There was a time when international declarations changed the world. Maybe some still do but increasingly leaders communicate in 140 characters, not 20-page communiqués. Even international agreements and treaties may not be worth the paper they're written on, much less the thousands of days of staff time that go into them, according to an elegant … [Read more...] about International declarations and treaties don’t change things — Tweets do
A few brave psychiatrists speak out for #benzodiazepines
One of my first experiences of a media witch hunt came in the late 1980s: the British media had decided that Ativan (lorazepam) caused addiction. The "withdrawal symptoms" were remarkably similar to the anxiety and panic attacks which benzodiazepines are designed to treat but Roger Cook, a swahbuckling tabloid TV journalist, did not allow this to … [Read more...] about A few brave psychiatrists speak out for #benzodiazepines
Poll: Chinese want action on climate more than Europeans or Americans
The Chinese public want action on climate change more than people in 14 other countries, according to YouGov. The respected polling company found that 60 percent of Chinese want their government to take a leadership rôle in the Paris climate negotiations, versus only 44 percent of Americans and 41 percent of British people. One interpretation of … [Read more...] about Poll: Chinese want action on climate more than Europeans or Americans
Award-winning spot on gender violence
Mark Chataway is very proud to be on the board of Engender Health. They've just screened this brilliant, award-winning ad from Tanzania for us. It's about domestic violence but watch until the end! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LCFw5sGSPw … [Read more...] about Award-winning spot on gender violence
Does bad qualitative research guide US policy?
Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control posted an interesting article (in advance of publication in Emerging Infectious Diseases) on attitudes to antibiotic resistance amongst primary care providers. It is full of good ideas and it might even reflect what US providers think. As a basis for public policy, though, it is dangerously inadequate. … [Read more...] about Does bad qualitative research guide US policy?
UK parliamentary report on R&D for neglected diseases focuses on …. medieval Venice
This summer, an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Tuberculosis of the UK Parliament produced a report on research and development for diseases that affect poor people. This was admirable, except that the report has little to do with global health R&D and instead concentrates on radical changes to the system of patents and intellectual … [Read more...] about UK parliamentary report on R&D for neglected diseases focuses on …. medieval Venice
What drives Hamas? Fanaticism? Probably it’s understanding opinion polls #Gaza #Palestine
To watch CNN, Al Jazeera or the BBC, you would think that Hamas is driven by some deep-seated religious ideology or by a fanatical loathing of Zionism and Israel. Gazans, says this narrative, are more and more drawn to this extreme vision of the world by defiance in the face of Israeli attacks. It is easy to see why the world looks that … [Read more...] about What drives Hamas? Fanaticism? Probably it’s understanding opinion polls #Gaza #Palestine
Who would you trust more, the Kansas City Star or the British Medical Journal? #BMJ
The Kansas City Star ran an opinion piece by a former senior Wall Street Journal reporter, Stephen Moore. (Moore is now the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation). The Star discovered a few weeks later that Moore had made substantial factual errors. The paper immediately printed a correction in print, put a warning at the top of … [Read more...] about Who would you trust more, the Kansas City Star or the British Medical Journal? #BMJ
Do negative ads really work? Yes. Just not how you thought
There is an old maxim: never talk about the other guy, just focus on yourself. As a recipe for relationships, it is dubious; as a strategy for communications, it looks ever more sound following a recent analysis by Niam Yaraghi at the Brookings Institution of negative ads. At the end of last year, Obamacare was launched and Americans had until … [Read more...] about Do negative ads really work? Yes. Just not how you thought
Burson Marsteller and David Axelrod linked to high visibility failures
Do you want to fail miserably in an election? Hire an expensive foreign political consultant. Between them Burson Marsteller and Dentsu apparently collected about $13 million from India’s Congress Party to improve the image of its leader, Rahul Gandhi in the run-up to the recent national elections, according to Indian press reports. After four … [Read more...] about Burson Marsteller and David Axelrod linked to high visibility failures
The Three Commitments
Why Consultants end up not telling the truth
The worst kind of market research interviewing technique ever
Why bright people can’t explain themselves
