Pnewsology

Pnewsology – the one about how people respond to tragedy (and why some just want a fight!)

06/09/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 05/06/2026)

Week ending 05/06/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

This week has been one of dreadful tragedy and sadness as the video of Henry Nowak’s death was released showing him handcuffed after he had been stabbed and not believed that he was the victim not the perpetrator of a crime. Just horrific and shocking although I chose not click and watch as I have my own son and I just didn’t want the images in my head.

But this week has also been one of a range of reactions to this tragedy. Henry’s family have shown huge dignity and calm and an amazing ability to think of others as they called for people not use this as a chance for violence. They asked for something good to come out of their son’s death.

In contrast, Farage was quick to jump to accuse the country of two tier policing brought about their attempts to deal with racism. JD Vance was also super speedy to use it as a basis to criticise the problems of migration in Europe and Elon Musk took to social media to stir up division in the UK. At the same time, rioters took the streets of Southampton to demonstrate against the police and to date several have been arrested.

Why do some people see tragedy as a opportunity to gain political points? Why are some so poised to be angry? How do people live their lives with such a short fuse? And why are people living in America so obsessed with what is happening on our little island so many miles from theirs? If we called for division, riots, changes in policing laws etc etc every time someone was murdered in the US no one would ever get anything else done.

And then we have the ongoing wars in the Middle East with bombs still falling on Lebanon and Iran and people still being killed in Gaza and the West Bank (including a baby in a car) with the US and Israel reacting to every cease fire, every complaint or every sniff of a reaction with more bombings and more killings. Just poised to aggression all of them.

But some people don’t react to tragedy like that.

In Guildford, Matt Gaskin, a local businessman, reacted to his friend nearly dying from a heart attack by buying a red phone box and setting up a defibrillator in town for everyone to use. In Tonbridge Wells, an 11 year girl called Kirsty and her family reacted to her own diagnosis of a brain tumour by raising awareness for paediatric brain tumours through tracking down Kirsty namesakes across the world. Right now, they have already recruited over 10,000. So if you are called Kirsty (or something very similar!) do get involved! Which reminds me of Charlie’s promise, a charity set up for knife crime education after Charlie was killed, and the Stephen Lawrence foundation set up by his parents after his death. Aggression doesn’t always have to be followed by more aggression. Sometimes it can lead to something good.

Some people must live their lives like coiled springs feeling so much anger and stress that anything can be a trigger to an outbreak of violence. Some just coldly and calculatedly watch for such moments they can exploit for their own personal (or political gains). And some seem so detached from their actions, even violence means nothing as they can’t imagine the effect on people of the other side.

But then some people do manage to take a breath and do some good.

I don’t really believe that people are born good or evil. And I’m not sure I really believe in personality – that we are just one thing or another. But I do believe in childhood, and learning, and role modelling and culture and norms. And I also think that all this violence now, can only breed more violence later as more people are damaged as they watch and learn that this is the only way to be. So those people being violent now – you are the cause of more violence in the future. But, a massive appreciation to Henry Nowak’s parents who in a time of absolute devastation managed to role model decency and goodness and I just hope that within all the point scoring and anger more people learned from their behaviour than that of all the others we are constantly hearing about.
Pnewsology – the one about what good parenting is in the modern world (and how on earth should we manage risk?)

05/31/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 29/05/2026)

Week ending 29/05/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

Parenting is hard and this week the news has been filled with stories highlighting how difficult it is to get it right.

There have been a series of tragedies involving teenagers and somewhere in the background many parents must feel just devastated. The news of the 3 teenage boys who raped and filmed 2 teenaged girls but avoided a custodial sentence, rumbles on as it is referred to the higher courts.

A teenager was stabbed in Brighton and at least 7 young people have drowned in open water this week during the heat wave.

How do we keep our children safe? Where is the line between stifling them and keeping them indoors under our watchful eye versus giving them enough freedom to grow up and learn how to deal with risk? And how do we teach our children to behave well and respect others without driving them into rebellion through relentless preaching?

