Five years after Britain officially left the EU, @pmdfoster.bsky.social and I looked at how Brexit has reshaped Britain for @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/4grjwj8

4.3 million children are in poverty UK govt won’t see progress on child poverty by 2029 even with high economic growth 📢 Our analysis shows under our central scenario only Scotland will see child poverty rates fall by 2029 in part due to social security policies 1/5

@garyseconomics.bsky.social doing again what he does best - raising alarm bells on the disastrous consequences of wealth inequality. "if you don't stop the rich from getting richer & richer & richer, they'll outbid you for everything you need, one at a time"

Imagine if we paid farmers properly to enable sustainable transport in rural areas? It would: ✅ Provide travel choices that work on people’s own schedule, especially important considering infrequent bus services in rural areas ✅ Improve road safety on country lanes ✅ Increase access to nature

Calorie labelling encapsulates all that is wrong with the last govt’s approach to wicked Public Health problems such as obesity - transfer all the responsibility to individuals and pray it works (disclaimer, it rarely does)

“He’s not that dangerous”, “It’s all rhetoric”, “We’ll be fine”…

Despite mounting evidence on the negative health impacts of health and noise pollution (primarily cause by motor traffic), European cities continue to drag their feet…

Redefining obesity, report of a new commission, to override current BMI categories and better define features and pathophysiologic consequences of pre-clinical and clinical obesity www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... open-access

New The coming battle between social media and the state Behind the alignment of X and Meta with Trump is a cold business logic — and a position of weakness rather than strength By me, in todays @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/917c...

🏠 Poor quality #housing is harming our #health and #healthequity “Poverty is a cause of poor housing. Housing is a cause of poverty” Prof. Sir @michaelmarmot.bsky.social www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Latest @theguardian.com cartoon #GisèlePelicot www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"The emerging media landscape became unfavourable to an educated centrist establishment, but a boon to populists and radicals." How video-based news consumption is shaping the political landscape by @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social on.ft.com/3ZLWKMz

The Syrian civil war was the origin of many of our problems: Isolationism, hatred of refugees and Russian disinformation. Now, finally, there is hope. iandunt.substack.com/p/syria-ther...

New post just out: "Policy vs Politics: the paralysis of technocratic government in a populist age" Why Labour is getting stuck on identifying an approach to governing. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...

The hardest thing about public health training for me so far, is adjusting to being a generalist not a specialist. My brain is a deep-diver and wants to have a solid grasp a topic. Now I need to know just enough about lots of topics to get by. But all those topics change often. How do I keep up?

🇪🇺 #Health, the missing chapter in the #Draghi Report on Europe's future #competitiveness. “despite being over 400 pages, it has one major omission: the health of the people of Europe.” By @martinmckee.bsky.social @deruijter.bsky.social @tamarahervey.bsky.social www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

If you’re trying to make sense of the assisted dying (lack of) debate, @iandunt.bsky.social’s piece is truly excellent. This topic could have been an excellent opportunity for a UK-wide, govt-sponsored, Irish-style citizens assembly. Instead, it’s been “an absolute godforsaken shitshow”…

If you’re trying to make sense of the assisted dying (lack of) debate, @iandunt.bsky.social’s piece is truly excellent. This topic could have been an excellent opportunity for a UK-wide, govt-sponsored, Irish-style citizens assembly. Instead, it’s been “an absolute godforsaken shitshow”…

"1% of the population own half the land in England...the media have portrayed a very distorted view of the countryside, how land is used & who owns it" Great to speak to @mrjamesob.bsky.social on @lbc.co.uk about the #ClarksonTax protests - watch the full interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-kR...

Beautiful reflection on the atomisation of modern society by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

A great example of why evidence is no longer sufficient to command #PublicHealth policy. How should PH professionals effectively advocate for what works (or for what is right, in the absence of strong evidence) without getting vilified/attacked?

I’m getting tired of all of this narrative. You look after yourself when you’re looked after by others & when you’re not struggling with poverty, social isolation & discrimination. The state has a pivotal role in preparing the soil. Whether that’s NHS or beyond. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

1 in 4 Brits, including 1 in 3 children live in poverty! Politicians should spend less time on culture wars, faux outrage and gimmicks and more on raising living standards. Outrageous figures, even if unsurprising…

Word of this morning is ‘procaffeinate’: to put everything on hold until you’ve had sufficient amounts of coffee.

