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Opinion

Before and after

We speak of experience as though it simply builds knowledge. But perhaps it does something deeper and more profound. It changes the person who is doing the knowing.
15 October 2026
2 mins read

On social functions

"The thing about being swept along by cultural currents is that you don’t notice until they start to change direction. Those currents are just the way things are. As GPs we go about our daily work noticing the diagnostic challenges, the prescribing
12 October 2026
2 mins read

Is physical activity the forgotten casualty of the GLP-1 revolution?

As GLP-1 receptor agonists become embedded within obesity care, a striking paradox is emerging. We are investing unprecedented energy, resources, and attention into pharmaceutical treatment of obesity at the very moment that one of the most important determinants of long-term health —
9 October 2026
5 mins read

Empathy

Empathy makes me a great doctor. Until it doesn’t.
8 October 2026
1 min read
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Woke up and smell the coffee!

"While this issue’s Life and Times articles are not especially about race or gender, they are broadly ‘woke'. Mindfulness about the aroma of coffee or the immediacy of a dance extends into practical empathy as talking cures hyperventilation or we prepare patients
2 October 2026
4 mins read

Fast food and fast healthcare

Industrial medicine operates on the basis of similar assumptions to fast food and industrial farming, viewing process and outcome as all-important but neglecting context. Ben Hoban explores a metaphor with added bite.
30 September 2026
6 mins read

When resilience becomes moral injury

A system that demands that clinicians distance themselves emotionally from patients and then applauds that distance as strength is not cultivating resilience; it is manufacturing moral injury.
28 September 2026
4 mins read

Social justice and golden rules

We know that there are some fundamental rights and wrongs in the human world... but It is easier to make good laws than to behave well. David Misselbrook reflects.
25 September 2026
3 mins read

When care feels solitary

The patient and I sat opposite each other. She brought her pain and her questions; I had a responsibility to respond. When little changed over many consultations, I began to feel alone with my own helplessness.
24 September 2026
2 mins read
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Whilst I am here

Somewhere along this odyssey ... A rumour must have spread ... That doctors know a bit of everything ... From eyelashes to raising the dead
21 September 2026
1 min read
1

Staying on track

We wondered about how to balance the role of listener and witness with the inevitable duties of being agents of the medical system and the real risks of missing serious physical illness.
17 September 2026
3 mins read
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The computer will see you now

Yes, trainees will feel more comfortable learning in the AI realm, That is where many of us now live. Role play was always frightening and more so now.
16 September 2026
2 mins read

Building trellises and growing vines

We have built many trellises without first considering that how we go about this has a profound effect on the vine. By default, we have defined a good life as one that is simply as long and comfortable as possible...
7 September 2026
4 mins read

The acceptable stimulant

"One morning, while happily sipping my aromatic coffee, a colleague looked over and remarked, 'You do drink a lot of coffee'. I dismissed the comment immediately. 'Surely not,' I thought, 'I'm well within the recommended daily caffeine intake.' Or was I?"
3 September 2026
3 mins read
8

The meaning of joy

Joy is apparently not simply the passive absence of burnout, but a proactive presence of purpose, autonomy, safety, belonging, equity and camaraderie. Emilie Couchman explores the possibilities.
29 August 2026
5 mins read
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Reading the meter

On the other side of the desk was someone I could only describe as grey. I’m not talking about their clothes or hair, or even their skin colour, although in fact it was oddly difficult to put a finger on any of
24 August 2026
5 mins read

Desire Paths in Patient Care

Desire paths in primary care, are those informal, patient-driven routes through services that emerge outside of prescribed systems. They highlight the importance of communication skills in shaping access and experience.
19 August 2026
1 min read
1
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Nine to Five

And yet, somehow, work — the thing that most adults spend the majority of their waking hours doing — often gets treated as an afterthought. A background detail.
18 August 2026
8 mins read
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Dr Valdez is coming

‘Morning, friend. How do you like our new médico? He only got one kind of medicine, but he ain’t too proud to take it himself, a real man of the people.’ Henry nodded cheerfully at the young man, then looked more seriously
11 August 2026
8 mins read

When patients disappear between systems

When patients are deducted following boundary changes or service reorganisation, who confirms continuity has been successfully re-established elsewhere? Are current systems sufficiently equipped to identify patients who fail to reconnect with care following deduction from a practice list?
10 August 2026
3 mins read
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When good doctors fail exams

One lesson many trainees learn too late is that medicine cannot be our entire identity ... Because when our entire identity depends on our performance, every setback becomes a crisis.
6 August 2026
4 mins read
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Overheard at a possible future cafe

Ursula le Guin wrote a book called Changing planes in which the mind-altering properties of airports enable bored passengers to travel to other planes of existence, but independent coffee places work well for me.
5 August 2026
6 mins read
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