James Medhurst

James Medhurst

As a child, I was very successful in my schoolwork but found it difficult to make friends. I went to Cambridge University but dropped out after a year due to severe depression and spent most of the next year in a therapeutic community, before returning to Cambridge to complete my degree. I first identified myself as autistic in 1999 while I was studying psychology in London but I was not officially diagnosed until 2004 because of a year travelling in Australia and a great deal of NHS bureaucracy. I spent four years working for the BBC as a question writer for the Weakest Link but I am now studying law with the intention of training to be a solicitor. My hobbies include online poker and korfball, and I will be running the London Marathon in 2007. I now have many friends and I am rarely depressed but I remain single.

Articles by James Medhurst

Results 1 to 10 of 22

Disabled on Big Brother

  • 05 August 2008
  • 14 comments

One of the earliest of my recruits on Weakest Link was a blind radio producer from Ayrshire called Michael Hughes. He is now nine weeks into his stay in the Big Brother house

You don’t have to be mad to work here…

  • 20 May 2008
  • 1 comment

It is not new for political figures to be affected by mental illness – Winston Churchill was famously manic depressive

Nowhere to run

  • 17 March 2008
  • 2 comments

James Medhurst points out that the purpose of sport is not to create a level playing field but rather to compare like with like, especially within the context of the Paralympics.

Incitement to Confusion

  • 23 January 2008

While the government's attitude to disabled people seems contradictory, the media's remains profoundly unsupportive

Making perfect babies

  • 07 December 2007
  • 1 comment

James Medhurst turns his gaze on the controversial issue of selective abortion

Scientific illiteracy

  • 31 October 2007
  • 1 comment

Novel educational techniques such as phonics may be trendy but where is the proof that they do any good?

Looking for work is hard work

  • 24 September 2007
  • 2 comments

Being disabled means rarely finding the right job, irrespective of one's potential

No place for tradition

  • 30 August 2007
  • 3 comments

Nostalgia for dated public transport systems does not make them any more accessible for those with disabilities

Charities are hamstrung by the law

  • 24 July 2007
  • 11 comments

One would have thought in a liberal democracy the promotion of debate and free speech is inherently beneficial, whether one agrees with its content or not

Anyone care about carers?

  • 28 June 2007
  • 51 comments

They talk a good talk, but do the politicians or anyone else for that matter really care about the carers

The interview

Preview: Ken Livingstone: “The world is run by monsters”

The interview

Preview: Boris Johnson: “I’ll tell you what makes me angry – lefty crap”

On Syria

Intervention in Syria won’t work, so how do we stop Assad?

GOP race so far

Infographic: Republican primary race 2012

Mind your B-sides

Mind your B-sides

Time to rethink

Time to rethink, not reassure

Who minds?

Latter Day Taint?

Alistair Darling

Alistair Darling, the Miliband dilemma and what the party must do next
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