Blog

As a doctor, I generally think it is wise to steer clear of party politics. So my reason for mentioning the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, today has absolutely nothing to do with politics. Sadly, his father, Roy, died recently after living with Alzheimer’s disease. Andy Burnham has spoken openly about the effect dementia has had […]

Happy Father’s Day! If you watch this week’s video, you’ll notice I’m somewhat hoarser and deeper-voiced, thanks to a highly irritating viral infection that has been doing the rounds at work. I’m on the mend, but combined with a whole week on-call has left me very weary! I’ve not been able to exercise too which […]

I hope you’ve been enjoying the good weather this weekend? I’m not much of a gardener, but those weeds won’t remove themselves, and I’ve planted a lot of vegetables which needed attention. How much we get to eat of it remains to be seen, as the snails are queuing up outside! Vegetables may be a […]

Welcome to week 2 of my series on prevention, where I’m going to take what I consider to be the major health conditions and give you my take on the medical evidence for prevention. It’s been an exhausting weekend so far and a nice quiet day of gardening and blog writing awaits! My daughter qualified […]

As with last week, I’m writing this in advance and scheduling it to go out on Sunday, as I will be in London with my son for the Arsenal Premier League victory parade. I dearly hope it will be a double celebration with the Champions League too, but one trophy is enough for me. I […]

I’m writing this on Sunday morning, but will schedule it to go out as usual this evening, round about the first time in over 20 years that Arsenal will be crowned premier league champions. Now you may or may not follow football, and you may or may not like Arsenal, but please indulge me with […]

I had a great time in Barcelona last week at the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure conference. There were over 6000 delegates, so a huge meeting and very well attended. My talk was well received, and it was great to catch up with colleagues from other heart centres that I don’t see regularly.  In […]

It’s conference time again, and I’m lucky enough to be in Barcelona at the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure annual meeting. Much as I love cardiology, having a conference that starts at 08:00 on a Saturday isn’t necessarily my cup of tea. Why these conferences are always organised on a weekend is beyond me! […]

Quick answer: Much of mainstream diet and exercise advice was developed on studies of men and simply applied to women — but female physiology changes across puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and perimenopause in ways that affect sleep, mood, metabolism and cardiovascular risk. For many women in their 40s and 50s, the fix for ‘what […]