Rebecca O’Connell and Julia Brannen (both UCL Institute of Education) explain how the COVID-19 pandemic reveals and exacerbates existing food inequalities. While slogans of solidarity – “We’re all in this together” – plaster social media, millions of households with children are experiencing coronavirus lockdowns further plagued by food insecurity. The global pandemic is both revealing and accentuating existing social and health inequalities when it comes … Continue reading We’re not ‘all in this together’: COVID-19 exposes stark realities of food insecurity

Jonathan Kamkhaji, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Exeter, and Claudio Radaelli, Professor of Public Policy at UCL, argue that the surprising nature of the coronavirus crisis means governments cannot base their response on scientific evidence alone. Across Europe, governments have responded to the spread of the coronavirus in different ways, both in terms of timing of the regulatory responses and in their content. Most … Continue reading COVID-19: The presence and pitfalls of evidence-based policy

UCL Philosophy Professor James Wilson explores the philosophical public health implications of the coronavirus.

I’m a philosopher of public health. Like most philosophers, I generally tend to take my time in thinking about problems. Philosophers pride ourselves on the carefulness and disinterestedness of our reasoning about ethical principles – seeking to make recommendations impartially rather than on the basis of whim, or the feelings of the moment. Continue reading Philosophy & public policy: lessons from COVID-19