A blog to promote debate and discussion around current issues of interest to the network. David MacKintosh, one of the founders of the network, writes a weekly blog piece, all editions of which can be found here. We also invite contributions to the blog from others with ideas and opinions on issues relating to health behaviours and urban health and wellbeing. If you would like to contribute, please send your post to us for consideration at [email protected] - if accepted for publication, your blog will be posted here on the GPHN website, as well as being included in the weekly GPHN alerts sent to all those in the network.
David's Blog
David’s blog #42: The Night Time Economy- Saviour or Villain?
With City Health 2019 in Melbourne now only weeks away, a headline in the papers caught my eye. According to the annual Global Liveability Index- whose criteria include stability, healthcare, cult...
David’s blog #41: The End of Summer
This is not the blog I was planning to write. My intention was to look at developments in managing the Night Time Economy across a number of cities, an area where there is innovation and positive ...
David’s blog #40: Seeing Clearly on Alcohol
I write this on a day when London is experiencing, what is for us, exceptional temperatures. Overhead power lines and train tracks have warped. On some routes passengers have been advised to avoid...
David’s blog #39: Navigating from Pathologies to People
Last week I met with someone who, having just completed a Masters in Epidemiology, is keen to work in the health field. Over a hot chocolate I outlined my perception of the current big issues rela...
David’s blog #38: Outstanding Opportunities and Obstacles
Absolutely outstanding. That’s my carefully considered assessment of the Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw that I was fortunate enough to attend two weeks back. I say this despite the mosquito bi...
David’s blog #37: Conversation to Counter Desperation
The value of partnership approaches and joint working to tackle major health public policy issues is widely accepted, if more rarely practised. Even where there is engagement with other profession...
David’s blog #35: Hot Cross Buns, Tabloids and Measles
In England, the Easter public holidays see many of us get a four-day weekend. Schools are on holiday, roads are jammed, airports overflowing and much of the country indulges in chocolate, either ...
David's blog #34: Doughnuts, Top Trumps, and the Art of Knowing When Not to Do Stuff
Let me start with a big thank you to Liverpool, and especially the team from John Moores University, for another outstanding City Health conference. The impressive surroundings of Liverpool Medica...
David's blog #33: Keeping out of the ruts
The City Health Conference in Liverpool starts in less than two weeks. I am looking forward to revisiting a City I knew well in the late 1980’s but have only visited briefly since. The main attra...
David's blog #32: Welcome to the Year of the Pig
My celebrations didn’t extend further than eating an excess of rather fine food. However, the obligatory fortune cookie contained a particularly apt pearl of wisdom, “I am not a genius, but I am ...