Richard Smith was the editor of The BMJ until 2004.
The Closer We Get shows the last months of a woman’s life after she has had a stroke and tells the complex story of a family as they gather around the mother. It’s an intense film that held my attention for every one of its 87 minutes, much more so than The Lobster and Suffragette, […]
Junior doctors are clearly extremely angry. Some 15 000 junior doctors recently protested against changes in their contract. As there are about 55 000 junior doctors in England, that’s the equivalent of about 16m of the general population protesting a change. That would be a revolution. But why are junior doctors so angry and what should they do about their […]
As I write this, the strongest hurricane ever detected in the Western Hemisphere is approaching the coast of Mexico, where my son lives. It may have nothing to do with climate change (or disruption, as I prefer to call it), but it probably does. Recently we heard that the permafrost is thawing faster than ever and […]
Journals have been the main way to publish scientific research for 400 years, and remarkably they still are despite 20 years of the World Wide Web. But it’s becoming increasingly clear both that the journal model is beginning to creak and that better models are appearing. I’m working with F1000, and we propose moving from […]
David Sweanor, a Canadian lawyer who has many times successfully sued the tobacco industry, believes that those who instinctively react against e-cigarettes on moral grounds are making a bad mistake. We all, he says, have the fast form of thinking that is often morally driven, but when it comes to ways of reducing harm from […]
Africa has 25% of the global health burden and 2% of the health workforce. In contrast, North America has 2% of the health burden but 25% of the health workforce. This is the inverse care law (those who need healthcare the most get the least) on a gargantuan scale. And now the US is trying […]
To a neuroscientist, said Hugo Spiers, a psychologist from UCL chairing a meeting at LSE last week, memory is just a physical and chemical arrangement of synapses. That’s a supremely reductionist view, the view of a NeuroNazi, said Sebastian Groes, a professor of literature from Roehampton University. Although chaired by the neuroscientist, it was the […]
A man who steals a milk bottle may face a criminal charge. In contrast, a scientist who invents data, defrauds funders, and publishes fabricated data that may lead to patient harm is highly unlikely to face criminal charges. The news that Volkswagen staff may be criminally prosecuted for manipulating emission tests raises again the question […]
At 63 I’m preparing for my capacities and faculties to fall away, and I think about what I hope to preserve. Taking being with those I love as a given, the most important things to me are in order: reading, writing, listening to music, walking, and looking at art. I also love theatre, food, wine, […]
A pandemic of NCD (non-communicable disease) is sweeping across the world, particularly in poor countries, causing much suffering and premature death and swamping health systems. NCD (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and common cancers) accounts for 63% of global deaths (37 million annually), with 80% occurring in low and middle income countries. Almost […]