'TV Doctor' (according to my critics) and scourge of pseudoscience. Old before my time. A patient with patients. Good without god. Definitely not homeopathy.
Isn’t this the most stunning picture?!
A lioness and her cub were crossing the savannah; the heat was excessive and the cub was in great difficulty. An elephant realized that the lion cub would die and carried him in his trunk to a pool of water, walking beside his mother. 😍
No, they will tell you that around 830 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications every day. They’ll also tell you that maternal-death rates have fallen in most developed nations. BUT IT HAS RISEN IN THE US. Thanks to fuckwits like you.
Our current situation of trying to suppress the virus is doomed to failure. The consequences of our actions far outweigh the risks. We must now accept that it is here to stay and learn to live with it, like we have had to do with almost all other infections.
For clarity: I’m not using social media at the moment as I’ve been really struggling with my mental health and Twitter isn’t always the best place to be in such circumstances! I’ll be back when better! X
It’s amazing: people still starve, they die through lack of clean water,
#malaria
still kills, people still can’t get access to
#hiv
medication, but in a mere 24h we manage to find nearly a billion euros to rebuild a cathedral. Do we have our priorities right?
Women and girls in hospital who need sanitary protection will be offered free tampons and other products from this summer, NHS England has said. I must confess that I had no idea that this didn’t already happen! About bloody time!
Publicly I have always remained staunchly apolitical. I’ve never talked about who I support. But the negativity is getting to me. So I’m going to say, in spite of Brexit, and the HUGE risk it entails I’m team
#Boris
Why? Not because of what he says, but because of what he does...
I hope if corona teaches us anything (and it should teach us much) it will teach us not to be complacent about vaccines. Now we have had a glimpse of a world without them.
#vaccinateyourkids
I know there’s lots going on in the world. Many issues demand attention. But PLEASE see this: Ireland has a referendum on abortion on Friday. Follow
@Together4yes
and if u can, vote. Vote yes. If you’re unsure, vote yes. Women MUST own their bodies. Make it so.🇮🇪
#Together4Yes
I’m trying to stay off social media at the moment but I can’t stay quiet about the potential changes to laws affecting trans people, making it more complicated to transition and access facilities such as toilets and changing rooms: a huge step backwards. Trans women are women!
Antidepressant prescriptions on the NHS have doubled in 10 years. That’s fine except... that’s usually all people get: the pills. The talk-therapy that should, in the most part, go along with them is rarely available.
WHO reports massive surge in measles cases in Europe: a 400%, increase since 2017, with more than 20,000 people affected and 35 deaths so far. The reason? I bet you can guess... 😡
#VaccinesWork
One of the many really awful things about having depression is how many friends you let down as you repeatedly sabotage and screw things up. But one of the great things is when those friends keep standing by you, keep urging you onwards and never blame you. I am forever grateful.
A gentle reminder to all those voting in the referendum in Ireland tomorrow: don’t screw up like we did with Brexit. Don’t be misled by lies and manipulative emotive adverts. Do the right thing. Give women control over their own bodies. VOTE YES!
#VoteYes
#Together4Yes
I know there’s lots going on in the world. Many issues demand attention. But PLEASE see this: Ireland has a referendum on abortion on Friday. Follow
@Together4yes
and if u can, vote. Vote yes. If you’re unsure, vote yes. Women MUST own their bodies. Make it so.🇮🇪
#Together4Yes
Fact: COVID-19 vaccines have not been cooked up in a few months. They have been years in the making, starting with a wealth of SARS and MERS vaccine research.
I can proudly and openly declare that my growing up guides contain no religious bullshit or bias whatsoever. As is entirely fitting for a doctor. Thank you for noticing. 🤗 (PS What ‘Catholic values’ were you looking for in a guide to puberty may I ask?)
For all the bullshit about
#Gardasil
and the
#HPV
vaccine that’s clogging up the Internet here is the truth: the jab has nearly wiped out cases of cervical pre-cancer in young women since the immunisation programme was introduced 10 years ago. How do you like them apples?! 🤗
The government plans to let 15-year-olds overrule parents' wishes and opt in to sex ed lessons they have previously been withdrawn from. This is truly wonderful news and a great idea! If you follow my twitter feed you’ll know some parents are their children’s biggest hinderance!
I'm getting pestered by various groups asking why I refuse to put my name to a letter/petition to get glyphosate banned. The answer is simple: overwhelming evidence shows it is not carcinogenic. Like so much public opinion feelings come before facts.
18 shootings in American schools so far this year and still the blinkered, stubborn, stupid and arrogant
@NRA
try to ‘defend’ their case. The rest of the world screams at them but they will not hear. Shame upon them. Guilt and shame.
2nd Brit dies after "Brazilian butt lift" surgery after doing it cheaply abroad. PLEASE, I beg you, STOP taking advice from unqualified YouTube eejits and deluded celebs and start listening to the professionals. 1 in 3000 die from this surgery. It’s not glamorous and I’m ANGRY!😡
Great news about the new COVID vaccine and it’s near 90% efficacy. May it herald an end to this frightening period of misinformation, myth and magic. We must once again let science and reason guide our decision making.
Yesterday I called antivaxers loons. Many of you complained. You were quite right to do so, it was remiss of me; I should have used something far stronger. I will do MUCH better next time. 🤗
#VaccinesWork
Missouri lawmakers have passed a bill which would outlaw nearly all abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. If it becomes law abortions past eight weeks would be banned in most cases, including rape or incest. And the world takes yet another step backwards.