I was always more risk averse when my kids were little than I probably should have been but then heard about a tragedy happening during a gap year in South Africa. I looked at my little ones and thought – when you are 18 you can do whatever you like. Between now and then I need to let you takes risks, fail and learn so that when you go on your gap year you are better prepared. I think it worked (so far) but it was hard going and definitely much more work and much more worrying than having them bubble wrapped!

And then we have had reports about a ‘lost generation’ of young people who are out of work and education due to a perfect storm of COVID, mental health, AI taking entry level jobs and social media. And we also had the report that ‘social media is as bad as smoking’ causing all sorts of problems particularly for young people. All of this making it even harder for parents to get it right.

How do we get our children off their phones (when they love them), into school (when they hate it) and into jobs which are boring and not what they expected adult life to be like? And how do we get them to move out so they can on with their lives when wages are low and rents are high?

I am quite conflict avoidant, hate rows and don’t like public arguments! But parenting is not just about managing risk it’s also about managing conflict and deciding which fights to have and which avoid. This generation are being dealt a difficult hand by factors beyond ours and their control. But parents also need to step in and whilst sometimes this can seem like a battle (get off your phone, get into school, just get a job any job!!) these are battles worth fighting for the longer-term gains!

So – I think parenting is a job which is really difficult to get right. But sometimes it’s better to make it difficult now (take risks, have the battles) and reap the rewards in the future than go for an easy life now but which backfires later.
Pnewsology – the one about money and what happens when it gets into politics

05/28/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 22/05/2026)

Week ending 22/05/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

The gap between the rich and poor is getting bigger and this week’s news has been filled with stories of both.

The Beckhams became billionaires, Oasis joined the rich list and Elon Musk is set to be a trillionaire (so many zeros it hard to even imagine it!). We also learned that HS2 is to cost over £100 billion, which is more than a trip to the moon and its not even going to be very fast.

Whilst at the same time, on the same planet, the sinkhole in Godstone is still there a year later devasting local businesses and causing people to have to relocate, many women leaving prison have nowhere to live and supermarkets are being asked to cap their food prices as normal people struggle to lead normal lives.

There is a lot of money around but most of it sits in the pockets (and off shore bank accounts) of a very few.

But as well as this blatant unfairness, this week we have also seen what happens when money gets into politics. The US held elections in Kentucky between the incumbent Republican Thomas Massie who has been named ‘Mr No’ and been very critical of Trump, and Ed Gallrein, who Trump likes. It turns out that money really does matter and having spent over $20 million on an advertising campaign to attack Massie, Gallrein won! The money was mostly from Trump and Miriam Adelson who in turn donated over $100 million for Trump’s own campaign. Surprisingly (!) Massie has been a massive advocate of releasing the Epstein Files (which Trump is in) and of removing support from Israel (which Adelson supports). The only consolation is that Massie now has 7 months of impunity and says will read out the redacted names from the Epstein files! Well all that money backfired a bit at least! Lets hope he stays away from open fire escapes.

And here in the UK the saga of the Nigel Farage’s £5 million is ongoing. He seems to think it’s fine to take money. Reform UK is just a limited company owned by him and Richard Tice so the extra money comes in handy! The rule of law however, seems not so keen!

But some good news! Prince William has announced that he will sell off 20% of his Duchy property and use the money for property and nature projects and Wes Streeting has said he will look into a wealth tax (which works).

The massive gap between the rich and poor is wrong for so many reasons. Clearly the poor suffer and have less money. And clearly their lives are harder, their health is worse and it is so much harder for the next generation to do better than the last. And then when money gets into power, the rich do everything they can to rig the system and make the gap even bigger with tax breaks for themselves and cuts to education and health care for others. But on top of this, the perception of massive inequality is also bad for us. Seeing people with so much more money, living indulgent lives and not caring about the society they live in creates resentment, bitterness and anger which makes being poor even worse.

