Rachel Reeves signals plan to remove two-child benefit cap in budget

Something I wrote for @economist.com on sacred walks in the UK.

Nice experience at The Conduit discussing the impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases. Many thanks to all involved in the organisation, my fellow panelists @charlottekilpo.bsky.social @samiasaad.bsky.social @mcdonnell.bsky.social @ellenthoen.bsky.social and the UK Pasteur foundation

Breaking News: Susan Crawford, a liberal judge, won a pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court seat despite $25 million in spending by Elon Musk on her opponent. nyti.ms/4jbwPWD

Breaking News: The top vaccine official at the FDA abruptly resigned, saying that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “misinformation and lies” were irresponsible.

I bet Liz Cheney is watching this with popcorn

My first article at the new job about how tweaking a tiny footnote in the WHO Pandemic Treaty could save millions of lives. Also a good time to reflect on how unequal vaccine distribution was responsible for 600,000 deaths in low income countries in 2021. www.theconduit.com/things-you-s...

The problem when billionaires own our media

Children who died because the policy is to expose them to the risk of dying, as a warning to others

More than 160 Gazan medics held in Israeli prisons amid reports of torture

Math is hard

After Raskin issued a harsh takedown of Musk, triggering a Twitter fight between the two, Raskin pressed further, asking Musk a simple question: As someone who supposedly works for the government now, will he submit to basic financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest rules?

#USA: As healthcare providers, we are deeply concerned by disruptions to the US government’s lifesaving PEPFAR programme for people living with HIV. Our latest has details about what impacts we’re witnessing in countries where we work ⬇️ www.msf.org/uncertainty-...

The new Administration’s move to shutter U.S.A.I.D. has halted vital aid programs around the world and left thousands of development workers in a state of limbo. nyer.cm/HzRy7nS

This is what you'll find if you look for the CDC's guidelines for PrEP. www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/risk...

More than 8,000 web pages across more than a dozen U.S. government websites have been taken down since Friday afternoon, a New York Times analysis found. The purges have removed information about vaccines, veterans’ care, hate crimes, scientific research and more.

When there weren't enough bank examiners on the beat, SVB and Signature Bank failed, requiring big bailouts. The FDIC should explain why it’s now axing even more examiners whose job it is to make sure big banks don't crash our economy. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

My contribution to this week’s @economist.com involved sampling jellied eels London’s pie-and-mash shops are disappearing www.economist.com/britain/2025... from The Economist

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned the FDA to revoke authorization of Covid vaccines in 2021, when estimates had begun to show that the rollout of the shots had already saved about 140,000 lives. nyti.ms/4hkaSnl

Data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture which showed that over 20 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S. were killed by H5N1 bird flu in the last quarter of 2024.

An article I wrote for @newrepublic.com about how SCOTUS will decide if preventive care is best left to medical professionals or political appointees

Israel severely weakened safeguards meant to protect civilians to make it easier to strike Gaza in the weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, unleashing one of the deadliest bombing campaigns in modern warfare, a New York Times investigation found. nyti.ms/49XyoV2

My piece this week for @newrepublic.com about how the pharmaceutical industry games the patent system newrepublic.com/article/1894...

My Christmas contribution to @economist.com How to get money from Ebenezer Scrooge www.economist.com/britain/2024... from The Economist

This week I got to explore my roots to a country I’ve never been to for @economist.com www.economist.com/britain/2024...

New tax filings show that Elon Musk’s charitable foundation fell $421 million short of the amount it was required to give away in 2023. Musk has until the end of the year to distribute that money, or he will be required to pay a sizable penalty to the IRS.

#Sudan: faces one of the most devastating humanitarian crises that the world has seen for decades. Population of Sudan ~48 million with almost half facing acute hunger needs. Sudan has the world's largest displacement crisis with 20% of the population displaced. #TalkAboutSudan

There were over 40,000 victims of gun violence in the US last year. How many of those victims do you reckon had hundreds of police officers working round the clock to find their shooter? Even in death the American justice system cares more about the CEO class than the rest of us

REALLY IMPORTANT UPDATE PLEASE SHARE #ASafeChoice physicians WILL prescribe medication abortion via telehealth FOR WOMEN WHO ANTICIPATE NEEDING THIS MEDICATION. REPEAT: You do NOT need to be currently pregnant to get this prescription. In an era of potentially draconian abortion bans, take note!

This is heartbreaking

First share on BlueSky. Sending love today on World AIDS Day to everyone remembering someone they lost to HIV