Paresh Jobanputra

Retired rheumatologist.

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

Recently learned about Sunghyun Yoo, a Korean tailor who moved from Seoul to Naples in 2017 to learn how to become a bespoke tailor. While many East Asians take apprenticeships in Europe, often in Italy, most of them return to their home countries after their studies. Yoo decided to stay in Naples, where he has established his own workshop, which he named Sartoria Del Signore.

If you know a little about tailoring, then you can spot many of the hallmarks here of Neapolitan style: The soft shoulder line, extended front dart, high gorge, straight lapels, and slightly sweeping quarters. It's said that Vincenzo Attolini invented this style in the early 1900s when he worked as the head cutter for Rubinacci (then called London House).

Back then, traditional British tailoring tended to be more structured. A jacket was typically built with a stiff layer of haircloth, a layer of body canvas, and a fuzzy layer of felt called domette to prevent the prickly haircloth from poking through. Faced with clients who wanted lighter, more comfortable jackets for Naples's warmer clime, Attolini ripped out much of this structure — removing the domette entirely and reserving just a bit of haircloth at certain parts of the chest. The shoulder line was also minimally padded. The result is something that's not only lighter and more comfortable in the heat but also looks more relaxed and casual than its British counterpart.

Today, Neapolitan tailoring houses struggle to find apprentices. For good reason, most young people don't want to become bespoke tailors, as it takes a long time to learn the skills, and the future of this market is uncertain. Even when young people enter the tailoring industry, they are more likely to become content creators, businesspeople, marketers, or something similar. They don't want to be the people who draft patterns, cut, and sew.

Thus, it's great to see immigrants keep this craft alive. To me, it's never about the person's ethnicity, but rather their skills and mindset. Anyone can learn how to become a bespoke tailor. In Naples, there's a specific way of doing things that yields a particular silhouette. It's great to see Yoo carry this tradition forward at a time when it's at risk of disappearing.

Earlier this year, I had dinner with two bespoke tailors — one from Hong Kong, the other from Seoul. The second was studied under Antonio Pascariello, a master tailor in Naples who recently passed away. I remember asking both tailors a question about how to fit a difficult figure, and the Korean tailor gave an answer that I thought revealed a very Italian way of thinking. In this way, Italian traditions live on, regardless of the person's ethnicity.

If you're interested, you can follow Yoo on Instagram (look up sartoriadelsignore). As usual, I have no affiliation with him — this is not a paid post, as I don't do paid posts. Just some thoughts about this dying art and the role that immigrants play, even when they're from different cultures and backgrounds.

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

@TimHarford Is the talk you mentioned at the beginning of your article available online?

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

@JAMA_current Lovely and resonating as I embark on the first few weeks of retirement, I’ve yet to tackle my box files. Wish me luck.

[JAMA @JAMA_current]

"Medicine was not something I did between 9 AM and 5 PM. It was not something that sat on one side of a scale opposite of 'life.' Medicine was woven through every aspect of my life."

In #APieceofMyMind, a retired family physician reflects on the boxes of paper left behind by a medical career—and the enduring relationships, lessons, and identity they represent.

https://t.co/xlTCHkMzbQ

[Richard Bogle @richardbogle]

1/ Outpatient medicine has a problem.
The consultation happens now.
The letter arrives weeks later.

We’ve accepted this delay as normal.
It isn’t.

🧵

[Doc Em🕷🇪🇺 @DocEmUK]