I accept that some people have more money than others and that maybe this will always be the case but we need to have system that’s rigged in our favour not theirs. But we also just need to get them to pay their fair share of tax. I pay mine because I believe I should, because I am too scared not too and because I get a glow of smugness for being such a good citizen. I think they would also pay theirs if there were consequences for not doing – so close the loopholes and sort this out. But I also think many (not all!) would pay up if we rewarded them for doing so! Not more money! Just a celebration each year of who paid the most tax! Sweden and Norway do it! They could compete for being the best taxpayer, we could all cheer and then we could get their money – just as we should do!
Pnewsology – the one about everybody changing jobs (and why we need to trust politicians!)

05/18/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 15/05/2026)

Week ending 15/05/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

At the start of the week the internationally renowned cyclist Katie Archibald announced a change of jobs and that she had falling in love with nursing. That’s interesting I thought – why do people leave their jobs and what thinking is involved. But then as the week progressed people were leaving their jobs left right and centre and it now looks as if Keir Starmer might be leaving his as well!

Following the local elections about 2000 councillors lost their jobs and were forced either to go back to what they did before or find a new career. Six government aids then stood down from their key roles in government and 5 ministers resigned including Jess Phillips and Wes Streeting who wrote very public, detailed and sometimes accusatory resignation letters.

And now Andy Burnham has announced he will give up being the Mayor of Manchester and a local MP Josh Simons, has given up his role so Andy Burnham can get a chance at the top job.

So will Keir stand down or will he fight? And will he manage to do it with dignity or will his, and many other political careers, end with a send of failure?

Changing jobs is a massive decision for most of us as we factor in our rent or mortgage payments, the monthly bills, the impact on our pensions and the cost of childcare not to mention our happiness, sense of fulfilment and determination to make a contribution.

This can be a drip drip process as we weigh up the pros and cons and slowly come to a considered decision that the best thing is to make a change. Or at times it can be more or an epiphany when we wake up one morning and just think ‘enough’s enough’ I just have to get out.

But for others who have family money, trust funds or live off the interest of interest (apparently this is the rich person’s goal??) they can just jump whenever they feel like it in the safe knowledge that their parents’ or even ancestors’ money will see them through – what a different life that must be!

But for Keir, he also has to weigh up the good of the country. He was voted in with a massive majority for 5 years and has only done two. I’m not a massive fan and would love someone with passion and policies to do some good and move the country away from the slide into racism which seems to happen when people are feeling angry, ignored and poor. But it is always possible that Keir going could make things worse. Months of a leadership contest, labour MPs arguing in public, criticising each other, looking inwards not outwards can’t be good and makes politicians look petty and self-obsessed. When angry, ignored and poor the mantra seems not only be to blame ‘the other’ and right now that seem to be migrants, but also to believe that ‘all politicians are the same’. Together these two beliefs are toxic and dangerous. Clearly, we get a move to the right and we end up with far-right marches like we had at the weekend. Blaming someone seems to make people feel better. But once we lose faith in politicians and tar them all with the same brush, we also strangely seem to become more tolerant of corruption, lying and general criminal activity rather than less. If one politician is corrupt, lies or breaks the law we call it out and expect them to be brought to trial. But once we believe they all are the same we seem able to ignore it as its just what we expect. And once that happens – well we know where that is heading! The Americans seem completely able to tolerate all laws being broken at once! We mustn’t go there as well.

So, Keir and his contenders may need to weigh up their domestic finances against their ambitions. And they must also weigh up the bigger picture. But even more importantly we need to believe that this is all about the bigger picture – and about us not them. Trust in leadership is one of the biggest predictors of stability. And we need that now. So, if they do argue, my hope is that they do it all behind closed doors. And when someone emerges as the leader (whether Keir or not) we need to believe that politicians are not all the same so that when one or even many of them step out of line we can still be bothered to make sure they see their day in court.
Pnewsology – the one about the need for a bit of old fashioned class!

05/01/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 01/05/2026)

Week ending 01/05/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

Yet again (and again) we have had a week of madness! Bombings, death, kidnapping, lies and just general chaos. And the King and Queen met Trump.

