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Health Policy InsightWithdrawal from event follows string of appearances as Catherine seeks right balance after cancer treatment
The Princess of Wales has pulled out of attending Royal Ascot as she continues to seek the right balance of public engagements after her treatment for cancer.
Catherine was said to be disappointed not to attend the race meeting on Wednesday with her husband and King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Continue reading...Tuesday’s vote in parliament was a missed opportunity – and proof that progressives are allowing the right to shape the key debates
Around the world, the antis are joining forces. Whether anti-abortion, anti-transgender, anti-immigrant, anti-human rights or just anti anyone who doesn’t look like them, they are collaborating; amplifying one another and sharing their political and cultural successes. Their rhetoric now dominates our discussions, and increasingly our ballot boxes. In response, some argue caution or even capitulation – as if we can stop the public being dragged to the extremes if we speak in hushed tones or water down our ambitions for social justice. As we witness the consequences of this, it is time to speak up for those values that drive us to show that another future is possible.
On Tuesday, parliament had the opportunity to set abortion in England and Wales on the same modern, regulated footing as it is in Northern Ireland: as a human right. Instead, a vote on this was explicitly blocked by the providers of this service and their supporters, telling MPs to back another amendment, to get a single exemption from prosecution for women “over the line” instead. That is what happened. In contrast, my proposed amendment would have gone further, offering “protection to all those involved in ensuring that women can access safe and legal abortions”.
Continue reading...As I punched and shouted, I knew I didn’t have to be demure, delicate or diplomatic. I could be as fierce as I wanted. Those three minutes set me free
On meeting me, you would never guess that I used to be an angry person. I’m talkative, sociable and self-possessed – but for nearly 20 years I lived with a quiet fury. It started with my parents, whose strict conservatism restricted everything in my life: what I ate, what I wore, where I went, what I thought. As immigrants from Bangladesh, they believed that control was the best way to protect their daughters, but it suffocated me.
I had to fight to go to university – for all the things that men in my community were given as a right. At first, my anger felt ambient – mild and ever-present – but it became something harder, more bitter, when I was pressured into an arranged marriage at the age of 24.
Continue reading...MPs urged to slash bureaucracy preventing dentists from abroad plugging huge gaps in dental care
Overseas-trained dentists are working in McDonald’s and other takeaways in the UK even though millions of patients are finding it impossible to get NHS dental care.
The disclosure comes in a new report being sent to MPs on Wednesday, which urges ministers to slash bureaucracy stopping dentists from abroad plugging the huge gaps in NHS dental care.
Continue reading...Experts say research from University of Toulouse raises ‘serious questions’ about health risks of cannabis
Cannabis use may double the risk of dying from heart disease and increase the risk of stroke by 20%, according to a global review of data.
The number of people using cannabis and cannabinoids has soared over the past decade. While previous studies have linked cannabis use to cardiovascular problems, the scale of the risk has until now not been clear.
Continue reading...While parliament was moving towards more liberal abortion laws more women were being arrested or investigated
Calls for decriminalisation of abortions have been growing louder in recent years – in line with a growing number of women being prosecuted for terminating their pregnancies.
Until 2022, it is believed that only three women had ever been convicted of having an illegal abortion in the 150 years since 1861, when the procedure was made illegal under the Offences Against the Person Act.
Continue reading...Amendment to crime and policing bill will change law to end prosecution of women who terminate pregnancies
British MPs have voted to decriminalise abortion, marking the biggest step forward in reproductive rights in almost 60 years.
In an amendment to the government’s crime and policing bill, parliament voted to change the criminal laws that govern abortion in England and Wales so that women procuring a termination outside the legal framework cannot be prosecuted.
Continue reading...Metabolic syndrome – popularized by two architects of Maha – is a real health issue, but messaging can take a turn toward scienceploitation
Metabolic syndrome is trending online. On TikTok, thousands of videos dissect the subject, also referred to as metabolic dysfunction or disorder. These often come with claims that healing mitochondria, often called the “powerhouses of cells”, is key to restoring metabolic health.
The concept was popularized by Calley and Casey Means’ bestselling book Good Energy. Some consider the Means siblings – Casey is Donald Trump’s surgeon general pick, and Calley is an entrepreneur and lobbyist – architects of Make America Healthy Again.
Continue reading...Anti-oestrogen medication is the penicillin of oncology, but not enough attention is paid to the living horror that many patients experience as a side-effect
“Doctor, stop!” she abruptly commands me. “I can’t process a thing.”
I halt mid-sentence, and in the pause that follows, watch the evolution of a hot flush (also called a hot flash) in real time.
Continue reading...Parliament set to vote on decriminalising abortion, with rival amendments submitted by two Labour MPs
Parliament is set to vote on whether to decriminalise abortion on Tuesday, in what would be the biggest shake-up to reproductive rights in England and Wales in almost 60 years.
Fierce battles have been fought behind the scenes, with Labour backbenchers Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy lobbying in an effort to have their rival amendments taken forward for a vote.
Continue reading...We go to all sorts of lengths, often unconsciously, to hide from what has hurt us. But only by attuning to pain can we hope to heal
We can try as hard as we like to build a better life for ourselves and our loved ones, but the truth is that sometimes things happen that are very difficult to recover from. Terrible, traumatising, crushingly painful things. If you are someone who has experienced abuse; lost a loved one too young; lost a baby or a child; wanted a child and not been able to have one for whatever reason; suffered irreparable injury to your body and your mind; or survived any tragedy that has left you drowning in despair, a better life may feel absolutely and irredeemably out of your grasp.
I understand this. I have seen it many times in my consulting room, and although I have been very fortunate in my life, I have also known that feeling of certainty that there are some traumas that you just cannot recover from. When you’re in the middle of it, or stuck in its aftermath, that is all there is.
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