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Opinion

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The three-body problem

The physics of Cixin Liu’s alien world make it a hazardous place to live, and the consultation can sometimes also feel like a minefield of hidden agendas, competing interests, and impossible choices.
5 January 2026
5 mins read
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The machine that goes ping

But who cares? Well, it is a distraction, an overload of trivial alarm signals from a built in buffoon while I am trying to drive a car on a dark winter evening in the rain.
3 January 2026
3 mins read
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A ‘wassail’ for the new year!

"'Wassail’ is an apt greeting to a medical journal community — it derives from the Old English was hál, meaning ‘be hale’ or ‘be in good health’. ... As we wassail 2026 ... [w]hether you are a reader or writer, let’s face
2 January 2026
4 mins read

Dwelling in uncertainty: the GP’s expertise

Expertise in general practice blends knowledge, skill, judgement, and relationships. It’s less about certainty than managing uncertainty with care. True expertise integrates evidence, intuition, reflection, and empathy; it develops through both formal training and the hidden curriculum. Ultimately, it’s a dynamic, lifelong
30 December 2025
3 mins read
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A Christmas wish from BJGP Life

Merry Christmas from BJGP Life. This year I'd like to focus on the idea that medicine, and general practice in particular, might be an engine of peace, and instrument of health and wellbeing. 'Thoughts and Prayers' embodied in meaningful professional activity. 
25 December 2025
2 mins read

Why face-to-face still saves lives

Remote consulting is excellent for repeat prescriptions, routine results, straightforward infections in the young and well, and selected mental health follow-ups. But general practice is not primarily populated by the young and well..
15 December 2025
2 mins read
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Doctor, heal thyself

In general practice, we often prescribe the advice we fail to follow: to rest, to take time away from work, to protect boundaries. Small acts of humanity can blunt the edges of an unforgiving system. But lasting change will depend on the
11 December 2025
3 mins read

Fragmented care: a hidden cost of diabetes management

If general practice is to remain the cornerstone of chronic disease management, we need to be part of efforts to reconnect care - not by taking on more work, but by having a clearer voice in how systems are designed around patients.
10 December 2025
3 mins read
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Schrödinger’s consultation

Let us imagine for a moment a consultation involving such a box, whose contents are not merely unknown, but as yet undetermined. It would perhaps be easier ... if we could look inside, although neither wants to be responsible for sealing poor
25 November 2025
4 mins read
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I have a stammer

I still have days where I come out of my clinic into the waiting and turn back around because the patient’s name is stuck in my throat and I need a minute to compose myself. But that’s my journey. I don’t choose
21 November 2025
5 mins read

Balance, Boundaries, and Burnout

Burnout. A small word with huge emotive connotations and, at times, stifling stigma. Like any health condition, it seems to me that burnout does not discriminate.
17 November 2025
4 mins read
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Making Mosaics

I have learned something crucial about the experience of being listened to and been able to talk about and reflect on the patients I find hardest to care for.
14 November 2025
7 mins read
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Are we no better than a pigeon?

These rookies in the California experiment were not learning listening skills but rather just a very specific interpretation of pathology slides. To some doubters particularly those in the medical field it may seem no surprise that they were doing so well...
12 November 2025
8 mins read
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The value of time

How often have you exclaimed that you ‘wish there were more hours in the day’, lamented where the ‘day has gone’, or complained about how some activity has ‘robbed you of time’ you will ‘never get back’. ...time... has value and worth.
29 October 2025
4 mins read
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Investigating uncertainty

This has always been part of a doctor’s repertoire, although the frequency with which patients are investigated in general practice is rising, and the need to deal with large numbers of results at the end of a long working day is recognised
27 October 2025
5 mins read
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