So I’ve had a month off Twitter (to see if I actually could (!) and to focus on other things/personal things) but now I’m back! 🤗
So brace yourselves.... 😘
One thing that is becoming distressingly clear to me: in most areas of medicine we do not treat disabled patients very well. We assume to much, ask too little and all too often patronise. A patient of mine opened my eyes to this.
I started talking about my mental health issues publicly because talking about them helps me. Responses from strangers do count and can matter. There should be no shame in it. I also started talking because I want more people to do so. To talk to each other. It’s good to talk.
In 2013 I made this documentary:
Today the government has announced it will ban gay conversion therapies. 💪🤗🏳️🌈
This is not before time. Making that documentary was traumatic enough. Think of those who spend years in dangerous ineffective therapies.
I cannot personally understand why people are not more incensed that a 100 year old man had to shlep up and down his garden in order to get the
#NHS
more money. 😡
Going down spiral staircases is SO boring. I fully appreciate their ingenious space-saving qualities but by god they are dull! One cannot sweep, or glide, or make an entrance. One can only concentrate desperately on not going arse over tit!
On Peter Rabbit gate: anaphylaxis kills. Kids copy what they see. Foods people are most often allergic to are easily available.l (and easily thrown!) I don’t think this is just a massive sense of humour failure but not was there any malintent on the part of the film makers.
I’m watching
#AfterLifeNetflix
with
@rickygervais
and I haven’t cried and laughed and snotted and just simply related to something so much in ages. It’s brimming with raw humanity and things I WISH I’d said. (And probably will now 😈)
For years I’ve been saying that doctors need weekly ‘supervision’ or counselling sessions to help them cope with the stresses and strains of their training and job, even pre-corona outbreak. Now I’m afraid this is doubly so. Perhaps this could be a change we make going forward?
Medicinal cannabis was legalised in the UK last year but so far, no-one in the UK has been able to access it. Regulations and red tape make the process so complicated that to date no patients have benefited. Despite government willy-waving it’s still easier to call a dealer...
And so we all muddle on.... what do we think of the 12 week gap between vaccines? Far too long in my opinion and likely to lead to problems like only ‘partially’ vaccinating people. Better to stick to manufacturers guidelines!
Finally the use of medicinal cannabis is to be reviewed, after experts have been calling for years for this to happen. Evidence for possible use of various components of cannabis has been steadily growing: now perhaps real progress can be made!
A year after Australia legalised same sex marriage one of their leading wedding magazines ‘White’ is shutting down after the Christian couple who run it refused to feature same-sex couples and their advertisers abandoned them in droves. So that’s good! 🤗🏳️🌈
Quite possibly the most uninformed, bigoted, blinkered and idiotic comment I’ve read on twitter in a long time. And that really is saying something. But then, she does write for the Catholic press.... 🙄🤪
Two nuns who worked at a Catholic school in California have admitted embezzling about $500,000 (£396,000) and using it to gamble in Las Vegas. I’m just going to leave that with you.... 🤗😇
Royal Wedding is so glorious! I’m in floods! And the cellist playing is such a moment of overwhelming beauty. What a glorious day for this, our Albion! 😍 🇬🇧
I know I should watch
@rickygervais
#humanity
but I just sort of don’t dare -I know it will be SO on point that I’ll be wincing through my hands covering my eyes. Our species has SO let us down! I’ll save it for one of those ‘I should have become a vet’ days... 😍🤗
You are a very sick individual. I hope you find the help you so desperately need. You shouldn’t need to kill things to feel good about your small life.
#pathetic
I was just trying to connect to the wifi on the tube when I saw this amongst the wifi options. It amused me (and came dangerously close to triggering a compulsion....) 😂
Well done
@CenterParcsUK
for deciding to pull advertising from the Daily Fail. Such backward and retrogressive views (not to mention factually incorrect) expressed in an article about
@TomDaley1994
‘s happy baby news have no value or use today. I hope more companies take note!
The parents of terminally ill toddler
#AlfieEvans
are set to mount ANOTHER legal challenge. I know nobody wants to say goodbye but it does now seem that this is no longer about Alfie....
‘Darkness is always darker on your own.. as soon as there is someone else there.. it doesn’t seem so scary. ❤️’
When you have friends who text things like this to you, you know you are going to be ok. 😍🤗
So a new series of Love Island begins tonight. They’ve tried to tick some diversity boxes, which is a start, but when I reached out to offer help with the mental health of contributors ITV responded saying ‘they had done enough.’ I can’t help feeling those words are ill-advised.
At the risk of being misunderstood and causing mass indignation: why are people being axed and sacked from their various jobs before being found guilty of anything? What do we have a justice system for?
You can't make a child trans. Nor can you bully a kid who is to be 'normal'. You either love them for who they say they are or make their lives hell which is why I'm so happy to see
@Hbomberguy
has raised over $340,000 for
@Mermaids_Gender
!
#MermaidsMonday
Why are people being such dicks about Greta Thunberg? I don’t get it. But then there’s a lot I don’t get about people’s hate/jealousy/stupidity these days....
Trump has reversed ban on importing trophies from elephant hunts. Please sign this petition and help stop men with tiny penises taking out their frustrations on animals with more dignity & intelligence than they will ever have. (and bigger willies too!)
If you are getting twitchy and frustrated with lockdown remember this: to be able to practice social distancing is a privilege. Hand washing is a privilege. Lockdown is a privilege. They are all luxuries of the affluent. There are millions in this world who cannot do any of them.