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Martin McKee: Article 50 has been triggered. Now what?
The sound of ideology slamming into a wall of reality is already echoing throughout Whitehall, says Martin McKee, as he unpicks some of the consequences of Brexit. On Wednesday 29 March 2017, Sir Tim...
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Martin McKee: The infamous Brexit dinner party—health was a major issue, but...
Discussions on Brexit have not got off to a good start, with health at the centre of the disagreement, even if the UK does not seem to realise it The scale of the task facing the UK as it prepares to...
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Martin McKee: Creating chaos and confusion from strength and stability—the...
The chaos that has resulted from the result of the general election has important implications for health, says Martin McKee One word summarises much of the past few days. Regret. Theresa May must...
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Martin McKee: The Brexit negotiations have started, but are they going anywhere?
Regardless of what happens with Brexit negotiations, there are now three fundamental threats to the NHS and health policy in the UK, says Martin McKee Almost a year after the referendum, negotiations...
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Martin McKee: Building bridges in Budapest
Dr Tedros set out his priorities on SDGs The 67th WHO European Regional Committee meets on the Danube Bridges bring people together. In 1849 the construction of the Chain Bridge, a triumph of artistry...
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Martin McKee: The devil is in the detail—why retaining the European Health...
The European Health Insurance Card symbolises the many benefits that the European Union brings to its citizens. It allows tourists to obtain healthcare when they are visiting another member state just...
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Martin McKee: The Brexit agreement—a work in progress, but much is still...
Although it was touch and go up to the very end, the negotiators from the European Union and the United Kingdom government have agreed that “sufficient progress” has been made in their talks on Brexit....
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Martin McKee: What would a “no deal” Brexit mean—and what does it tell us...
It is difficult to envisage a worse outcome for the United Kingdom than “no deal” Brexit—it would have serious implications for health There can be no doubt that the prime minister’s January 2018...
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Martin McKee: Too big to fail? The Carillion affair exposes wider failings of...
Carillion, an outsourcing company that had become a major provider of support services in the NHS and other sectors of the economy has joined a select group of once great corporate players, including...
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Martin McKee: They promised us £350 million a week for the NHS—the reality...
There is one thing about which almost all British politicians now agree—the NHS needs more money. And we know where it will come from. We have read it on the side of the Brexit bus. Once the United...
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Martin McKee: Decoding the Brexit white paper—what might it mean for health?
The government’s stated intention was to provide a degree of certainty, but in that it has failed Just over two years after the referendum on European Union (EU) membership, the British government has...
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Martin McKee: Theresa May is right. “No deal is better than a bad deal” …....
The impact of a “no deal” on the NHS and medical research will be immediate Events have moved rapidly since the British government published its white paper on EU Withdrawal. In my last opinion piece I...
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Martin McKee: Salzburg—what next for Brexit?
For close observers of the Brexit process, the only thing that was surprising about the EU’s rejection of the so-called Chequers deal at the European Council meeting at Salzburg was that so many...
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Martin McKee: The Brexit withdrawal agreement has important implications for...
It is still possible that some version of Theresa May’s proposed deal may come to pass. And if it does, what are the implications for health? Observing the UK’s approach to Brexit has been like sitting...
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Martin McKee: Taking stock of Brexit—what comes next?
The consequences of a “no deal” Brexit are so catastrophic that it is almost inconceivable that a serious politician would allow it to happen As 2018 draws to a close and politicians in London and...
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Deal or no deal? The Brexit process has descended into farce but will it...
The risk of a “no deal” Brexit is now extremely high and, if May’s plan goes wrong, it will be the NHS and its patients that bear the brunt of her gamble European press coverage of the Brexit debate in...
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Lucinda Hiam and Martin McKee: The deepening health crisis in the UK requires...
These are not just numbers, these are lives Life expectancy in the UK has fallen, again. The trend that started in 2010-2011 has worsened. The total fall in life expectancy compared to 2015 projections...
