Government, not BMA, to blame

David Oliver: Jeremy Hunt was wrong to blame the "irresponsible BMA" for his own mistakes.

On Sunday, Jeremy Hunt gave an unconvincing appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. With a further strike by junior doctors planned forWednesday 10 February, the host doggedly questioned the health secretary. Marr challenged Hunt’s repeated claims that excess deaths associated with weekend admission were preventable and that medical understaffing was the clear cause. Even when confronted with...

Fructose Not to Blame for Weight Gain?

Study selection. Controlled feeding trials lasting 7 or more days that compared the effect on body weight of free fructose and nonfructose carbohydrates in diets providing similar calories (isocaloric trials), or diets supplemented with free fuctose to provide excess energy (hypercaloric trials). Exclusion criteria included trials where fructose was delivered only as sucrose or only as high-fru...

To blame or not to blame: Analysts’ reactions to external explanations for poor financial performance

Managers often provide self-serving disclosures that blame poor corporate financial performance on temporary, external factors. For example, many managers have pointed to the September 11th terrorist attacks and the downturn in the economy as explanations for their firm’s poor performance over the past year. Little is known about how financial analysts respond to such disclosures. Results of an...

Government could fire and rehire consultants to introduce new contract, says BMA.

The government could fire and rehire consultants in order to move them on to a new contract, the BMA has said. Delegates at the BMA’s annual UK consultants’ conference in London on 3 March heard that this could be one option considered by the government if consultants rejected its final contract offer. The government has yet to announce a firm offer for changes, but Rob Harwood, the BMA Consult...

The Blame Game Spin, Bureaucracy, and Self-Preservation in Government