What’s the mood among delegates on the eve of the UN summit on non-communicable diseases as they gather in hotel bars and the confusion of side events in New York City? Well, earlier in the day I went on a hike through Central Park with about 50 others in an event organised by the NCD […]
Category: Editors at large
Domhnall MacAuley: 17th Wonca Europe Conference, Warsaw
A celebrated Polish pianist, Waldemar Malicki, opened the Wonca Europe conference. A masterful performance by a maestro. His improvisations were funny, fascinating, and faithful to the theme of the conference; science and art. He drew different emotions from the same melody- from humorous to heartbreaking, uplifting to depressing, and showed how music tells a story […]
Tony Delamothe: The spoken word
I spent Friday afternoon at three sessions on The Spoken Word at King’s Place, London. The first featured the editor of the New Statesman and a stand in for the editor of the Spectator. (James Forsyth – a star columnist on the Spectator and Mail on Sunday). Both talked about the importance to their publications […]
Deborah Cohen: The final declaration for the UN summit on NCDs
After months of negotiations, lobbying from industry and NGOs and public health experts, international governments have finally agreed the political declaration that will form the spine of the UN’s summit on non-communicable diseases later this month. The BMJ has seen a copy of the final declaration and for those who have been involved there are […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Fitness, beauty, rowing, and reality
A festival of fitness, athleticism, and aesthetic beauty – the world rowing championships. After a week watching some of the world’s top athletes, you begin to think everyone is tall, muscular, toned, and tanned. Only for mirrors you might believe you were one too. Very few fatties to be seen and only amongst the coaches or […]
David Payne: India in Edinburgh
In the 1980s there was an eight year waiting list in India for a landline telephone. Long distance “trunk calls” had to be booked with an operator and required you to stay in all day and wait to be connnected. Now the subcontinent is the world’s largest cellphone market, with 851.7m mobile phone subscribers. The […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Analgesia and GP anxiety
Last night we were pulled in by the police. Nothing like a flashing blue light in the rear view mirror to make you feel guilty. They asked for my driving licence and I could hear them call my name in on the radio. No problem. There had been a robbery. They got away, apparently, in a […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Doctors behind the riots
Would you take a bus through the riot areas that made the news? Would you be comfortable walking along the streets that featured in the TV footage? Would you work there? Many of our colleagues do and I wonder how they are getting on with their immunisation targets, cervical smears, and QOF scores? Are all their […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The silence next door
The sun streams in my surgery window overlooking the garden next door. For years our neighbours were older and the garden neatly manicured. The only sounds of summer were the occasional tinkle of tea cups on a sunny afternoon or the delicate trimming of rose beds. The garden eventually became too much, fewer cups for […]
Stephen Ginn: First impressions on being the BMJ’s editorial registrar
Last Wednesday I joined the BMJ as the Roger Robinson editorial registrar. This is my first despatch from the frontline of medical publishing. The registrar role has been running for 22 years and is named after the late Professor Robinson who was an associate editor at the BMJ for ten years. It’s for one year […]