Early on the week we watched replay after replay of the attempted assassination attempt on Trump and his cronies at the Correspondent’s Dinner and watched with amazement as an armed man simply ran through security before being pinned to the ground. What then followed were many debates about whether it was real or not – did Trump set it up so he could justify his ballroom? Why did he look so unphased when the shots were fired? Was the shooter linked with Iran? Or Israel? All contrasted with a sense that of course it was real and if we call everything a conspiracy we are simply falling into the trap of the far right and not believing anything! We do live in strange times.

We also watched a nun being attacked in occupied Jerusalem by an illegal Israeli settler; more bombings by Israel in Lebanon – the death toll now matches 9/11; and ongoing attacks in the West Bank by the settlers of Palestinian homes. Then, just when we think we can’t be shocked anymore by the lack of consequences, a 58 boat flotilla carrying food and baby milk to Gaza was attacked in international waters by the IDF who then kidnapped 175 activists near Crete. All surrounded by resounding silence as nothing is done.

More locally – a teacher in Epsom lied to her pupils that she had been shot in a war zone whilst fighting for the Australian forces. She hadn’t. A woman from Northampton was pinned to the ground by the police following a ‘welfare call’ – it turns out they had taken a film of her on the toilet?! And a fish and chip shop owner in Hampshire told of his upset and near loss of business after his ex-partner falsely accused him of all sorts including being a paedophile.

All a bit bonkers! The world feels like it is going mad.

And then The King and Camilla went to the US to meet Trump. Some said he shouldn’t go as this was playing into Trump’s hand. I didn’t have a view. But then I listened to his speech, watched him meet the cabinet and heard the repeated standing ovations and suddenly I felt proud! Our King (and his script writer!) turns out to be calm, clever, funny, informed and a very skilled orator! He landed key points about Ukraine, climate change and world stability whilst at the same time pleasing politicians from across the spectrum and all with a twinkle. And he just had class. Trump could be seen patting Melania’s bottom. Our King would never do that! Trump pushed in front of them both to shake the hands of his own cabinet. Our King stepped aside with a wry smile and just carried on. And Trump tried to give him one of his alpha male handshakes followed by a hug and Our King was having none of it.

Who knows if it will have any effect or whether any effect will last. But this, week amidst all the chaos Our King left me with a small feeling of hope that at least there are still some decent people in the world.
Pnewsology – the one about coming second and how some people always need to be the best!

04/17/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 17/04/2026)

Week ending 17/04/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

It’s been an odd week watching the same wars killing people rumbling on but with some odd bits and pieces happening in between. And a lot of these seem to relate to coming second.

We saw Justin Rose from Hampshire come second in the US Masters for the 4^th time and watched as Arsenal lost to Bournemouth leaving their fans to wonder if, yet again, Arsenal will have a year of coming second without winning any medals. We also saw Prince Harry, who has seemingly struggled with being ‘The Spare’ to his brother, try to relaunch his career with a tour of Australia and heard how Brooklyn Beckham is still estranged from his family, who much as they may have tried their best, have made him feel second to ‘Brand Beckham’.

And bizarrely we have seen Trump try to put himself on a par with Jesus (??!!) and heard as him and his cronies challenged the Pope about who knows the bible the best! A question instantly answered when Hesgeth quoted ‘the scriptures’ which turned out to be a line from Samual L Jackson in the film ‘Pulp Fiction’! Trump and co seem to hate coming second at anything – even Godliness!

Being second can therefore be a hard role to deal with.

Some seem to fall at the final hurdle and can’t quite take the lead. Maybe due to self-sabotage and actively undermining their own success? Through not quite having the self-belief and spiralling into a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure? Or simple complacency and a belief that success should be there’s without putting in the effort? Good old sports psychology can help here with tricks such as positive self-talk, reframing previous failures and visualising success.

Others, live a life of envy and bitterness as they feel overlooked or overshadowed by those that by accident of birth came first and get all the glory. For these – some perspective taking and gratitude could do the trick.

But for those who need to win and beat everyone else at everything? Maybe they need to take a good long hard look at themselves! Work out what they are compensating for and take themselves off to a remote island on their own for some very prolonged reflection – preferably with very little food and water!

