In the time BC (Before Covid), I used to dabble in the history of nursing. It was a privilege to be asked to endorse Florence Nightingale at Home by Paul Crawford and his colleagues. This is the capstone of a project to re-assess Miss Nightingale’s life and develop new materials that was intended to commemorate… Read More »
Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May spoke truth to power in the House of Commons last month. The Government, she said, was not leveling with the British people about three things:- • We were not going to eliminate or eradicate Covid-19. There would never be a time when there would never be a case of… Read More »
As the pandemic enters its endgame, at least in the Global North, there are many demands to continue home-working, by those who can. This can be coupled with many signals of virtue, such as reducing commutes, limiting opportunities for infections to circulate or promoting work-life balance. Nice for those who can do it – but… Read More »
As the UK Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van Tam, said in a recent press conference, the current statistics on Covid-19 infections may be almost as good as we will ever get…. The opening of the end game also means the start of attempts to control the story ahead of the inevitable lessons learned inquiry.… Read More »
These are extraordinary times, and not just because we are coming through the greatest national trauma since the Second World War.The vaccination programme is something close to a modern miracle. There is further good news in the startling success of the treatments we are pioneering for coronavirus patients. The UK is leading the world in… Read More »
This is a recording of a webinar for the Royal Society of Medicine on Thursday 4 March 2021. Professor Dingwall was interviewed by Sir Simon Wessely about the way in which sociologists understood pandemics and why their contribution should matter more than it did. There was a particular focus on understanding pandemics as societal challenges… Read More »
The real Covid news gets better every day. Case numbers are falling. Hospital admissions are falling. Deaths are falling. The vaccination programme is a success beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. New, effective treatments are emerging. Spring, fresh air and sunshine are almost upon us. Why, then, is there so much talk of keeping restrictions in place… Read More »
No-one can make all human lives completely safe. The zero-Covid agenda presents a fantasy of immortality that more reflective medics know is impossible. As vaccination rolls out and treatments improve, the risk of serious illness or death is falling rapidly. We can live with a new endemic infection, but this will only happen if we… Read More »
… troubling infection rates and daily death counts, although impossible to ignore, are not the only way to understand this pandemic and our attempts to defeat it. After all, there is real hope for the future thanks to the creation of new vaccines. But we still need clear heads if we want to phase out… Read More »
…A big problem of Covid-19 management in the UK has been its lack of clarity about precisely this: when do we stop lockdowns, face coverings and social distancing, and dial our lives back to 2019?… The challenge that faces us as a society now is to decide between two views of the future. Are we… Read More »