I interviewed Mrs Parks when I was a young journalist in Atlanta. She was, as Crystal says, strategic, resolute and very intelligent. What a privilege it was to have been able to talk to her, Dr Abernathy and other pioneers in the civil rights struggle

I’m so proud to work at a communications consultancy that refuses work from the fossil fuel industries. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...

And here’s the problem: a dull but worthy article from @washingtonpost.com about #flu vaccines. It tosses around jargon, will never win anyone over and it glosses over problems, like the US having said in the past that the nasal vaccine was barely effective www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

Depressing reading in the @financialtimes.com (gift link) Oil and gas demand to rise for 25 years without global change of course, says IEA - on.ft.com/444JTrE via @FT

While it's long been evident that older Welsh people are much brighter than older English people, in general, the reason had been a mystery until now 😁 "Learning to speak new language can slow biological ageing, TCD researchers find" www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

What that women said in the @irishtimes.com: "Media outlets need to break ties with X" www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

It's rare that history is written well contemporaneously, but Lawrence Freed has done it here in the @financialtimes.com. I suspect this what good historians will write in 50 years' time - if, of course, good historians are allowed to write truthfully 50 years from now... on.ft.com/47uvAPj

Why things correlated strongly with one another don’t necessarily have any causal relationship - although I have often felt homicidal after using Microsoft Office, so….

via Brexit Means, Brexit Memes

Vaccines drive economic prosperity. That’s what we’ll be exploring at #WHS2025 — the World Health Summit — tomorrow (Monday the 13th). Vaccinating for Prosperity happens from from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm CEST at the InterContinental Berlin (Room - Side Meeting VII) See you in person or on line

If you test positive for #HIV, treatment is highly effective, and most can expect to live a long, healthy life. Early diagnosis can be lifesaving, so please get tested regularly if you’re sexually active. Visit the NHS website to check your options: https://t.co/rvJOa6bo28 https://t.co/TxoVjMSA1n

A conspiracy of silence in the media about the contribution of meat production and dairy to the climate crisis from @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Why does the UK Government continue to tolerate the venal, protectionist conniviving of the British medical profession's royal colleges and regulatory bodies? As AI progresses, this behaviour will get worse. Now is the time to combat it. From @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/3360...

People who get adult vaccines are less likely to develop dementia. We don't know for sure, but it looks as if many vaccines keep your brain functioning well, says reporting in the @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

What if they issued a return-to-office mandate but no-one came? It looks as if widespread resistance is undermining the HR consultants www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...

Thoughtful editorial from @csmonitor.bsky.social “Africa’s citizens demonstrate high entrepreneurial energy and drive…African nations can avoid or leapfrog some of the environmental pitfalls of industrialization models followed by the West, Asia, or Latin America” www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/t...

Which country thinks solar is the cheapest, fastest and most secure source of electricity available? It's so convinced about it that 50% of its electricity will come from solar within five years. That would be Saudi Arabia... www.wsj.com/business/ene...

Here's a strange editorial decision by the @nytimes.com. in reporting that Finland's airforce has decided to stop using the swastika, the NYT says that its use predated the Nazis. Also relevant, you'd think, is that Finland was a Nazi ally until near the end of WW2 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/w...

Not only that, China has an open field in development cooperation in Africa thanks to European and US cut backs. Expect our leaders to wake up and panic some time soon

Why are most countries seeing a decline in fertility? It's usually only the brilliant @draliceevans.bsky.social who talks about the fact that we're not that interested in sex any more. I wonder if it's not an evolutionary response to our crowded, warming planet www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...

Virtual church services promote wellbeing as much as in person services but there's less transcendent experience of God, psychologists say. I've been going to virtual Quaker meetings at least once a week since 2020. I think the psychologists are selling them short. psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

“This amplifying feedback that we’re talking about now is across systemsIt’s from the ocean back to the ice, and then back into the ocean again, that can trigger a runaway change where we do see the overturning potentially collapse altogether” Albeit that the data on the Arctic needs more explaining

Isn’t this a great, compassionate idea? www.businesstraveller.com/business-tra...

