nigel farage tweet: The Bank of England is replacing Winston Churchill with a picture of a beaver on our bank notes. This is the definition of woke.
i, for one, am delighted that we finally have a definition of “woke”
It doesn't look packed with delegates in the pic you did take...
Probably a bit of variation within the field as well - I was thinking 'younger doctor in the village surgery', 'small-town solicitor with office above an estate agent' who I think would be middle (so paying a mortgage rather than inheriting, kids at a good local comp not a private school).
I grew up in a village in the UK in the 90s, most middle class families were this way. And again, not super top 10% wealthy (all kids at state schools for example) but doing OK as solicitors, doctors, middle managers, senior teaching staff etc. May have been different in pricier bits of the country.
I love settling in to a good long read personally
I often think this about Trump. He's just doing the stuff US presidents do, but not for a moment pretending that it is anything other than the pursuit of oil or land or cool visuals to show voters ahead of the midterms or regime change to something which suits America a bit better.
Puts me in mind of this paper about the impact of working with religious leaders to build trust - reading this way back when I was an editorial assistant on the journal made me understand communication is one of the most vital and interesting parts of epidemiology journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...
Hm. I am 39. This sounds like a good way to spend the next couple of decades. I'd love other tips for folk about to turn 40 - perhaps a bit of an ignored transition compared to 20, 30 or 50?
I live in his constituency and voted for him because he is a great local MP (a thing he does seem to enjoy) and has helped us with a few things. I'm just not sure i can bring myself to put a cross in the box for Your Party. Though big leap to imagine it will still exist at the next GE tbh
There's a real tension between the 'renationalise steel' and 'resurrect Thatcher' factions. Living in N London, I'm getting 'undo the triple lock, cut doctor/teacher pensions' comms, my friends in Lincolnshire are absolutely not getting that. It's going to cause Reform problems at some point.
Writing helps you organize and clarify your own thoughts.
When others read, it helps them do the same, whether they agree with you or not.
Both of us probably need the reminder a year from now.
This is why it’s valuable to write, even if your ideas aren’t unique.
Yes, and somehow even though I'm very hungry no food which exists seems to be the thing I actually want to eat in that moment.
I have seen some interesting talks about development of closed AI systems for systematic review, and I think there is potential there. However, it is literally just for sifting - improving efficacy of search algorithms. We still need human thinking, and human contributions to grey literature.
Kinda a fight against the best of human nature on our hands as well as the worst with AMR
As a patient when i got given antibiotics in a pharmacy in Mexico which were definitely a diagnostic shot in the dark lord how I quaffed them to make the sickness go despite working in the field and knowing in stupid detail why this was bad
I think a very human impulse to relieve pain can be behind overprescribing. It must be hard to tell a patient no when they don't understand why and maybe would have just been given antibiotics immediately once upon a time!
About half of the high-powered .50-caliber cartridges that the Mexican authorities have seized from cartels since 2012 were traced to an ammunition factory outside Kansas City, that is owned by the United States government. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/w...
Yes for sure, and actually the whole world really is coming together on things like the WHO AWaRe and GLASS tools. There were positive steps at the UN last year on addressing it cross-sector too. But still, it remains an issue that is pretty existential for modern medicine.
drugs they need?' is basically why we now have incurable TB). We massively overuse still in the wealthy parts of the world for sure. There is more stewardship, but also more of an expectation from patients that there is a pill for everything and more use overall.
Coming back to this comment because I feel bad implying LICs are to blame - they can't afford diagnostics and the access to a range of antimicrobials is inequitable (rich countries going 'well we've solved TB here so does it really matter if poor countries only get half the amount of expensive...
They are in a lot of places unfortunately, particularly generics in lower income countries. While farm use is a bigger issue, over/misuse in humans remains a huge problem, and why we see a resurgence in, for example, resistant TB, MSRA, C Diff.
Although in fun news from science, in some ways antibiotics kinda are causing worsening disease as our overuse deepens resistance. There are people in hospitals right now dying of bugs which would have been treatable 20 years ago. Though something tells me this is not the point being made here
Absolutely - in so many ways a great country and a great place to live, filled with charitable and kind people. Easy to forget that among the howls of the tabloids and the powerful people who want to tear it all down.
One of the most striking data visualizations I've ever seen, and it's just text:
This Is Donald Trump’s Name 38,000 Times
The Epstein files released so far contain more than 38,000 references to Trump, Melania, Mar-a-Lago, and other related words, according to the New York Times.
"Moderna's CEO announced the company will no longer invest in new Phase 3 vaccine trials for infectious diseases: 'You cannot make a return on investment if you don't have access to the U.S. market. Vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and shingles have been shelved.” 9:12 AM Feb 12, 2026 604.8K Views
In terms of what cures are being lost:
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
Oh no, he was just a hilarious delight in Apartment 23, he seemed to be having so much fun being the daftest interpretation of himself. Six kids too. Very sad indeed.
I mean this is obviously appalling, but as a European come on guys there's some top scientists to poach here surely
I as a UK citizen am disgusted. But Andrew and Mandelson are rightly falling, if not quickly or far enough. When will US Senators hold your rapist paedo president to account? Grow a spine and lock him up.
A proud 'Brit who married a Mexican' moment for me was a pub quiz in Peterborough where I did not recognise prog rock after prog rock in the music round, then Gasolina came on and yes i know this DADDY YANKEE. Hubby's contribution was Las Ketchup
It has been so gloomy and I've had two head colds in a row so this news has really cheered me right up.
