1. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health

2. ‘In Defence of Politics’ Presented by David Hunter Professor of Health Policy and Management 14 th January 2014

3. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health In Praise of Politics (1) Politics may be a messy, mundane, inconclusive, tangled business, far removed from the passion for certainty and the fascination for world-shaking quests which afflict the totalitarian intellectual; but it does, at least, even in the worst of political circumstances, give a man some choice in what role to play…. Politics is not, then, a grasping for the ideal; but neither is it a freezing of tradition. It is an activity – lively, adaptive, flexible, and conciliatory. Politics is the way in which free societies are governed. Politics is politics and other forms of rule are something else. Bernard Crick (1962) In Defence of Politics

4. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health In Praise of Politics (2) Politics…does not claim to settle every problem or to make every sad heart glad, but it can help some way in nearly everything and, where it is strong, it can prevent the vast cruelties and deceits of ideological rule. Politics deserves much praise. Bernard Crick (1962) In Defence of Politics

5. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health From ‘Lincoln’ A compass, I learnt when I was surveying, it’ll…it’ll point you true North from where you’re standing, but it’s got no advice about the swamps, deserts and chasms that you’ll encounter along the way. If in pursuit of your destination, you plunge ahead heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp, what’s the use of knowing true North? Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day- Lewis) speaking to Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones)

6. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing else but medicine on a large scale. Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902)

7. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health Health is very much a political issue (with a big ‘P’ and a small ‘p’), and will not change unless those who have political power at all levels wish it to do so and the population want it to happen and see value in it. Almost all change is wrought through people, as individuals and as groups. Kenneth Calman (1998)

8. ∂ School of Medicine Pharmacy & Health Getting Things onto the Policy Agenda Theory of Multiple Streams  Problem stream: represents perception of a problem as one requiring government action  Policy stream: refers to proposals and knowledge and advice given by researchers and advisors  Political stream: represents will of the political establishment and key actors to place an issue on the agenda Kingdon, J. (1984) Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies