Writing mostly about health, innovation and people. Britain correspondent at The Economist.
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It was a real pleasure to be one of the judges for the ABSW awards this year. Some brilliant entries; well done to everyone shortlisted!
I'm currently on my way to Tommy Robinson's latest rally. He's a convicted criminal, too extreme even for Nigel Farage & liked by only 14% of Brits. Yet last September he got 150,000 people onto the streets. He's helped shift the Overton window on immigration. How? I try to explain in this article 👇
Thrilled that my paper (w/@sarahobolt.bsky.social,@catherinedevries.bsky.social,@simonecremaschi.bsky.social) was accepted at the American Political Science Review!
We find that declining public services fuel support for the populist right — and show why the right benefits more than other parties 🧵
Businesses take advantage. Try taking an ADHD test online. I did and deliberately scored zero, but was still told that I may be experiencing "low-level signs of ADHD or another difficulty". If you want help at work or school you can wait 10yrs or pay ££££ for a diagnosis. It's a two-tier system 3/6
There are other unintended consequences. Britain has the highest rates of severe mental illness in Europe. When the public think that "mental illness" includes life experiences like stress and grief, that means less attention is paid to conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 4/6
None of this is to say that distress or that problems classified as "mild" are easy. They are not. It's great that people can talk about their feelings more. But if we really want to help people who are suffering, we also need to talk more about what's actually working (and what isn't) 5/6
Hopefully the review will come up with sensible ways to tackle these problems carefully, without overcorrecting. None of this is easy!
You can read my original article here:
The point isn't that distress isn't real. It's that medicalising milder problems often doesn't help people or society. Diagnosis becomes a way to ration basic support. Govts can pass structural problems off as medical ones: why tackle poverty when running awareness campaigns is basically free? 2/6
I first wrote about this in 2023 in a cover story for The Economist. I interviewed Simon Wessely, who became the co-chair of this review. The article cost me two friends and a therapist. Wes Streeting (who commissioned this report) agreed with me, but back then it was still taboo 1/6
The far-right influencer’s world is closer than you might think
