The Thin End

Regulators have now given the go-ahead for Womb transplants. The UK Womb Transplant Research group has been granted ethical permission to begin an expanded series of 10 womb transplant operations. As many as 50,000 women of childbearing age in the UK have no viable womb, a surprisingly high number, and affecting 1 in 5000 women, and 1 in 500 women of child bearing age who suffer from womb factor infertility. In the UK adoption and surrogacy are the only options and the vast majority of children born to UK parents suffering this condition are born abroad. Surrogacy is only possible and legal in a few special cases in the UK. So how many women would be likely to benefit from womb transplantation in the UK? Womb Transplant UK , the charity behind the research in the UK, say they currently have 104 potential patients who meet their criteria for a transplant. Research in the UK on the potential for womb transplants has been undertaken for the past two decades. Each womb transpla...

So here we are. Junior doctors across England are to be balloted by the BMA (the doctors union if you like) over potential industrial action in response to the Government’s plans to impose a new contract on junior doctors from August 2016.  So how did we get here? Let us be clear. This isn't simply about pay.  It is also about patient safety. Last month the BMA’s UK junior doctors committee rejected the Government’s attempts to force through a new contract over fears for patient and doctor safety, and opted not to re-enter contract negotiations. The decision was made after it became clear that junior doctors would not be able to negotiate over proposals the BMA believes are unsafe for patients, unfair to doctors and undermine the future of the NHS. The BMA say it has always wanted to reach agreement on a new contract that protects patient safety and doctors’ wellbeing, but rather than work with junior doctors to address their concerns the government has confirmed that it ...

As I mentioned in my last article, I did not support Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour Party, but Jeremy Corbyn has already shaken the political establishment. He may not look like a Prime Minister in waiting, but he may change the face of British politics for the better - substance and passion may win out over spin. He has an uphill task made more difficult by a hostile press and a puzzled media.  Here is a bloke who answers questions with some degree of sincerity.  When he doesn't know, he disarmingly says so. He has none of the slickness of the political elite. He is rough and ready in sound and appearance. Somehow, the political establishment have found themselves with an outsider.  Already they are writing him off, but I detect a bit of hedge betting.  Even the gainsayers have a niggling question - is he for real? The answer, of course, is yes. Politics in Britain hasn't encountered a conviction politician at the helm of a major party since Marg...

Regular readers will know that I did not support Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership elections. I said he appealed to my heart but not my head. Since then he has won a handsome victory.  The media say his start has been chaotic.  It is difficult to see how it could have been different. Of course he could have sung the national anthem and not given ammunition to the right wing press.  My advice would have been to have sung it, but it raises an important issue. Do we really judge that those who would wish not to sing the anthem are being unpatriotic? I cannot see the logic of that. I am not strongly republican, but nor am I a monarchist. I live with the constitutional monarchy but with little enthusiasm for it.  Of course it works - or at least it seems to work.  It works so long as we don't question it too much.  When we do that we open a can of worms. So best keep a lid on it. The truth is that it is part of a system that maintains the privilege of a...

As children across the UK settle back into school, a new online survey from the BMA reveals that the majority of parents (77 per cent) back calls to ensure food served at academies and free schools meets the same healthy standard as other state schools. Despite strict food regulations for local authority schools in England, more than 3,500 academies and 200 free schools do not have to meet the same standards, raising concerns that children in these schools are more likely to be served poorer quality food. In the survey of 2,000 parents of children aged four to 16 across the UK, eight out of 10 (79 per cent) also support calls for a free, daily piece of fruit or vegetable to be provided to UK school children up to the age of 114. This comes amid accusations of a government U-turn over plans to tackle obesity, and as the government cuts another £200 million from the public health budget which will undermine efforts to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing. The survey fol...

Jaufre Rudel was the Prince of Blaye and a troubadour of the early12th century. It is thought he died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147. He is noted for developing the theme of "love from afar" (amor de terra lonhdana). Much of the Trobador love poems related the pain of inaccessible love. This features in this song Riu de la fontana (waters of the fountain) here performed by the Oxford Trobadors with a contemporary arrangement and music by Ray Noble who sings it (yes that's me).

Isn't it time public health initiatives were positive about food?  We hear so much about what is bad for us and not enough about what is good.  Perhaps we have been concerned about the wrong aspect of food intact.  We have been focused too much on counting calories.  Of course we have had the 'five a day' promotion for fruit and vegetables, but this has led to confusion in labelling of food packaging - 'one of your five a day' - labelling which is at best misleading, at worst purposefully deceptive. 'Five a day' should refer to fresh fruit and vegetables, and not to processed food containing too much sugar or salt. Now leading food experts have argued for a shift in focus from calorie counting to nutritional value of foods for heart health.  Drawing on published evidence, Drs Aseem Malhotra and James DiNicolantonio and Professor Simon Capewell argue that rather like stopping smoking, simple dietary changes can rapidly improve health outcomes at the ...