This is not a way to run a functioning local democracy "Of every £5 [Shropshire Council] now spends, she reckons that £4 go on social care. “Of the remaining quid, 50 pence is spent on our waste contract, and everything else we do – including other statutory services – comes out of that last 50p.”"

Now seems a good time to collate a list of reputable, trustworthy public health voices. UK Public Health Starter Pack ⤵️ (Work in progress - will add suggestions!) go.bsky.app/Tuf8yqX

Having experienced the challenge of finding the UK health / NHS policy community here on Bluesky, I've created a starter pack so you can easily follow some key voices right away. Please comment with suggested additions as more people join. go.bsky.app/NEVJUbU

This is a new opinion piece by martinmckee.bsky.social, me and Kent Buse on the weaponisation of disinformation in the presidential campaign and why it matters for all of us Here I set out a thread covering the main points. Please share! 1/13

Putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department? What could go wrong? Absolutely insane

Yet another excellent example of the importance of preventative services. New @theifs.bsky.social analysis shows that cuts to youth clubs led to: 1) worse exam results 2) increase in crime 3) poor value for money “for every £1 saved from closing youth clubs, there are societal costs of nearly £3”

Ranking tables don’t work and will never work. What a waste of energy

🧵There's a line of thought that Trump's victory means progressive causes are doomed in the court of public opinion. I don't think that's true, but I do think it shows more thought needs to be given to what ought to be a tautology but infact often isn't - inclusive progressivism.

Oxford's Woodstock Road was going to get the best cycle track in Oxford for 50 years. Instead it got paint on a pavement and 10 crossings for pedestrians only. What went wrong? Special report: oxfordclarion.uk/woodstock-ro...

Plenty out there But I'm a bit too newby to work out how to do it effectively Try these go.bsky.app/H8D78hv go.bsky.app/Np3QUFL

“How do you have accountability when people care not for the accounts that they are given?” - @davidallengreen.bsky.social

Wish I had something reassuring to say. The possible consequences are just a spectrum of different levels of bad. Let's hope it's at the manageable end of bad.

Knowing that much of Europe's and the World's fate hinges on the decisions of a few thousand voters in the American rustbelt is truly frightening. Especially given the amount of (purposely generated) disinformation and the "disconnect between political rhetoric and the reality on the ground"...

New post just out: "Buying Time" A budget that starts the unpleasant process of acknowledging reality but will it be enough? open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

Buried in the budget announcements is the news that the govnt plan to uprate the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and review its exemptions. Helpfully summarised here: www.sustainweb.org/news/oct24-a... (thanks for bring to my attention @martinwhite33.bsky.social!)

Pleased to see tax go up on tobacco and a new flat rate tax on vapes BUT where is the bold funding for public health? Bucket load of cash for the NHS and little clarity on public health budget for local government. Frustrating.

New post just out: A guide to what to look out for in the budget on Wednesday. We know the broad outline but there's a lot of technical detail to fill in that will make a huge difference to how this Parliament plays out. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/a...

Selling 2 tickets for The Last Dinner Party at the Apollo tomorrow (Saturday). Please DM if interested!

Selling 2 tickets for The Last Dinner Party at the Apollo tomorrow (Saturday). Please DM if interested!

What should the government do to create a public health system for to meet the health challenge? Our new long read highlights the problems of: - fragmentation - absence of system leadership - lack of political independence - limited cross-government coordination. www.health.org.uk/publications...

“Labour will raise taxes in an inefficient and circuitous way” is not something you can comms your way out of. It’s the inevitable consequence of the strategic choices they made in March 2024 not to oppose the NI cut.

New post just out: Why it's so hard to get a GP appointment. (It's not for the reasons you might think). And why the answer is key to fixing the NHS. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/w...

This is such generic crap - exactly what rules & regulations are holding investment back and why? “No 10 would not say which regulations are likely to be in scope” ‘Red tape’ exists for a reason, has Starmer learned nothing from Grenfell?

Road collisions within the Cowley Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have dropped by 59% since the LTNs were installed, according to a CoHSATOxon analysis of new data released by the Department for Transport. The data compares averages for 2015-2019 (pre-LTN) with 2022-2023.