The Lancet editor on Britain’s response to coronavirus — and being labeled a pariah – https://www.ft.com/content/8e54c36a-8311-11ea-b872-8db45d5f6714
“Horton’s philosophy is, however, faithful to the spirit of Lancet founder Thomas Wakley, a surgeon and social reformer once described as an “honest denouncer of invidious distinctions betwixt the rich and the poor”. Wakley named the journal after a surgical instrument and a type of window: it was meant to symbolize piercing corruption and letting the light in.”
“Horton has to be one of Britain’s longest-serving editors. He joined The Lancet in 1990 and was appointed editor-in-chief five years later, aged just 33. He makes no apology for being overtly political. “Some of the great advances, like the 19th-century sanitary movement and the birth of the NHS, were not technical accomplishments but political struggles. The idea you can strip out politics from medicine or health is historically ignorant. The medical establishment should be much more politicized, not less, in attacking issues like health inequalities and poor access to care.” Notably, one of his idols is Michael Marmot, a London-based academic who has pioneered the study of how social inequality affects health.”