In an online publication called Strong Women from 2022, I came across the following headline: I had a full-body health MOT and finally got answers about some odd symptoms I’ve been experiencing. (MOT is an abbreviation for Ministry of Transport and refers to tests on motor vehicles introduced in Britain in 1960 to check the condition of the [...]
The 2024 WHO Clinical Treatment Guideline for Tobacco Cessation in Adults has just been published. This scholarly endeavour starts with the usual mantra: ‘Tobacco kills more than 8 million people per year.’ The problem, then, is what should be done about this dreadful situation? It’s put in a nutshell by WHO: Although globally there are still 1.25 billion [...]
Do you know why vaping is such a big problem with school children? Because they're buying vapes, especially the brightly coloured disposable kind with child-friendly names and flavours, and getting hooked on them. And why are they engaging in this idiotic behaviour? Because vapes are easily available for purchase, online and at vape shops, and any enterprising youngster [...]
When I first glanced at an editorial headline in the venerable The British Medical Journal (BMJ) of 4 May 2024, I thought common sense was at last beginning to appear in dealing with the smoking problem. It said, ‘Stop tobacco…’ Perhaps they were following in the footsteps of those environmental campaigners who make such a nuisance of [...]
To learn what a fox has to do with this post, please read to the end. If someone asserts they are 'transgender', a question that might follow is, 'Are you thinking of transitioning?' What does it mean to be transgender, and if you think you are, how do you know? Well, you just know, or think you do, [...]
GenderGP is an organisation that encourages and provides abnormal hormonal treatment (‘affirmative care’) to so-called trans people. It’s hard to take it seriously, however, when we find this kind of writing on their website: …patients whose gender identity differs from the one they were assigned at birth. Neither gender identity, whatever that is, nor anything else, is ‘assigned’ [...]
I discussed Dr Hilary Cass’ Preliminary Report in an earlier blog. The Final Report of her Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people was released in April 2024. It runs to almost 300 pages including a glossary, references, and twelve appendices. Dr Cass comes over as a very kind and friendly person – good [...]
Encapsulation of what goes wrong A regular columnist in a certain medical journal who had run out of ideas, again seems to have been afflicted by the dreaded writer’s block. So, once more he’s turned to his favourite subject: himself. The first thing that strikes one about his latest column is the repeated use of the words ‘I’, [...]
The British Medical Journal needs a new copywriter as well as a new editorial policy. In the edition of 20 November 2023 there’s a headline, ‘CBT can help with range of menopausal symptoms says NICE’. (CBT means cognitive behavioural therapy and NICE is the awkward acronym of the smugly named National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.) Unnecessary [...]
You have probably never heard of Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), but if you have ever been prescribed a drug for depression, or are thinking of consulting a psychiatrist because of this symptom, you need to be aware of it. It is a tragic situation and all the more so since it is completely unnecessary. This is because so-called [...]