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Dougal Thomson
Recent posts by Dougal Thomson
May 6th 2013
I'll be in Zurich next month for The Economist's Healthy Europe conference, where we'll get to grips with a tough question: how, in a context of financial crisis, to reform Europe's healthcare systems to cope with an ageing population and the rising burden of chronic (physical and mental) disease.
April 25th 2013
I've always taken water for granted. I blame my upbringing, coming from Glasgow, a city in the west of Scotland "blessed" [laughs bitterly to self] with over 200 days rainfall a year.
January 8th 2013
I don't like seeing a small child drinking a huge soda. It´s like a monkey smoking a cigarette: unsettling, unnatural and unlikely to end well. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, presumably feels the same way, given his attempt to limit the size of sugary drinks on sale in the Big Apple to 16 ounces (473 mils).
Around 60 percent of the city´s adults and 40 percent of its children are overweight or obese. As the Mayor explained, “obesity is the only major public health issue we have that is getting worse”. Currently, KFC patrons can quench their thirst with a 64-ounce (1.9...