I’ve been doing this GP malarkey for nearly 20y now. It struck me today that the only way I can carry on practising the way I used to is if I do it at my own personal expense. It never used to be like this - there was enough time in the day for bereavement visits, wellbeing checks, proactive care, time with colleagues to discuss patients & build relationships.
General practice today is decision making at the same speed as a shoot-em-up game. Today was just me for 55 same day requests for appointments, clinical supervision of three members of staff, medical student education, paramedic education and all routine needs for a population of 1250 patients.
We’re fortunate to have personal lists - though the new contract doesn’t value the continuity at all - and that matters to me deeply.
Leaving work at 7, I decided to pop in to a patient of mine that I’ve known for 14y. In their 80s, they’ve just had joint replacement surgery and are having a bit of a wobble. We had a chat, they felt better, we have a plan & I’ll check in next week.
This is the kind of GP I want to be.
My day would have been less frantic, I’d have eaten/urinated at a sensible time, and I’d would have been less snappy with the children whom I saw briefly before bed if there hadn’t been so much nonsense crowding my day: 25 mins on hold trying to get through to a specialist (and failing), an insurance company slyly demanding a conversation with me about a non-urgent issue because it saves them money, dealing with consequences of private tests not requested by me but with the inevitable ‘see your GP’ as disposition, missing discharge medication, delayed follow-up, inappropriate ‘GP to’ as the heart failure team have a waiting list - and much more.
Commissioning gaps, poor clinical pathway planning, govt targets on access over quality, media perpetuation of entitlement over responsibility and disproportionate investment & expansion of specialists over general practice have caused this. This is not ‘part time’ GP working - as a partner that’s never a thing. This is expectations from everywhere without resourcing to match.
We want to deliver the things we did 20y ago - that’s why we went into this.
If you want your family doctor back then you need to support us - because we want to be that too. I’m a GP, but also a Mum, wife and daughter of aged parents. I can’t do this at my own expense any more, and nor should I have to. Arguments of laziness and greed always abound, but really what we need is a properly resourced service. Please stand with us - a fight is coming.

[Dr Peter Weeks @DrPeterWeeks1]

Compulsory Advice and guidance… Get stuffed . As an experienced GP ,if i need advice i will ask,if not i won’t. There you go. If the trust refuses to see patient then my advocacy means i will do WHATEVER is necessary , local MP/local/national press.

[Anish Koka, MD @anish_koka]

https://t.co/WXyKfmyS8e

[Dr Joanna Moncrieff @joannamoncrieff]

An excellent essay on how mental health labels obscure the complexity of human beings and 'can become self-fulfilling spells' https://t.co/KcXxeIX8Wr

[Nick Bryant @NickBryantNY]

I suspect we might come to look on Mark Carney’s speech in Davos a little like Winston Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech in Fullerton in brilliantly articulating the threats of a new and different global age. It s worth reading in full.

https://t.co/wE54yja660

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

MEthotrexate versus TOcilizumab for treatment of Giant cell Arteritis (METOGiA trial): a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. - ACR Meeting Abstracts https://t.co/jm8Uh8Wznp

[The BMJ @bmj_latest]

The weekly cancer MDT meeting can cause treatment delays, result in poor quality decisions, and waste clinicians’ time, say @tomroques and colleagues.

As cancer incidence continues to rise, MDT meetings on cancer must be overhauled
https://t.co/sN9CUmG5uH

[Michael Baum @MichaelBaum11]

This letter was not published in the Times
Sir,
The European Study of Prostate Cancer Screening after 23 years follow up, demonstrated an excess of 27/1000 prostate cancers in the screened group compared with the untested controls. Mortality from prostate cancer was 1.4% in the screened group compared with 1.6% in the control group, a difference of 2/1000. During this period, close on 50% of all participants died of other causes. The authors conclude, "The associated risks of overdiagnosis and unnecessary interventions remain considerable. Future screening strategies should focus on risk-based approaches to minimize these harms while maintaining the benefits." Nowhere does the paper say screening for prostate cancer would save thousands.
Professor Michael Baum

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

https://t.co/0n8O0jXNgg

[Izzy Knowles 🔶🇬🇧🇪🇺 🌎🕊️ @gardensinboots]

I fully support the call for more action from police and council to prevent the speeding, red light jumping and illegal right turns which occur constantly at this junction and to prosecute the offenders, many of whom should know better.

https://t.co/c7ZlXkFTgr

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

Excellent: https://t.co/N4WqJOsKPY

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

Finding wise hope beyond a cure https://t.co/D0KkQDZm5S

[Kit Yates @Kit_Yates_Maths]

Cancer Research UK today published a report which highlights changes in cancer survival rates over the last 50 years.

Many headlines (like this one from the Guardian) have chosen to report the ‘doubling of cancer survival rates’ since the 1970s.

But that's misleading...

1/18

[Paresh Jobanputra @JobanputraP]

https://t.co/pBok2hL1XB

[Vinay Prasad MD MPH @VPrasadMDMPH]

New Paper Just out
We revisit the draconian and unethical patient visitor restrictions during the pandemic
How did it become so widely accepted to let people die alone?
https://t.co/OpSXHpw1Jg