parliament before triggering Article 50, signifying the United Kingdom’s (UK) intention to leave the European Union (EU), should not have come as any great surprise. Throughout the case, the Lord Chief Justice repeatedly expressed […]
It is now over two months since the British electorate voted narrowly to leave the European Union. The UK has a new prime minister and cabinet, including two new government departments created to implement this decision. So what have we learnt about our future relations with the EU? And what does this mean for health […]
One of the few things that almost everyone, whichever side of the Brexit argument they are on, can agree on is that the NHS would face severe problems if the large number of EU citizens working in it were to leave. However, a combination of uncertainty about their future status and a rising tide of […]
No one can be in any doubt, after the referendum campaign, that large parts of the British print media have abandoned any attempt at balance. A detailed study by academics at Loughborough University has described in detail how much of the tabloid press ran a relentlessly negative campaign against the EU, but more especially against […]
When I wrote my last BMJ blog it was within hours of the result of the EU referendum. I admitted freely that, despite having studied the EU extensively for three decades, I had no idea what the implications of Brexit would be for health. This was because I was unable to ascertain what it would […]
The British people have spoken. Just over half of those who voted in the referendum supported leaving the EU. Although their votes are not legally binding, politicians of all parties have agreed that they will follow their instructions. The big question is “what is next?” I was in Norway on the night of the 23 […]
Once, in a very different time long ago, no one would have seen anything wrong. An organisation purporting to represent Britain’s small shopkeepers set up stall at a party political conference, representing the views of its members to members of parliament, local councillors, and other party members. But this time, the decision by the United […]
Is the UK coalition government losing its touch? It has just revealed how weak it is when faced with demands from its own supporters in big business and, specifically, in the alcohol and tobacco industries. Firstly, it announced a u-turn on the pledge to introduce minimum unit pricing of alcohol made personally by the prime […]