How the queen, and an act of kindness by a stranger, have brought fond memories flooding back
A couple of weeks go, I wrote here setting out some tips for guarding against depression and...
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Author: Alastair Campbell
taking stock of government handling of the crisis so far … time for someone to get a grip …
I always write a lot, but at the moment, I seem to be in an unstoppable overdrive. That, insomnia,...
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Hard fact and detail beat rhetoric and SLOGAN EVERY TIME – 20 random observations on the crisis so far
If you’ve been here before, you will know this is not a new theme for me. But it is worth...
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questions slightly better, answers worse – these briefings are not serving the public interest well
The daily Downing Street briefings are an important part of the Covid-19 crisis landscape. They...
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20 phrases that should be banished from Covid-19 briefings
Another day, after another night waking just after 3, and another idea for another 20-point list...
Read MoreMy Latest Book
Better To Live
How I Learnt To Survive Depression
by
Alastair Campbell
"Superbly readable, supremely useful. Unflinching, clear-eyed, honest, raw and revealing, it may be the most important achievement of Alastair Campbell’s vivid and varied life. This book could save lives." – STEPHEN FRY
BETTER TO LIVE is Alastair Campbell’s honest, moving and life affirming account of his lifelong struggle with depression. It is an autobiographical, psychological and psychiatric study, which explores his own childhood, family and other relationships, and examines the impact of his professional and political life on himself and those around him. But it also lays bare his relentless quest to understand depression not just through his own life but through different treatments. Every bit as direct and driven, clever and candid as he is, this is a book filled with pain, but also hope - he examines how his successes have been in part because of rather than despite his mental health problems - and love. His partner of forty years, Fiona Millar, writes a moving afterword on how she too has learned to live with his depression.
Depression is the predominant mental health problem worldwide - it is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem and major depression is thought to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide. BETTER TO LIVE is a call to arms and an extraordinary memoir in one compelling and inspiring narrative. This is a book that really could save lives.
"One can only hope that BETTER TO LIVE provokes a far wider and more honest understanding of the condition" – JON SNOW
From Twitter
‘They speak a language people don’t understand’. Roger that Don. Please, no need to speak to our doctors. And we know you didn’t. If it makes you feel better that you did ok. But you go do your job.
it’s not even just the relentless bullshitting and flagrant lying, it’s that it never ceases to amaze me how anyone can be THIS inarticulate.
his speech is the same as someone shaking a bag of Scrabble tiles
When asked by @Peston what can the UK learn from Germany, the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said: 'We all know Germany got ahead in terms of its ability to do testing for the virus and there's a lot to learn from that'
More here: https://www.itv.com/news/topic/coronavirus/
PL SAVES | Penalty saves are in our @PremierLeague DNA 🙌💫
WATCH ➡️ https://youtu.be/wWDkyqGDwjU
The NY Times reports that Donald Trump's economic adviser Peter Navarro sent him a memo on 29 January warning that 500,000 people could die from C-19. In a second memo on 23 Feb he told the President that the toll could be 1.2 million.