Health and wellbeing

Mike Saks, editor of 'Support Workers and the Health Professions in International Perspective', draws attention to the central role of health support workers in the struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that more government attention needs to be given to their conditions of work and safety, as well as to their regulation, in the public interest.…Read more

Keith Dowding, author of 'It’s the Government, Stupid', discusses the UK government's ‘war against obesity’ and how the cause of the obesity crisis is lack of government action on the root causes, not individual people's decisions.…Read more

Paulo Pinheiro and Ullrich Bauer discuss how children and young people have been of secondary importance during the COVID-19 response and why this needs to change when it comes to tackling the consequences and effects of the pandemic.…Read more

Iestyn Williams, Helen Dickinson and Suzanne Robinson, authors of 'Rationing in health care', discuss the shortages in critical COVID-19 response resources, such as PPE, and whether ethics can help us when rationing the health care we do have available.…Read more

Amanda Grenier, Chris Phillipson and Rick Settersten, editors of 'Precarity and Ageing', examine some of the challenges facing older people, with particular focus on the precariousness that can come with old age.…Read more

Drawing from an article in the Evidence & Policy journal, published by Policy Press, The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Public Health Emergency team offer lessons from recent history for decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic.…Read more

Trust was heavily eroded during the long period of austerity that followed the global financial crisis and we cannot afford to make the same mistake again. Sam Wren-Lewis, author 'The Happiness Problem', explains why trust is so important in times of uncertainty.…Read more

Alison Shaw, Chief Executive of Bristol University Press and Policy Press, considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how we can move beyond the catastrophe to improve lives and change societies for the better. …Read more

How we as societies respond to the challenges and opportunities arising from the global crisis of coronavirus could lead to fundamental changes in the social contracts across these societies. Jonathan Wistow shows how this is an opportunity to reassess the kind of deal we have with the state and other interests and influences. …Read more

Based on Decriminalising Abortion in the UK, edited by Sally Sheldon and Kaye Wellings, this briefing covers key messages and policy recommendations around abortion, the likely impact of decriminalisation and how to ensure effective regulation afterwards.…Read more