Here's an idea: For every webinar/ blog post about how AI is going to save us all, there has to be one of an equal length explaining how both the data and analytical infrastructure are nowhere near adequate to support the former aim and what to do about it

The perfect headline doesn’t exi…

I rounded up a few Claude Skills for #RStats users. Huge thanks to the creators who developed them. They share Skills for everything from tidyverse code to brand.yml files to learning while using AI. Hope the list is useful, and please let me know what I missed! 🧡 rworks.dev/posts/claude...

Apologies, my friend, but at a time such as this I do not hope that you are well, rather, I hope that you are angry and worried, rather, I hope that you are saddened and not numb, at a time such as this it would be strange to hope that you are well, but I hope that your pets are

I have no doubt LLMs can out-perform the average "data analyst" as described in this piece but that's a very low bar indeed. Maybe this will help promote the importance of the "statistician in the loop" something we should already have but refuse to pay for.

Try this in Qliksense!

Weeknotes s07e25 TL;DR: To the Moon and Back - Taking our Nervecentre EPR live weeknot.es/weeknotes-s0...

Weeknotes s07e23 TL;DR: In the spotlight for various things. Reaching an EPR milestone and heading into the final 2 weeks before go-live. weeknot.es/weeknotes-s0...

Version 0.2.2 of the {NHSRplotthedots} package has today been accepted by CRAN. I have taken over the baton as maintainer, and I'm looking forward to helping more NHS data analysts produce XmR plots of their data, quickly and without fuss. nhsrplotthedots.nhsrcommunity.com

If now that #TDF2025 has ended you don't feel your summer has yet included enough 'people doing impossible things on bikes' then may I recommended the 4000km unsupppored nonstop #TCRno11 from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, which started last night...

I set out some personal goals for 2025 and have just completed a review of progress at Q2. TL;DR: Nailing the cycling. Need to get back on the books and get the research complete. andy-callow.medium.com/personal-goa...

Do any #rstats folks know how I can find why {readxlsb} was removed from CRAN? I've forked the github repo, but we use the code at work to read finance spreadsheets over which I have no file format control. Interested in what would be needed to get it back onto CRAN

This applies to the NHS too. Improvement can only be delivered to patients by the front line. It's the reason I choose to work and make a difference in a provider trust, not anywhere more remote from patients.

I wrote a history of recent AI development in 32 images of otters using wifi on airplanes, from images to video to code. It shows two big trends: rapid improvements in AI models of all types and the growth of open weights AI models. www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-recent...

The ragnar R package helps you build RAG systems for document information retrieval. You'll need API access to an LLM and an API to make embeddings. Still unfortunately difficult in the NHS, but it will become possible as orgs find and share the news of benefit in specific use-cases. #databs #nhs

I wish every team published a doc like Free Agent did for why they chose the tool they did. Of course I am glad they chose Dagster+, but I think this kind of clear-eyed proof of concept criteria can help teams choose the right tool for their team: #dataBS engineering.freeagent.com/2025/05/29/d...

An exceptional new @nejm.org review on cancer of unknown origin www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Can you spot What this chart has got That modern poems have not? www.economist.com/culture/2025...

A thread about using AI to summarise documents; but it could really be about almost any use of AI. Right now - in healthcare for example - it's a great timesaver for people who don't *need* it, and potentially troublesome for those who may try to use it outside their existing expertise.

I'm busy reviewing a large number of applications for a position in my team. I'm reflecting on the huge amount of human experience and expertise that is embedded in the applications. Pretty humbling.

Thanks to everybody who chimed in! I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist. So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>

Git was 20 years old this week. Written by the creator of Linux as a tool to streamline his workflow - it shows the importance of making tools. If you have a better way of doing something, write and share it. It's possible that few others understand the problem, let alone have the solution you do!

