Healthy Discussions

How much of a problem is fake news for Western democracy? Can people learn to think critically to promote open debate? Can the left respond to Jordan Peterson's critiques of critical theory and critical race theory? And are there liberal thinkers who actually support free speech?  
In this amazing conversation, Zack speaks to Mickey and Nolan about their new book, "Let's Agree to Disagree: A Critical Thinking Guide to Communication, Conflict Management and Critical Media Literacy."  
Prof. Mickey Huff is professor of social science, history, and journalism at Diablo Valley Community College, California and the director of Project Censored, an organisation which promotes the role of the free press and analyses "junk food" news.  Dr Nolan Higdon is an author and university lecturer of history and media studies at the University of California. He is also the founding member of the Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas.

Mr Cameron Wyllie is an authority on education. He has been an English teacher, International Schools Debating coach, and Principal (Head) of Scotland's highest achieving private school of this decade, George Heriot's School.  Mr Cameron Wyllie is an authority on education. He has been an English teacher, International Schools Debating coach, and Principal (Head) of Scotland's highest achieving private school of this decade, George Heriot's School.  
In this conversation, Zack talks to one of his old teachers, Mr Wyllie to discuss Scotland's poverty-related attainment gap. We touch on the success (or rather, lack of it) of Scotland's flagship education policy, the so-called "Curriculum for Excellence", explore the reasons for the lack of appetite in the SNP to fix the problems with its implementation, and discuss what steps might actually close the gap..
We also ask how to make sure every child achieves their potential in education, whether teaching critical thinking skills improves public debate, and how this all ties in to broader discussions around Scottish Independence.

Amatey Doku is a management consultant for the Nous Group. Born in London and of Ghanian heritage, he spent 2 years involved in the National Union of Students, as Vice-President then Deputy President, and before that he led the Cambridge Union Students' Union (CUSU) and the Jesus College Students' Union (JCSU).

During his time as JCSU President, Amatey campaigned for the College to repatriate the Okukor, a Benin Bronze statue. It had held pride of place in the main hall of Jesus College, Cambridge, since being looted from Benin in 1897. Initially reluctant, the College formally handed over the Okukor to representatives of the Nigerian government in October 2021.

A dedicated sticky toffee pudding enthusiast, Amatey has also shown dedication in his side-quest to review every sticky toffee pudding he eats on Twitter. 

In this episode of Healthy Discussions, Zack and Amatey discuss the surrounding culture wars, how to move past culture wars, the dearth of political leadership in the UK, whether the UK is prepared for Prince Charles to take the throne after the death of the Queen Elizabeth II, and what's needed to bring the country together.

// Timestamps 

0:00 - Intro & Experience of Student politics 

3:54 - Is the media's portrayal of culture wars in student politics accurate? 

9:10 - The positive case for campaigning on diversity 

16:30 - Contrast with negative campaigns such as #RhodesMustFall 

21.38 - Does having minority leadership impact the outcome? 

22:37 - Why was there resistance to giving back the Okukor? 

25:08 - What are the lessons for the future in this? 

27:56 - How do we move past culture wars? And Keir Starmer 

36:07 - Discussing the impact of anti-racism training 

43:07 - The precarious position of the Labour Party 

47:04 - Who benefits from culture wars, then? 

50:09 - Will the death of Queen Elizabeth II strain the UK's leadership and culture even more? 

53:44 - Book recommendation

// Amatey's Links

Dr Haidar Al-Hakim is an ophthalmologist, psychotherapist and host of "The Surgical Spirit" Podcast, which explores the borderlands between medicine, wellbeing and psychology.  
In this jointly hosted podcast conversation, Haidar and I talk about our experiences growing up caught between two cultures, Islamic and Western, the guilt of privilege, the phenomenon of physician burnout and its relationship to purpose, whether evidence based medicine is politically driven, and the limits and strengths of evidence-based medicine as it is currently practiced.

Dr Abdullah Albeyatti is CEO of Medicalchain, a company tackling a big problem in healthcare. They want your electronic healthcare record to follow you around the health system and be under your control. Currently, healthcare data doesn't easily communicate between hospitals, creating all kinds of havoc.  

In this podcast, Abdullah and Zack discuss the use of blockchain technology for health records, the attitude of NHS decision makers towards innovation, whether EHRs should be monetised and marketised, the potential advantages and drawbacks if decentralised health records become a reality, the attitude you need to become a surgeon or entrepreneur; and more!  

Abdullah gives helpful anecdotes and tips along the way and I chip in with my thoughts on the underlying trends.

Would you want to be the top doctor at the BBC? Ask Dr Clare Fernandes. She is a specialist in Occupational Health who advises the Beeb on everything from its Covid-19 policy to mental health of journalists coming back from warzones.  

Crossposted from HLA Live, Zack talked to Clare about her career path, the lessons in leadership she has learned, and how the BBC has coped with Coronavirus.

