Sociology and COVID
Sociology has multiple branches and agendas, and there is no gainsaying the need for cautious well-planned sociological research around the coronavirus pandemic (hereafter COVID). And such research takes time, almost as long sometimes as the commission that will doubtless be...
More…
Avoiding the blame game: Reframing conversations on racialised health inequalities
Conversations about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 felt by racially minoritised communities in the UK have also highlighted the pervasive and longstanding health inequalities they experience. Reports on COVID-19 by Public Health England and Independent SAGE highlight increased risk of exposure...
More…
Gallery
What we have seen COVID Vaccine Centre Cinemas are places of collective joy, of a community of strangers coming together to enjoy the spectacle. It’s so sad when they shut. Quaintly old school message! Dogs hate lockdown as well Even...
More…
Gallery
What we have seen Poster in public toilet – there’s nothing that says “Christmas” like anti-terrorist vigilance! Nice to worry about something else for a change, I suppose. Government messages about COVID getting more and more confusing N22 Lockdown: Faith,...
More…
Living under the medical gaze in a time of pandemics
It’s a Sin shows us what it’s like to feel the medical gaze in times of pandemics It’s a Sin is a new drama series (Channel 4 and HBO) written by Russell T Davies which chronicles the lives of a...
More…
Beyond the academy: democratising user involvement in health & social care
This is a post about user involvement in the context of UK university research. All UK universities are currently finalising and submitting their impact case studies for the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF is “the UK’s system for...
More…
Domestic violence, homelessness & safe housing in the wake of COVID
Shelter, homelessness and public health As coronavirus took hold earlier this year, states across the world began to lockdown. We were told at various points, across multiple geographies, to protect ourselves and others by staying at home and practising physical...
More…
Foreign aid during COVID: Whose suffering matters to Rishi Sunak?
A billion-pound cut from the UK’s international development budget in his new spending review, reducing aid down from 0.7% to 0.5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because of the COVID pandemic is both short-sighted and ill-advised.
More…
It was the worst of times, it was the BeSST of times
The stirring of medical students’ sociological imagination in 2020 Teaching sociology to medical students is challenging in the best of times. Marked by the global pandemic, last year was certainly the worst of times. Yet, as members of Behavioural and...
More…
The Worst of 2020 – The Year of COVID-19
The year 2020 has been pretty wild. After the Tory landslide victory in the 2019 general election, we knew that 2020 would be bad, but little did we know how bad. In January the first reports began to circulate of...
More…
Tiers of a clown…
This week I’ve been trying to make sense of the supposed Tory party backbench revolt on the new three-tier system introduced in England after lockdown two. Reports tell us that 55 Tory MPs voted against the government and a further...
More…
The Lockdown Anniversary Edition…