So, yeah, the framing will fix it fetish aka magic word wand is silly. And, also, we *are* by default always using words & images to convey things. So the question isn't will we "do messaging" but rather will we do it well or badly.
Interested in helping shape #research on #health inequity? 📣 We're recruiting for our Childcare Public Scrutiny Panel! 👇
We want to hear from families using childcare, and from those who can’t access it although they need it. Get in touch or register your interest: forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Now *that* is interesting. (Confession: I'm a fan of citizens' assemblies).
Pride and resilience at heart of food in the North East 💗
Last but not least, a new film and report from the fourth and final ‘What Works Here Inquiry’ on food in the 📍North East - watch in full and learn more here: foodfoundation.org.uk/news/pride-a...
@ffc-commission.bsky.social
““Glasgow is slowly becoming a hollow shadow of the thriving, radical and creatively edgy place it once was. At a certain point you have to ask what kind of city we are choosing to become”
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
"Hot shards of broken metal are falling from the sky, don't worry!"
Opinion Restoring order at the border speaks to Labour values. Without that, we won't be able to do anything else at all Shabana Mahmood Our approach, unlike that of the Greens and Reform, is in step with the British people. They don't want extremes - they want a system that is managed and fair Shabana Mahmood is the UK home secretary
This is a hot mess of outright lies and misinformation from the Home Secretary, designed to try and persuade people that a government which is implementing some of the most hostile anti-immigration/asylum policies, in practice, for decades is progressive. 1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Powerful oped, not just about public health but the state of our democracies:
"That’s real progress. Not GDP going up 0.1% or Rachel Reeves forecasting an extra couple of billion in fiscal headroom – but whether you live or die, are well or sick"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I'm currently hiring for a PhD studentship based at City St George's, University of London as part of @equalise.bsky.social 'Family and environmental influences on children's home learning, and inequalities in education and mental health outcomes' Apply here: www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/prospective-...
Yes, I am an academic, and I say HLE is a more useful statistic pointing to real policy issues because general LE improvement is not news, as I showed you, it almost always improved over last 150+ years.
You appear to be annoyed that the BBC chose to report a more meaningful statistic.
Yes see McCartney et al. 2012, Scotland's LE in red rising for 150+ years along with (tho slower than recently) everyone else's. HLE more useful measure as shown in Labour's manifesto promise on HLE gaps.
HLE is a much better measure as LE almost always rises
Macro photo of a brown stink bug in face view on a leaf, guarding a tightly-clustered bunch of eggs that are shaped and colored exactly like a full tray of dark beer with foam on top.
Finally, the bug is back with a round of the Guinness.
The smokefree generation is VERY nearly law. A resounding vote in the House of Lords in favour. The UK will shortly become the first country in Europe to phase out the sale of tobacco to the next generation. Quite a moment.
This is a massive shift which would upend the lives of millions - not just the nearly half million directly threatened but their families. It would abandon a basic principle of law that changes are not retrospectively applied.
Stop! In the name of law
Victim-blaming never helps. We’re rightly appalled when it happens in crime such as sexual assault — and we should be equally horrified when it happens in road danger. Stop blaming those harmed. Focus on dangerous drivers & build a culture that respects cycling & the wider benefits of active travel.
The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.
A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.
Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.
This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.
Can't wait to hear the "more to follow"
Teams could get 1 appeal per half (or 2 per game), activated by captain or manager. With that scarcity, has to be used wisely, team-mates have to be honest & certain if asking captain to make appeal. Also, could need to be specified (e.g. handball by no.3) not just general appeal to find a foul.
AOC: "Extreme level of wealth inequality leads to social instability and drives authoritarianism, right-wing populism, and really dangerous domestic internal politics. That is a direct outcome of the failure of democracies over decades to deliver."
I regularly post updates on this story because it's an atrocity on an incomprehensible scale but people don't really talk about it
www.reuters.com/business/hea...
How American politics were bought by the billionaire class.
Tired: The UK is a two party system (Lab & Con)
Wired: This is the age of political fragmentation
Inspired: The UK is a two party system (Green & Ref)
I deleted my Amazon account (including about 40 books I had "bought" for Kindle) about a year ago.
It's easy! Loads of alternatives. Highly recommend ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is basically supply side economics. Billionaires obviously cant spend their money on food and services so they will instead buy elections and install corrupt abusive racists because billionaires love that stuff
@uofgussp.bsky.social has a fab community of participatory researchers. Now advertising for RA w participatory methods experience to join us and work across two of our large grants: @healthmod.bsky.social and @changingrealities.bsky.social
New SHERU webinar: 🔷Refreshing the National Performance Framework🔷
🕐️ Monday March 2nd, 1-2pm
🔗 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/refreshing...
Excellent piece this.
Points to the narrowing of our thinking when we focus on "public health" - the medicalising effects of 'health' makes PH seem so inadequate in the face of vast political challenges like these.
