We continue to stand in solidarity with Denmark and Greenland. Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Any changes to that status are for Greenlanders and Danes alone to decide. (1/2)

The commitment of £550 million for victim support services over the next three years, alongside additional funding for health-led responses, safe accommodation and specialist programmes, signals an important step forward. 🧵 3/4

We welcome today's publication of the Government’s new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, and the high level of ambition it sets out, including the commitment to halving violence against women and girls over the next decade. 🧵1/4

Tax and benefit measures announced this Parliament so far benefit children the most. This is due to the abolition of the two-child limit, the expansion of Free School Meals to children in families receiving UC in England, and the above-inflation increases to the UC standard allowance.

Dog-whistle and factually incorrect. Ladies, raise your hand if you were sexually assaulted by a boy at school? I’d wager this or a family member is most women’s first experience of sexual violence

NEW: President Trump is expanding the previous 19-country travel ban to a whopping 39 countries (plus the Palestinian Authority), and appears to expand a block on legal immigration to now include spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens, who were previously exempted.

It was a pleasure to welcome #ChrisCurrie from the #PensionsPolicyInstitute and #JonathanCribb from the @theifs.bsky.social to the #WorkandPensionsSelectCommittee as part of our 'Transition to State Pension Age' Inquiry. If you would like to watch more go to 👇🏼

@independentsage.bsky.social have consistently tried to counter the spread of infection and misinformation...great to work on this in @bmj.com with Steve Reicher (lead) and @martinmckee.bsky.social, we hope it's helpful...and thanks to Jolie Neill for edits & guidance 🙏 www.bmj.com/content/391/...

NEW A guided tour of President Trump's 33-page, $5 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation How some parts are strong, some parts are weak - and why a strict legalistic analysis will not tell the whole story. By me emptycity.substack.com/p/a-guided-t... (£) at least for now

"Do people get cross with the BBC? They do. Do people have their own sense of what the BBC is getting wrong all the time? They do," says Emily Maitlis. "But do they really want to see the end of an institution at Trump's hand? I don't think so" www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/trum...

BREAKING: The House of Representatives just passed a bill that would subject immigrant children to invasive bodily searches and keep them in detention instead of releasing them to their families. The Senate must vote no on this horrific bill.

"California, Oregon, and Washington launched the West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA) in September 2025 to ensure science-based public health guidance, creating a regional coalition to provide unified, credible health recommendations, including for vaccines, free from partisan influence."

California is providing its own version of the CDC - “a shield” - to provide reliable health information at a time when it’s lacking in the rest of the US, Governor Gavin Newsom announced. It’s not a Shadow CDC, he stressed, not at that federal level, but it will have links with the WHO.

NEW - The Employment Rights bill has finally passed, after a tortured time in the Lords. Christmas cheer for ministers and trade unions

C of E responds to Tommy Robinson’s carols event with ‘Christmas is for all’ message

And in response to headlines like "there is no need for masks", here is the 1 minutes from my interview where I discuss basic preventative measures (including masks!). Also note that NHS stats like A&E and Ambulance waits are lower than same time 3 years ago, even with earlier flu wave.

Was on Sky News this morning discussing Flu and whether this was a record bad year or not. Also discussed what we could do and the importance of vaccines, ventilation and wearing a mask if you're ill. youtu.be/_PZiU3R7jac

"The five fake Bondi attack stories spread by AI and social media. From a fictitious hero interviewed in his hospital bed, to misinformation about other attacks, AI and social media spread some serious lies on Sunday night." www.afr.com/companies/me...

Wrote about how the late, great Rob Reiner had the most impossible 7-movie beginning to any director's career, and yet that's not even what he was most famous for:

Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, has been identified as the man who disarmed one of the Sydney attackers. Ahmed was shot by the second shooter, who was firing from a bridge. He suffered 2 gunshot wounds and is undergoing surgery.

The number of people killed in the Australian beach shooting rises to 16, New South Wales minister says.

#BREAKING 🚨 Police have now confirmed at least 12 people are dead and 29 others injured after a mass shooting on Bondi Beach, which has been declared a terrorist attack NSW premier Chris Minns says the shooting targeted the Jewish community at a Hanukkah celebration

Thought-provoking piece: “When violence against women and girls is reduced to racist social media erotica and invented AI threats, we have no chance of dealing with either..”

So, to those who say "masks don't work", cite the flawed Cochrane report, insist upon an unfeasible RCT, accuse folks of panic, and undermine public health on social and mainstream media during a flu/RSV epidemic... 1. Seasonal viruses may be "normal", but they do immense harm.

