Our Vice-Chancellor

The British attitude to Europe often seems sad and unnecessarily destructive. The idea of withdrawing from the European Union is profoundly mistaken, promoted by a ragtag of interests and members of the national press who often seem to confuse Europe with immigrants and run stories with two variants: “They’re taking our money” and “it’s just a crazy bureaucracy.” The result is clear enough: Britain has become more and more marginalized within Europe, a stance that can only make it more and more marginal to the world at large.

I read recently a remarkable article in The New Yorker by Atul Gawande called 'Big Med'. It tried to outline where medicine might be going next. Given spiraling costs, increasing demand, and lax quality controls, Gawande makes it clear that medicine will - and probably has to - go through a series of changes that will move it from being a craft industry to something that much more closely resembles a conventional industry.