View ArticleMartin McKee: After “90 minutes of nothing” the EU has taken back control of...
So what happens next? And what are the implications for the NHS? Martin McKee unpicks the latest developments on Brexit The cliff edge has been averted, for now. The UK will not crash out of the...
View ArticleMartin McKee: Waiting for Brexit
As we wait to find out what will happen next, the damage is being done With the approach of the third anniversary of the UK’s referendum on EU membership, a brief reflection is in order. “Brexit day”,...
View ArticleMartin McKee: Has the UK gone GUBU?
Martin McKee asks if the Irish word GUBU offers an adequate description of UK politics in 2019? Those who are Irish, and of a certain age, will likely be familiar with the word GUBU, an acronym for...
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Martin McKee: Turbocharging British science? Boris Johnson’s proposals...
Boris Johnson’s claim that the UK will become a “supercharged magnet” for scientists post-Brexit is poles apart from the realities of losing free movement, says Martin McKee Some of the strongest...
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Martin McKee: If leaked Operation Yellowhammer document is wrong, then the...
Grave concerns prompted by leaked analysis of no deal Brexit preparations cannot be dispelled or tackled by hollow assurances, says Martin McKee The leak of a secret document on the effect of a “no...
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Martin McKee: Healthcare has brought people together across the Irish...
A no deal Brexit would tear up healthcare arrangements for Irish border communities and threaten the hard-won peace, says Martin McKee The Irish border has rarely been out of the British news in recent...
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Martin McKee: Booze and fags replace bread and circuses—selling Brexit to the...
For a government that claims to be doing everything possible to reach a deal with the European Union as it leaves it, the latest message from Her Majesty’s Treasury (Finance Ministry) left many...
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Martin McKee: Some British politicians never understood the EU, but do they...
Boris Johnson has long taken the view that rules have been created for others to obey and facts are flexible. When he was Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph he was notorious for making up...
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Boris Johnson faces huge pressure to leave the EU with No Deal, but the...
The lack of preparedness for a No Deal Brexit must surely be a matter of concern to health professionals who will be on the front line if things go wrong The world is looking with amazement at the...
View ArticleThe Withdrawal Agreement Bill and “Do No Harm” to health
Brexit, in any form, poses a threat to health in the United Kingdom. A series of peer reviewed studies evaluate a range of post-Brexit scenarios, from minimal divergence from the single market and...
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Martin McKee: Is the NHS “on the table” after Brexit? Looking beyond the...
The election campaign has only just started and already the consequences of Brexit for the NHS are dominating the news. Jeremy Corbyn’s speech at the launch of Labour’s campaign was greeted by chants...
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Martin McKee: The people have spoken—where next for Brexit?
What does the future really hold for Brexit and what does this mean for the NHS? So that’s it then. The election has given Boris Johnson a “stonking mandate” to “get Brexit done.” The United Kingdom...
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Martin McKee: Getting Brexit done? This isn’t even the end of the beginning
In climate change, AIDS, tobacco control, and many other areas, the phenomenon of denialism is well established. To this list we can now add Brexit Word has it that the UK’s prime minister Boris...
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Martin McKee: Words have consequences, especially during a pandemic
Politicians must avoid saying things that stir up hatred of others, says Martin McKee Outbreaks of disease can bring out the best in people. In the course of a few days over 750,000 people in the...
View ArticleMartin McKee: The questions we need to answer before easing lockdown
British ministers and their advisers were in an unenviable position when it became clear that covid-19 had reached the UK. This was a new virus, with characteristics that were still largely unknown,...
View ArticleMartin McKee: Trust is essential in a pandemic, but the British prime...
Once squandered, trust is extremely difficult to recover Of all the words that journalists used to describe Boris Johnson when he became British prime minister, “divisive” was among the most frequent....
View ArticleMartin McKee: The UK’s response to covid-19 does not inspire confidence in...
Just like every other year, midnight on the 31st December 2020 will be a time of mixed emotions. Some will look back fondly on happy times, such as weddings, graduations, and holidays. Some will...