2. COVID now adds to disease burden in an unpredictable, perennial way. 3. We maddeningly restrict access to vaccines without considering the wider and long-term costs of disease. 4. Nothing has been done nationally to improve indoor air quality. 5. Vaccines and NPIs synergise.

Infighting, broken promises and insisting on the national anthem: what seven months of Reform UK in charge actually looks like

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

On "we have become the destination of choice in Europe, clearly visible to every people smuggler and would-be illegal migrant across the world" "we concluded that the statement made by the Home Secretary was presented as an assertion, and not a statistical finding" - UK statistics regulator

Alternativ auch

Morning.

🧵 Is it a super flu year? Who knows, but I think the current reporting is stupid. A pissed off thread using data. Firstly - here are today's headlines and some from the last 3 years... spot the difference. 1/10

Latest monthly visa application figures are out. Skilled workers? Still dropping. Health & care workers? Still dropping. Slow clap.

Should you wear a mask if you've got symptomatic flu? YES. If you wear it at home *from the onset of your symptoms*, your family members are much less likely to catch flu from you (but you must avoid unmasked co-sleeping and eating around same table - have your meals alone). 1/

I wrote in @statnews.com about the emotional toll anti-vaccine rhetoric is taking on clinicians — and how it’s straining our relationships with patients. This isn’t abstract; it’s happening every day in exam rooms across the country. 🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/12/10/a... #Vaccines #PublicHealth

Policymakers usually think about the value of parks and green spaces in terms of economic and environmental benefits. But as Alexandra Gomes @thebartlettucl.bsky.social Stefano Cavazzi argue parks contribute to people’s wellbeing, overall health, and sense of belonging @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social

Incredible www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Absolutely chilling read (as a disinformation researcher): The systematic crackdown on disinformation scholars, newsrooms, factcheckers and NGO’s. All in the name of so-called free speech. By @jamesrball.com @theverge.com www.theverge.com/features/839...

In news that will shock few parents, a review finds that special needs kids do not thrive in strict schools. Strict school 'harmful' to some pupils, review says www.bbc.com/news/article...

Jeez. All tourists - including those from Britain - will have to undergo a social media screening before being allowed entry into the US under new plans being considered by the country's border force news.sky.com/story/us-pla...

Astonishing that @thehowardleague.bsky.social are even having to do this. PAVA is a chemical irritant spray that can cause severe pain. It is classified under law as a prohibited weapon. It is cruel and inhumane. And yet it has now been extended to prisons where children are being held.

"Dual nationals should be stripped of their citizenship, and they should be deported with no exceptions. We don’t want these people in our country. If they have citizenship of another country, then they should be deported, and their British citizenship should be removed. No ifs, no buts." Oh dear.

Three more British MEPs in Nigel Farage’s bloc now alleged to have “followed the script” given to Nathan Gill by an alleged Russian asset, according to prosecutors. At least eight UKIP and Brexit Party MPs were focus of efforts by Nathan Gill www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"For the first time in 25 years, child mortality rates for preventable diseases are projected to increase, after having declined for 25 years." This is the legacy of aid cuts. ~AA time.com/7338791/chil...

Some quick thoughts on the child poverty strategy as it relates to immigration & asylum policy (which is what my research focuses on): 1) great to see recognition of children affected by NRPF as part of 'our children, our future' strategy www.gov.uk/government/p...

No surprise that Ed West thinks you have to be white for London to be "your city", but still shocking that the *London* Standard prints this stuff. [NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"] www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...

“Farage has suggested that it’s inconceivable that anyone could recall such events of more than four decades ago. I would simply ask: can a victim of such abuse ever forget?…I recognise his walk every time I see it on TV as that same walk that used to approach me” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Why does Tucker Carlson hate Britain? His garish fantasies about our country are starting to infect our own conservative movement By @JonnElledge.bsky.social

You can find our full answers to 12 childhood vaccination questions (that you may have been afraid to ask) at m.yale.edu/cyy8. Answers written by: @kkjetelina.bsky.social @meganranney.bsky.social @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social @enirenberg.bsky.social 9/9

Why do babies need the hepatitis B vaccine if they aren’t high-risk? Short answer: Because hepatitis B is a tricky virus. Longer answer: Continue reading ⬇️ 🧵1/9 @kkjetelina.bsky.social @meganranney.bsky.social @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social @enirenberg.bsky.social

Today's Child Poverty Strategy leaves thousands of migrant children - 40% of all children in poverty - out in the cold. Every child deserves the same chance to thrive. Poverty is a political choice. The Govt's failure to act for all children falls short of the scale and urgency of the crisis.