#TodayinHistory #dataviz #Onthisday #OTD 📊 💀May 3, 2010 Jacques Bertin died in Paris, France 🇫🇷 In 1967 his Semiology of Graphics became the first comprehensive theory of graphical symbols and modes of graphics representation --> Grammar of Graphics

Good advice. "Customer first" cuts across almost every domain. I think Adam Wathan called this "programming by wishful thinking" in one of his TDD talks, and that language has always stuck with me.

I really enjoyed chatting with Karin about bridging R and Python. This post is a deep dive into reticulate, rpy2, and what great interoperability really looks like. #rstats #python

Here it is with real data! A map of 550,000 foreign aid projects in just a few lines of #rstats code

10 years ago today I published a blog post about the pomological watercolor collection, which you may know from @pomological.xor.blue. it changed my life in some surprising ways! take a little trip with me down memory lane parkerhiggins.net/2025/04/10-y...

This is the beginning of some NHS collaboration on more advanced methods to understand and simulate NHS waiting lists, and therefore better manage the resource constraints that underpin them. I'm one of the authors of this #rstats package, and it's going to get very interesting!

✔️ Generate R code for reproducibility IAs a Shiny app deployed via shinylive, DataMap can also be installed as an R package. Try it now: github.com/gexijin/data... Source code: github.com/gexijin/data... Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2504.08875

It's late, but I just made a PR to the GitStats #rstats project. A tiny PR, but so great to be able to contribute to open-source work, fix my problems, and maybe fix other people's problems at the same time! If you need to keep an eye on git repos, check out GitStats! github.com/r-world-devs...

Open always wins. People love optionality.

Made an app so you can view daily updates of this chart & compare other administrations and metrics like unemployment and inflation 🤓 It updates daily, so check it tomorrow to see today's continued US market collapse 🤠 jhelvy.github.io/potus-econ-s... Built with #rstats #shinylive #quarto

Now there's a protest sign you don't see often.

A flu strain has likely gone extinct since 2020

A blog post I wrote 2 years ago, about code vs. low code analytics. Re-reading it today I stand by every word. The advent of LLMs has helped those wanting to take the non-proprietory route to securing their future careers. Never been a better time to learn to code! smithdata.co.uk/blog/posts/2...

Hey #rstats: I just want to say you're awesome. No matter how stupid my question, you've all piled on with helpful suggestions and advice. 11/10 community.

The code from our Christmas bed occupancy forecasting project is now open-source under the MIT licence here: github.com/nottmhospita...

Here's an overview of some forecasting work Marcos and others in the team delivered over Christmas. Comment below if the code would be helpful and we'll plan to get it onto github. medium.com/@mifabietti/...

👋Hello Bluesky Community! We’re the NHS Strategy Unit, and we’re excited to connect with you here! Follow our work here or on LinkedIn uk.linkedin.com/company/the-..., Subscribe to our mailing list www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Strategy_U.... #BlueskyCommunity#TheStrategyUnit

The relief of a new job and some of the early outputs from the team being positively received! Mainly to their credit, but a relief nonetheless! The bed and theatre models are looking great so far thanks to the data wizardry on the team #nhs #annualplanning #demandandcapacity

Oooooooh Artificial Intelligence... #makestatisticssexyagain

End of year newsletter for NHS-R Way! nhsrcommunity.substack.com/p/end-of-yea... Some highlights from the RPySoc conference Where NHS-R Community has been featured Finds from our Slack channel GitHub finds (including links to The Turing Way recordings on how to get started) Details on Events in 2025

When worlds collide. Great podcast here interviewing Thierry Martin from Toyota. It's so good to hear his clear presentation of the work he and his team do. www.snowflake.com/podcast/thie...

Just joined Blue Sky and the amazing @nhsrcommunity.bsky.social . Ready to learn and share R and Python tips with the wider community of analysts in Blue Sky

Running to catch the tram! Yes! I got the tram - that's saved me 10mins! Happily writing email... Scenery looks different today. Dear reader, I'm on the wrong tram.