How this is news beats me, but it's the lead story in the Financial Times. Next the central bank governors will tell us it will be quite dark unless the sun keeps rising (gift link for the first few click throughs) - on.ft.com/4mP3xQ9 via @financialtimes.com

This is genuinely fascinating but will, sadly, give the climate deniers more ammunition. Arctic sea ice has not melted much over the past 15 years and researchers don’t really understand why. They suspect it is a temporary blip before rapid loss starts again. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This is mostly right. mRNA technology great for “personalized cancer vaccines, autoimmune therapies, treatments for rare diseases” as author says. Also unbeatable for fast response to new infections. We must be honest too, though: probably not ideal for flu, malaria and other persistent threats

This Washington Post article is misguided. Fertility rates are falling worldwide and falling far faster in e.g South Korea than in the US. Whatever the policies, women make their own choices. What makes a big difference? Lots of recent immigrants (e.g France) but WaPo can’t say that wapo.st/47wUbTZ

COVID is hiding because our immune systems are so much better prepared to combat it (thank you, vaccines and especially mRNA vaccines), but levels in wastewater are spiking across the USA www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

🆕 From today, sexual health clinics in England will be able to offer a free vaccine to people at the highest risk of #Gonorrhoea. Protecting thousands and saving the NHS over £7.9 million in the next decade. 💉 📰🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...

As my old grandmother used to say, “from your mouth to God’s ears” (gift link). The “system of national co-operation” seems to be buckling under the weight of cronyism on.ft.com/46xriXD

Here’s an unusually inaccurate piece of reporting in the @financialtimes.com. on.ft.com/4kGh5vo The data on measles are, sadly, real. RFK Jr did not attack “the whooping cough vaccine”. He pointed out, correctly, that one type of pertussis vaccine has more problems than another type.

When you don’t want to hear the news, the best thing is to make sure you hit a paywall and can’t read it or see it. Springer Nature appears to be $3 million poorer as a result, sadly www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Is China serious about using its power and wealth to help development? A key question at this week’s (largely ignored) Funding for Development meeting in Seville. #Ffd4 Excellent reporting in the @nytimes.com today (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/b...

"The energy it took to cook a decent dinner is about the same as generating two AI videos." The Wall Street Journal investigates the environmental cost of telling Chat GPT to give Donald Trump a bad-tempered cat face and have him miaow www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-p...

"The financial elite see what’s coming...instead of pushing for emissions cuts or systemic change, they’re doubling down on adaptation. They’ve skipped the denial phase. They’ve skipped bargaining. They’re cashing in on collapse like it’s just another market opportunity." medium.com/edge-of-coll...

I worked at the biggest US AIDS charity in 1983. By 1984, I thought we had killed the crazed theory that the disease was linked to poppers (amyl nitrate). Turns out, I was over-confident. Let's hope it does less damage this time around

20 million cases of paralysis have been avoided because polio is almost eradicated. "We are on the cusp of history," @drtedros.who.int told the Rotary International convention. He also announced a new collaboration with WHO to fight hepatitis amid cuts to global development assistance #ricon25

Waiting for the opening plenary at the Rotary International annual convention in Calgary with @chrisnial.com The rain has stopped, the sun's shining, excitement is building! We're in Stampede Park, the home of the Calgary Flames. If it weren't for the deafening music, all would be great. #ricon25

Wow...

Just in case you were tempted to follow Alberta's model of having no vaccine mandates.....

A highly transmissible new COVID-19 variant is spreading in the U.S. “Those in high-risk groups should consider getting the vaccine now if they haven’t been vaccinated in the last six months," Prof. Albert Ko told TODAY. www.today.com/health...

Good for Budapest: defying Orbán to organise a celebration of liberty including LGBTQ pride www.publico.pt/2025/06/17/p...

Come to #ccih25 for the discussions about faith-based organisations in health, but stay for the worship through dance

"Healthcare isn't just about treating illness. It's about preserving dignity." It requires presence, not just prescriptions. Empathy, not just efficiency. Above all, it reminds us that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and comforted until the end. #PalliativeCare #EndOfLifeCare

When viral epidemics are ignored they hardly magically disappear, they spread. Excellent reporting on the large outbreak of mpox in Sierra Leone. A country with a fragile health system and limited resources to effectively respond to this threat. www.science.org/content/arti...

I live the other side of the world, but I find this @abcnewsbot.bsky.social podcast the best explainer of global events week in and week out. Just brilliant and really well produced pca.st/episode/6b83...

China will be more debt collector than development partner in the next decade www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

@markcha.bsky.social expertly moderated day one of the 3rd Sustainable medicine and environment summit in #Berlin yesterday!

I used to get up at 3.30 am every morning in the1980s (to be on the radio at 6). It was Lucille Ball reruns that got me out of bed. Here's a gift link to an article about how early DEI made it possible www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/o...