But there are some benefits to being second. JD Vance and David Lammy seem to have struck up a strange friendship and are spending time together to discuss war and Rachel Reeves has finally used her seconder role to speak out against the US / Israel attack on Iran. Perhaps they feel freer to speak as they are not in charge? Maybe they bond over a good moan about their leaders? Maybe it’s a relief to be able to blame those above? Or maybe they are just waiting until it is their time to take control?

And then we’ve heard from Jamie Murray as he retires from tennis after winning multiple awards for doubles tennis in the Olympics, David Cup and International tournaments. He seems to have thrived even though his younger brother Andy is more famous! And Andy seems to have massive respect for his older brother without any sense of envy or bitterness of either side. What a fabulous family they seem to be! For them, coming second seems not even to be a thing. Their mum seems to have done a great job!

We all have a place in the world and feeling settled in this place is probably the greatest key to happiness. Some desire to rise up the ranks can drive ambition, hard work, and a determination to make thing better for both ourselves and those around us. But wanting to be better than everyone is a sad state of affairs that creates envy, frustration and a destructive determination to show everyone how great you are (when you are clearly not). What we need is a sense of self belief that is realistic and fair and a sense that ‘good enough’ is often better than the best. And may be what we also need is for Jamie and Andy’s mum to parent all the men currently ruining the world.
Pnewsology – the one about justice and how unfair things feel at the moment!

04/12/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 12/04/2026)

Week ending 12/04/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

‘Just world theory’ describes how important it is that we feel the world is just. Well – the world certainly hasn’t felt ‘Just’ this week.

On one hand we have the madness of the US and Israel bombing Iran ‘infrastructure’ which seems to involve killing civilians as collateral. Trump has even threated to wipe out an entire civilisation. We also have Israel bombing Lebanon without any pretence that they are aiming for infrastructure. And we have ongoing attacks by Israeli illegal settlers in the West Bank. No consequences for the US or Israel and no justice for those being killed. Definitely not a Just World.

But then closer to home we have heard of justice being dealt out in ways that doesn’t feel fair or appropriate. An employer of Waitrose was sacked after trying to stop a shoplifter stealing Easter Eggs. Waitrose says there is more to the story, but it does seem that shoplifting is on the rise and there is very little anyone can do about it.

We also heard about the man who stole a bag from a woman in a pub in London. Illegal I know and not a good thing to do. But he got 2 years in prison as the bag contained a 2 million pound Faberge egg and a fancy watch. He swapped it for drugs not knowing what it was. If it had contained a crème egg and a Swatch he would probably have walked away with a slap on the wrist and a stern warning. Was that just?

There was also a ‘peaceful’ rave in Devon closed down by police using ‘unethical force’. Maybe an overreaction? And a teacher was banned from teaching after telling her class about a drunken night out. I know these are all wrong but compared to mass killings they seem rather small fry!

And whilst I’m feeling sorry for criminals – I also felt a bit sorry for ‘The Ketamine Queen’ who was jailed for 15 years in prison for supplying Ketamine to Matthew Perry (Chandler from ‘Friends’). Drugs scare me! My kids have been told many drug related scare stories to warn them off and drug dealers are not good people. But 15 years is a very long sentence particularly compared to getting away with taking the country into World War 3!

Yes, it is important to believe in a Just World. Fairness makes us feel calm in our lives, brings out the best in us, helps us to be kind to others, prevents crime as we know there will be consequences and builds trust in the institutions that govern us. I pay to travel by train, try to be a considerate driver, smile at strangers in the street, say thanks to waiters and have been known to apologise to a mannequin after bumping into them! And in return I believe the world will be a nicer place and will be nicer to me and those I love. A kind of low level karma. But it is proving very hard to hold onto this at the moment. No justice in sight for the rich and powerful criminals that seem to be in charge. But massive consequences for others. For now, I will continue to speak to mannequins and hold of for better times. But for others less inclined to be law-abiding, this may well be the chance they have been waiting for to do whatever dodgy deeds they feel like!
Pnewsology – the one about social media and phones (mostly bad!)

03/28/2026

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 27/03/2026)

Week ending 27/03/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

This week, social media has made the headlines together with ongoing evidence that phones have changed how we live our lives (and now have wars!).