// About the host

Dr Zack Hassan is a trainee in Internal Medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland. He graduated from Medicine at Cambridge University in 2018. His podcast hosting combines insights from the NHS frontline with experience in debating a wide range of topics at the Cambridge Union.

// Socials

Can we make Artifical Intelligence in Healthcare ethically? How do we ensure AI is safe for patients? And how good are the contingency plans for the AI that is already being used in the NHS? 

Dr Fawz Kazzazi suggests more guidance is needed. Fawz is a Core Surgical Trainee in London, and studying for a Masters in Law and Medical Ethics at Edinburgh University. He studied Medicine at Cambridge University and has published a classification of medical in the Journal of Future Health.

Fawz and Zack discuss the implications of black-boxes in healthcare, Elon Musk's view on deregulation being needed for innovation, whether software companies have a duty of care if AI has unintended consequences, and what the health system needs to do to stay ahead of technology.

// Links

Dolly Theis is not your usual public health policy academic. She stood as a Conservative Party candidate in the 2017 general election, winning 10,000 votes in Vauxhall. As a One-Nation Tory, Dolly has also campaigned on environmental and food issues. She has also been involved with initiatives like 50:50 Parliament (for gender balance in Westminster) and the veteran's charity Forward Assist. 

She is undertaking a PhD at Cambridge University’s MRC Epidemiology Unit, researching how policy makers use evidence and the processes that influence change in public health.

In this conversation, Zack and Dolly find points of agreement on health and obesity policy despite coming from different political perspectives, and discuss the grit and thought needed to refine your political beliefs early in life, especially in response to criticism. They also explore the different levers government has to improve our health, why a different approach to policymaking would be advantageous, and how to create a world where research and policy are fully integrated with each other.

// Links

Dr Lade Smith CBE is Director of Forensic Services at South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust and 2019's Psychiatrist of the Year. Her background as an intensive care forensic psychiatrist has given her insight into the stories of family psychological trauma that are prevalent amongst the UK's violent offenders. She is also an advocate for race equality and has published research examining racial disaprities in the use of detention orders under the Mental Health Act. Zack and Lade discussed how criminality and mental illness can be traced back to adverse childhood experiences, the need for early intervention, and the role doctors should play in changing policy and preventing discrimination.

Links

Professor Partha Kar OBE is a Consultant Endocrinologist in Portsmouth, the National Specialty Advisor to NHS England for Diabetes and Obesity, and the National Associate Clinical Director for Diabetes. He is well recognised by the Type 1 Diabetes community for projects such as TAD talks (Talking about Diabetes), improving access to non-invasive Libre sensors, and his social media presence. He has also co-founded other initiatives such as the Super Six model for diabetes care, Language Matters with NHS improvement to change the language clinicians use with patients, and Getting it Right First Time.

In this conversation, Partha and Zack discuss how much power consultants have to make change happen, the value of good senior mentors, how important it is to be honest with patients, the issue of racial prejudice, and the skills and strategies he's used for successful negotiation.

Links

Carey Lunan is a GP in Craigmillar, Edinburgh and Chair of the DeepEnd Group, made up of the 100 GP practices in Scotland's most deprived areas. She has also been chair of the Royal College of GPs in Scotland, leading on reports to government and policy, and representing the profession in mainstream media. She has a long-standing interest in health inequality and is a familiary contributor to public discourse concerning health issues in Scotland.

In this conversation, Carey and Zack discuss a range of ideas, including what's different about medicine in deprived populations, the trade-off between access and continuity in healthcare, the opportunities for the NHS during pandemic recovery, lessons learned from Covid-19, the problem of burnout and much more.

Links

Richie Cartwright is Co-founder at Fella, a global community-driven digital health platform to guide men through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Binge Eating. He founded and sold the company Flow X, which worked with the UK government on improving traffic flow using artificial intelligence. An avid entrepreneur and economics graduate from Cambridge, he is determined to share his own story of struggling with binge eating to help the millions of other people who have it too, both men and women.

In this conversation, Richie and Zack discuss how to look after our mental health from day to day, how to face binge eating disorder, the difficulties facing men which discourage them from seeking help, and much, much more.

Links

Born in Belfast, Dr Philippa Whitford studied medicine in the West of Scotland before specialising in breast surgery. She has been a Consultant Breast Surgeon for 19 years, and is now the MP for Central Ayrshire and the Westminster spokesperson on Health and Europe for the Scottish National Party. Over her career she has studied Breast Cancer Immunology for her MD dissertation, worked as a medical volunteer in Palestine, reformed the Breast Cancer service in Ayrshire and sat on the Health Select committee.

In this inspiring conversation, Philippa and Zack discuss the misogyny she experienced as a young surgeon in the 1980s, the advantages of gaining experience abroad, whether we need more doctors in front-line politics, the coronavirus pandemic and much more.

Philippa's Links