Scottish pharmacist and journalist.
After trying out some podcasting last year without continuing success, here we go again as 2016 comes to a close. In this pilot episode of Official Anas Hassan Podcast: Should Fidel Castro be honoured in the Scottish Parliament? The results of a poll I conducted over on my own Twitter page over which was preferable…
Scotland’s Minor Ailment Service (MAS) has been a well regarded success in the field of pharmacy over the best part of the last decade. It has opened up as a credible alternative to waiting for an appointment with the GP for many patients north of the border when it comes to treating a selection of…
Towards the end of last year, I ran a poll online asking potential participants whether they agreed with the idea of fining patients who use the NHS as a result of binge drinking. Nearly 58% of people who responded to the poll voted against the idea, but over 40% sympathised with such a policy (link via my…
After days of writing this speech, failed attempt after failed attempt to produce a worthwhile speech and lots of frustration, I am delighted to reveal my own assessment, on camera, of how proposed cuts to the English community pharmacy network could have consequences for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as England. With over…
What do we entirely mean when it comes to the word “nice”? To quote Oxford Dictionaries online, it is defined as “giving pleasure or satisfaction; pleasant or attractive:”. So in a world full of war, hostility and grievance, why do so many within society consciously and subconsciously discriminate against individual human beings who fit this precise definition of a…
Every human being cherishes love. It’s natural. It is a fundamental element of life and even the human race wouldn’t survive without it. But love does manifest itself in several different ways and one of the ways it comes across is romantic love. And regardless of ethnicity, faith, gender, sexual orientation or social background, none…
Something so simple yet so extraordinary happened to me last night at a supermarket in Kinross-shire. Here is the status update from Facebok that I shared: “When I state that I am NOT a boring man then I really do mean it. And here is a spectacular reason why that is absolutely the case. I…
At the end of the day, Scotland would never exist the dynamic and outgoing nation that it truly is without continuous and uninterrupted immigration. Nobody living here is bigger than the nation. And let’s face it, who is defined as a Scot? The unambiguous answer is that it is every person who lives here, who…
It has been nearly one year since Scotland voted on the issue of independence. And it hasn’t been boring in the slightest! In the aftermath of the vote, I produced a programme called “The Campaign For Scottish Independence: A Reflection” where a group of Yes voters, a prominent No campaigner and a chosen neutral observer…
Glasgow 2014 was more than a sporting occasion. It was a time of happiness for many people. It brought about many days of real inclusiveness for many people across society. And it brought home one of the biggest international events in the world to our doorstep. Athletes and many other people from across the Commonwealth…
“Go out into the world and do good.” The closing words from the outgoing Vice Principal and Head of College of the The Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, Professor Michael Greaves, during yesterday afternoon’s graduation ceremony at the King’s College campus. Those words have stuck with me since almost 24 hours…
Today I had a day off which got off to a shocking start. Waking up from my sleep, I picked up my phone to find numerous alerts indicating that the former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy had passed away. Any death is awful, but this particular one was astonishing. Oor Charlie? Dead? At 55?…
