Opinion

3 min read3 hr It’s axiomatic that the Covid pandemic has brought pain and fear, heartache and loss. It’s meant unexpected challenges for all kinds of people in all kinds of spheres. Prominent among those who have dealt with the worst of Covid’s effects, alongside hospital and care workers, has...

4 min read6 hr In refusing to recognise historic genocides – such as that against the Armenians, or in the face of contemporary ones, such as the Yazidi Genocide – the Foreign Office has clung to the argument that only a court can determine what is and what is not...

4 min read1 hr Alcohol touches every part of our society. Its use is normalised in almost every aspect of our lives, whether you’re socialising or relaxing, celebrating or mourning, at home or on holiday. And alcohol dominates our public spaces, whether you’re out in your town or city centre,...

3 min read49 min From green hydrogen to clean steel, much of the talk at the Glasgow COP was around innovation in energy, and bringing exciting new technologies into the mainstream. This progress is commendable, but it does not complete the net-zero puzzle. Animal agriculture is the second biggest emitter...

4 min read3 hr In July, I was delighted to chair a Policy Connect roundtable on cell and gene therapies, to consider how they can contribute to better patient care, the wider health service and the economy. A panel representing the NHS, academia, industry, and patients met to look at...

4 min read24 November Emergency departments are again feeling the pressure. The public see the messages: call 111 first. Don’t come unless you need to. Consider alternatives. But for a small but significant number of people, A&E feels like their best or only option. Less than one per cent of...

4 min read47 min With the Glasgow agreement reached and the UK’s Net Zero Strategy published, we must now turn our attention to delivery. The market is already speeding towards new net-zero industries, encouraged by government policy but mostly spurred by the constant demand for better technology, like renewable energy...

4 min read56 min MPs must be getting very bored with me. “No, no”, I don’t hear you cry. Whatever question session it is, whether it’s defence, justice, education, treasury or an urgent question on Covid, I raise the issue of acquired brain injury. It’s a sort of obsession. It’s...

In 2019 the world faced the uncertainty of a new viral disease with COVID-19 outbreak. The complexity and spread of SARS CoV-2 meant that those working in the diagnostics industry had to overcome scientific and operational challenges at speeds never seen before. We achieved unprecedented levels of collaboration across health...

3 min read56 min Fishing might have been misleadingly used as the Brexit poster industry, but the UK is experiencing the opposite of a coastal renaissance. That needs to change. Ministers aren't taking notice as things go from bad to worse for fishing – and they have no plan to...