Programme Head

2 months ago | dailytelegraph.co.nz | David Bell |Programme Head

What War MeansMy mother once told me how my father still woke up screaming in the night years after I was born, decades after the Second World War (WWII) ended. I had not known – probably like most children of those who fought. For him, it was visions of his friends going down in burning aircraft – other bombers of his squadron off north Australia – and to be helpless, watching, as they burnt and fell. Few born after that war could really appreciate what their fathers, and mothers, went through.

Oct 25, 2024 | dailytelegraph.co.nz | David Bell |Programme Head

The commercial imperative to extract money from human bodies is playing havoc with medical education, and the body of knowledge through which the medical professions operate. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the field of vaccines, and their place in determining the length of our lives. The History of Living LongerAs a medical student, I was taught that the reason we in wealthy countries now live far longer than our forebears was improvements in living conditions, sanitation, and nutrition.

Oct 5, 2024 | dailytelegraph.co.nz | David Bell |Programme Head

Words can harm. The childhood saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” is obviously untrue. Words bring ruin and despair, drive people to suicide, and foment massacres and war. They are used to justify the enslavement of nations, and the genocide of entire ethnic groups. This is exactly why we must all, always, be free to speak them. In a perfect world, lies and deceit would not exist. We would have no reason to fear the spoken word.

Aug 13, 2024 | dailytelegraph.co.nz | David Bell |Programme Head

We live in a world where oligarchs accumulate land, use their media assets to denigrate natural foods, and invest in fake alternatives. On the other ‘side,’ wealthy professionals calling themselves freedom fighters travel the world and the internet insisting we should eat organic and local. Meanwhile, the food security of many of the eight billion plus of us remains at the mercy of the weather, diseases, and insects. Neither side offers a viable solution, or much benefit for many beyond themselves.

Jun 6, 2024 | dailytelegraph.co.nz | David Bell |Programme Head

Last week, amid fanfare from both advocates and opponents of centralization of future pandemic management, the world continued its unfortunate stumble back to old-fashioned public health fascism. The World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted the package of amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), apparently just hours after a final text had been agreed by its IHR working group.