The jury in LA made a groundbreaking decision to hold meta (for facebook) and Google (for you tube) responsible for addiction and concluded that they have been deliberately built to be addictive. This was following a charge brought by a young woman who argued that social media had caused her body dysmorphia, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Whilst the extremely rich and powerful tech companies are bound to appeal, this is a major step in the right direction to having some limits imposed on what they do.

We also heard that banning phones in schools in The Netherlands has resulted in an improvement in pupil behaviour; that social media bans are to be trialled for teenagers in the UK; that the UK government have released guidelines and suggest that screen time should be limited to one hour per day for the under-fives, and that even the developer of Roblox recommends that parents monitor their children’s screen time 24/7.

The message is getting through that screen time can do harm and that social media can be pretty damaging! It seems clear that it can trigger or exacerbate mental health problems and lead to addiction – they obviously drew upon the basic psychology of partial reinforcement, unpredictability, social networks, colour, speed and pleasure to drew us in and keep us hooked.

But it also does harm, simply by exposing us to so much rubbish.

One report described how false online posts are fuelling self-diagnosis of problems such as ADHD and Autism; another described the wealth of fake reviews of Just Eat and Auto trader and one showed how fake videos of sexualised black women had been taken down from Tik Tok after a BBC investigation. We also heard how the young darts player Luke Littler has trademarked his face to avoid AI fakes. And now the US and Israel seem to be waging war in the Middle East through ‘Truth social’ with policies being made in brief sound bites posted out in the early hours of the morning.

Out there in the virtual world of our phones sits easy gambling, easy porn and easy violence. But it is also just wall to wall lies. We see incredibly convincing videos of cities burning (that are not on fire), of people speaking words (they never said) and of people doing things (they never did). So, most damaging of all, we stop believing anything. We give up. We withdraw from the real world, stop questioning, stop searching for the truth and stop trusting anyone or anything. We think ‘its all lies’ and go back to watching fluffy cats or clever gorillas. And then all the really dangerous lies get told when we are no longer watching and those that want to get away with murder have been given an empty space to do so. And worse still, if we ever challenge them, we are called a liar as well!
Pnewsology – the one about trust in medicine (the good and the bad)

03/24/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with Mark Carter at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 20/03/2026)

Week ending 20/03/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

This week we had a terrifying outbreak of Meningitis B in Kent, with 2 people dying and another 27 cases confirmed so far. The public health machinery was quick to act and over 1000 vaccines have been rolled out along with doses of antibiotics. It has all been medicine at its best and a sense of national gratitude that the doctors have something to offer. We heard that Paul Wicken was one of the first to receive robotic assisted artery bypass heart surgery from St Georges Hospital which is more precise leading to faster recovery, and Iona Hall from Bristol is fund raising to freeze her eggs so that she can have children after her operation for severe endometriosis. Again, medicine doing what it should.

But then there’s the news about ‘Looksmaxxing’. It turns out that after decades of women having plastic surgery to attaining some version of the ideal, men are ‘catching up’ and turning to surgery for the ‘right’ kind of jawline! So, there’s ‘softmaxxing’ involving exercises, creams and gels and then there’s ‘hardmaxxing’ where they break the jaw and rebuild it in a more Neanderthal way! Bonkers! Bonkers that women have been doing it for ages and now bonkers that men are following suit. But even more bonkers (and unethical, wrong, unprofessional) that doctors are enabling this to happen.

So, thankfully, medicine often is for our good and in line with the oath to ‘do no harm’ and we are grateful. But sometimes it seems to lose its way.

But then we also seem to lose our own way and rather than feeling grateful, become sceptical, scared and our trust in medicine turns into mistrust.

In the US, Robert Kennedy, a very vocal vaccine sceptic has been pushing for the childhood immunisation programme to be stopped. He’s often been held responsible for multiple deaths as his campaigning around the country has led to pockets of unvaccinated children and outbreaks of measles. But good news this week, as a judge in the US blocked his push to stop childhood vaccinations. He says he mistrusts vaccines (his own kids have been vaccinated) and that mistrust seems to be contagious. But at least, for now, sense has prevailed.