View ArticleMartin McKee: Will Boris Johnson’s “Moonshot” become lost in space?
Improved testing and new technologies must be part of a well thought out strategy, says Martin McKee Boris Johnson does not do detail. Somehow he failed to read, or perhaps understand, the text of the...
View ArticleScientific divisions on covid-19: not what they might seem
It is not whether we should open up or lock down. Rather, it is how we can break the chain of transmission, argue Martin McKee and David Stuckler A new theme has emerged in the media discourse on...
View ArticleCould Slovakia’s mass testing programme work in England?
What is happening in Slovakia and what lessons might it hold for the UK? The UK’s response to the covid-19 pandemic has, on any measure, been unimpressive. In a recent assessment of G7 countries, it...
View ArticleMartin McKee: “NHS” Test and Trace under fire—a system flawed by design
Test and trace has been hampered by a failure to draw on international experience and a lack of engagement with public health professionals says Martin McKee Not for the first time in 2020, the UK...
View ArticleGovernment should call for extension of Brexit transition to protect public...
Public health workers, struggling with a new covid-19 variant, cannot be expected to deal with a chaotic end of the Brexit transition too As 2020 draws to a close, the United Kingdom faces a perfect...
View ArticleThe government promises to “level up” the UK—we struggle to see how they will...
The Westminster government has consistently shown little sign that it understands the structural weaknesses underlying the worsening health situation The message from British ministers is clear. 2020...
View ArticleMartin McKee: How can we hold political leaders accountable for failures in...
Covid-19 has had a huge impact across the world. There is no doubt that political decisions have played a major role, says Martin McKee It is a well worn cliché that viruses do not respect borders....
View ArticleThe UK’s PPE procurement scandal reminds us why we need ways to hold...
Martin McKee looks at what lessons we can learn from the government’s many failures in procuring PPE during the pandemic It is never easy to explain how politicians are held to account in the UK to...
View ArticleCovid-19 vaccine wars: developing the AstraZeneca vaccine was a triumph, but...
The UK’s tabloid press was having a field day. “NO, EU CAN’T HAVE OUR JABS” said the Daily Mail, a message echoed by the Daily Express with “WAIT YOUR TURN! SELFISH EU WANTS OUR VACCINES”. These...
View ArticleMartin McKee: What went wrong in the UK’s covid-19 response?
One day we may know, but Boris Johnson is in no hurry, writes Martin McKee In May 2020, Sarah Wollaston, Mike Gill, and I called for a rapid inquiry into the British government’s response to the...
View ArticleMartin McKee: What did we learn from Dominic Cummings’ evidence to MPs on the...
Cummings’ evidence portrays a system that is not fit for purpose and goes some way to explaining why the UK’s performance on covid-19 was so poor Now that Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister has...
View ArticleWhat Dominic Cummings said next—the case for an urgent inquiry into England’s...
What can we learn from Cummings’ recent interview, apart from what has long been obvious that the machinery of government is broken? One of the most common questions I get asked by my colleagues from...
View ArticleMartin McKee on “Spike: The virus versus the people”
How was it that the United Kingdom did so badly during the initial waves of the covid-19 pandemic? This is a question that has puzzled many people, but not, apparently, Boris Johnson, the British prime...
View ArticleMartin McKee: Has the United Kingdom government given up the fight to protect...
The struggle to improve the health of the public is never-ending. As the pandemic has shown, there are always new threats that can emerge. Looking ahead, it is apparent to all but the most determined...
View ArticleExercise Alice: the UK government tested the response to a coronavirus, but...
If we don’t seem to have learned much from Exercise Alice, what can we learn from the attempts to conceal it, asks Martin McKee The official inquiry into the UK’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic will...
View Article“Following the science,” but was it the right science? A Parliamentary report...
A new report from two House of Commons committees highlights the UK’s failed pandemic response. Martin McKee unpicks the findings On 17 March 2020, the government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick...
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