Pnewsology

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!