But equally worrying, fears about abortion also seems to be contagious and coming here from the US. We have had legalised abortion since 1967 and by far the majority of the British population respect the right for women to chose what to do with their own bodies. But American scepticism about abortion is also contagious and reports show an increase in anti-abortion attitudes amongst young people fuelled by American Christian fundamentalists and the power of social media. Further, the assisted dying bill has failed to get through in Scotland, in part due to mistrust of medicine and fears that the process will be abused.

We do seem to have a strange relationship with medicine! On one level we trust it with our lives when we need it and even go under the knife when we don’t. But then bubbling under the surface is a fear that doctors are out to get us and can’t be trusted. Some healthy critical thinking is needed, particularly against a backdrop of private health care when money can get in the way of clinical judgement – are they offering me treatment for my good or that of the pharmaceutical industries? Do the trials really show it will work for me or just the kinds of people in trials? Am I aiming for quality of life or just quantity? What are the side effects and is it really worth it? But what is really needed is knowing when to trust and when to be sceptical. My reading of evidence is – vaccinations, abortions and assisted dying (within the regulations) all good. Neanderthal jaws – not so good. I taught critical thinking for years! If only people would read my book! Maybe I need to start writing in American!
Pnewsology – the one about allies (who they are when we should ditch them!)

03/13/2026

The week’s news with a dash of psychology!

Jane Ogden (Professor in Health Psychology, Emeritus; email janeogden509@gmail.com; based on a conversation with James Cannon at Radio Surrey; 8.40 am 13/03/2026)

Week ending 13/03/2026

All opinions are those of Jane Ogden

This week there has been lots of talk of allies. Who our friends are, who they should be and, often, how they can do us harm! The war between the US, Israel and Iran still rages on and it is clear that the US and Israel are great allies with the US spending billions to help Israel with its mission. Its also clear that many of the Gulf States saw themselves as allies of the US and have let them have bases on their territory. These are now being bombed by Iran. And it seems that the US thinks we should be their ally and help them out. In the midst of this, Keir Starmer has been doing his best to navigate the middle ground whereas Tony Blair stood up this weekend and clearly felt Starmer wasn’t doing enough! Blair was talking at a Jewish News event and stated that Starmer ‘should have backed Trump from the beginning’, that Labour ‘had better show up’ for Washington’ and that if they are your ally, they are the cornerstone for your security. Apparently, he thought he wouldn’t be quoted! Thanks Tony! With ex-Prime Ministers like that who needs enemies!

More locally, there have also been stories of friendships gone wrong. There was a dreadful stabbing of a teenager in Staines with two other arrested, one for ‘assisting an offender’. Clearly a story there of friendship gone wrong. There have also been stories of people as young as 14 needing to wear incontinence pads after taking ketamine. Drugs are very rarely taken alone. Here’s another story of friends accessing drugs, friends offering drugs, friends threatening not to be friends if others don’t go along with them and take drugs, and friends not telling friends to stop! Bad friends all round.

But we did have one heart warming story. The poor new goalie for Spurs, was subbed off by the new manager after just 17 minutes and could been seen sobbing as he walked off the pitch. Just must have been heart breaking and totally humiliating. But the heartwarming part comes from how people reacted. His teammates hugged him; the opposition players and fans rallied round and social media saw an outpouring of support. All seemed to blame the manager – now that’s what friends are for!

Allies come from history and can just be a matter of time. Think world wars and those you have just known forever. They also come from geography – think the US and Canada (!), England and France (!) and the people who happened to live on your road as a child. And they can also come from religion or family or school (those we just spend our time with). Most of these we don’t really chose but just acquire and then they stick. But proper allies should not only just be there, but should also be good for us! The UK and US have been allies for decades and the Gulf States have aligned themselves to the US. And like marriage, we might say through thick and thin and in sickness and in health. But also like marriage, it doesn’t have to be a life (or death) sentence. Spain have drawn a line and so can we. Time for a massive worldwide divorce and for us to realign with those who actually like us, will look after us (and don’t make us want to scream every time they speak!).

recent posts

about