There has been a lot of interest in the problems of anxiety in the media recently. About a month ago, Scott Stossel - editor of the high profile Atlantic Magazine - appeared on the Kim Hill Saturday morning radio show here in New Zealand having written a very moving account of his lifelong battle with crippling anxiety. Scott is a very successful editor and well known personality, so it came as a shock to many people that he had suffered so long (and seemingly managed) with this condition. (You can hear the full interview with Kim Hill here). More recently, Australian writer, singer and broadcaster Sian Prior spoke candidly about her own battle with anxiety. A few days ago, the … [Read more...] about Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom
Eulogy to the NHS
I was really moved by this piece by Harry Smith in The Guardian on Wednesday. It described perfectly the sadness I'm sure a lot of British people feel with the slow decline of the NHS and the cynical way governments - of the left and the right - have used the rhetoric of neoliberalism to dismantle this once proud institution. I can remember the stories my parents told me about the hardships they had suffered and the huge impact social welfare had in their lives. My grandfather was a coal miner in the English midlands and his family were so poor that my great grandmother would rattle plates around on Sundays so that the neighbours thought they were eating Sunday dinner. Like Harry Smith's … [Read more...] about Eulogy to the NHS
A pill to make you a better physio
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the way we may be able to transform ourselves as humans in the not-too-distant future. The trans-humanism movement is gaining momentum, with some people writing about a future where people will be able to take a pill to make themselves vastly more intelligent, or unlock the possibility of unlimited memory. Others are talking about never again growing old and using robotics and prosthetics to vastly enhance our physical capabilities. In the latter case proponents ask why should we restrict ourselves to adaptive devices only when we become ill? And then why should those adaptive devices only seek to mimic so called ’normal’ activity? What if, … [Read more...] about A pill to make you a better physio