Martin Powell

[ 1 ] - Exploring 70 Years of the British National Health Service through Anniversary Documents

The British National Health Service (NHS) celebrates its 70th birthday on July 5, 2018. This article examines this anniversary through the lens of previous anniversaries. It examines seven documents close to each anniversary over a period of some 60 years, drawing on interpretive content analysis, based on the narrative dimensions of context (structure and finance); success or achievements; pro...

[ 2 ] - This Is My (Post) Truth, Tell Me Yours; Comment on “The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy”

This is a commentary on the article ‘The rise of post-truth populism in pluralist liberal democracies: challenges for health policy.’ It critically examines two of its key concepts: populism and ‘post truth.’ This commentary argues that there are different types of populism, with unclear links to impacts, and that in some ways, ‘post-truth’ has resonances with arguments advanced in the period a...

[ 3 ] - Let’s Raise a Half-Full Glass to the Zombie NHS: A Response to Recent Commentaries

[ 4 ] - Who Killed the English National Health Service?

The death of the English National Health Service (NHS) has been pronounced many times over the years, but the time and cause of death and the murder weapon remains to be fully established. This article reviews some of these claims, and asks for clearer criteria and evidence to be presented.

[ 5 ] - Sharpening the Health Policy Analytical Rapier; Comment on “The Politics and Analytics of Health Policy”

This commentary on the Editorial ‘The politics and analytics of health policy’ by Professor Calum Paton focuses on two issues. First, it points to the unclear links between ideas, ideology, values, and discourse and policy, and warns that discourse is often a poor guide to enacted policy. Second, it suggests that realism, particularly ‘programme theory’ are useful tools for health policy analys...