The heuristic of 'if you couldn't make a decent stab at writing their obituary without further reporting, you shouldn't write a thinkpiece about their thoughts reveal about our times' remains very strong.

“Understandably, autistic people will be dismayed and frightened by this... We urge our Govt and NHS to stand by autistic people and condemn this misinformation. "We urge anyone looking for information about autism to visit websites from trusted organisations." www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/n...

Good piece by @chrisdillow.bsky.social on probability compression, relativism, and the idea of media balance

Hey a thing I really don’t want to get lost here is that while Tylenol doesn’t cause autism, IT’S FINE TO BE AUTISTIC. Let’s not grant them the premise that autism should be eradicated in our way to correct the science, okay? Okay.

A "marketplace of ideas" isn't going to be any less distorted by money and power and corruption and imperfect information and negative externalities (or the free speech equivalent) than actual markets

I can explain the term "the woke right." The logic: 1) I denounced "wokeness" for years, proclaiming it dire threat to free speech, a civilizational danger 2) This fascism I was downplaying while focused on wokeness seems actually bad 3) Since I am by definition never wrong, the fascism is wokeness

I’ve seen other people express this far better than me. But if, like me, you’re finding the ‘free speech’ hypocrisy of the right unbearable, you have to remember they know what they are doing. It’s not that they haven’t realised how illogical and hypocritical they are. They know,they just don’t care

Great interview with Baroness Lady Hale, first female president of the supreme court, from @zoesqwilliams.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/law/2025/sep...

"The phrase chronically online... can sound dismissive, as if being on screens all the time is a frivolous obsession." "But... for many young people, being online is about necessity, connection and community." Blog by sexual health charity Brook: share.google/BGIxBVIMGMgH...

Bertrand Russell, at 89 years old, to Sir Oswald Mosley, a man most famous for founding, in 1932, the British Union of Fascists. I'm all for civil discourse. But everyone can and should draw a line at who they will talk to. Notice that Russell did not demean himself with incivility, either.

Research shows what we all knew was happening - period tracking apps are being used to help the government monitor our reproductive lives, and by companies to make a profit. english.elpais.com/health/2025-...

Fantastic column by @stephenkb.bsky.social "Racism in the UK remains the preserve of an extreme minority — but one that is emboldened and growing louder. It is the result of a year in which neither the government nor the opposition have been willing to draw red lines." www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

As I say, it really does demonstrate why political leadership on racism matters - a non-trivial chunk of people will follow where leaders of their big party move. Heath and Wilson proved that in 1968, and Starmer and Badenoch are proving it in 2025.

In July in Glasgow we protested a racist who brought his ‘mass deportations’ horror show to our city. Here he is at the anti-abortion protest in London last weekend. ‘Protect arrr women’ is a lie. They don’t care when women die.

Great, readable explainer from @ukandeu.bsky.social on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Good Friday Agreement ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/t...

Too often, this rubbish gets seen as exciting but harmlessly funny, when in fact it's both boring and dangerous.

Good to hear @kimjohnsonmp.bsky.social on Politics Live speaking sense regarding refugees, about the need for humane policies and safe routes.

Breaking News: Appeals court upholds $83 million jury verdict against Trump for defaming magazine writer E. Jean Carroll. https://cnn.it/42iEoF1

It's almost like young people are interested in institutions facing up to their history in a frank and nuanced way www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

"The greatest danger to women and girls is not a nameless stranger. It is overwhelmingly someone they already know. Partners, ex-partners, relatives, colleagues or neighbours." Fantastic piece in @bigissue.com. This is what sincere media engagement with this subject can look like.

It should be a scandal. It should be a story. It won’t be.

Anti-abortion extremists are using junk science to spread lies about abortion pills. The fact still remains: mifepristone is safe and effective. We're fighting to make sure everyone has access to the medication they need, when they need it.

Not putting John on the spot for this, but it is endlessly depressing to me that the one thing that has improved my life more than anything else is regarded as a political evil to be fought against.

Just find it a bit bleak that John has put without caveat “fewer people coming from abroad to work or study in the UK” as a reason to not feel gloomy.

My hunch is that if Zack Polanski's Greens or the Corbyn Party were platforming quite this level of crank madness about cancer in the Royal Family, they would get quite a lot of heat for doing so

There is *no evidence whatsoever* that the Covid vaccine causes cancer in *anyone*. I’m no royalist but I respect public figures’ right to privacy so won’t comment on the speculation around individual cases. I am horrified that other doctors have chosen to do so.

The Reform party conference has been told that Covid vaccines are the probable cause of cancer for the King and the Princess of Wales The party chose to platform Dr Aseem Malhotra, a prominent ally of RFK Jr in their dangerous maverick campaigns against vaccines www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

There are *plenty* of things wrong with the UK system, but I always remember my USian ex, delirious after suddenly collapsing (thankfully just low blood sugar) trying to pull the phone out of my hand when I was calling 999, panicking because "we can't afford an ambulance!"

Weird that it cost a TV production company £20k to license my books, but this company got to do it against my will and the will of my publisher for an order of magnitude less. And only *maybe* pay up because they settled out of court.

I can

I love this record right now so much. The frustration! I feel it deeply when @michaelstipe.bsky.social sings: "I know that this is vitriol No solution, spleen-venting But I feel better having screamed Don't you?" The whole song just captures something very cathartic. youtu.be/03gauuHIgME?...

The Annals of Internal Medicine has refused US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s demand to retract a study that found that vaccines containing the adjuvant aluminium hydroxide did not increase the incidence of 50 chronic disorders, including autism and asthma www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Labour’s manifesto pledged to restore overseas aid to 0.7% of national income “as soon as fiscal circumstances allow”, as had been the case from 2013 to 2020. This doesn’t appear likely in this parliament, as our Government Tracker explains 👇

"Since opening a London office in 2017, ADF’s UK branch has received more than £4.9m in unrestricted donations, largely from its US arm. Between 2019 and 2023, ADF increased its UK spending by 187% to more than £1.13m." Great reporting from @phoebeivy.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

The Trump administration has removed reproductive rights from its annual human rights report, omitting critical data about abortion, access to contraception, freedom from discrimination & coercion in health care, & maternal health. This is a CLEAR attempt to sweep human rights abuses under the rug.

🔴NEW🔴 On Saturday, the far right attempted to protest outside a hotel housing asylum seeking people. I spoke to people on both sides of the police barrier. What I found was a far right full of glee that it is winning Read now, on @opendemocracy.net www.opendemocracy.net/en/bristol-f...

I will never forget the day that Keith R. Swank came into our lives

The story isn't that anti-immigration has gotten more popular. The story is that immigration-related misinformation is widespread in the UK, and this can be proven. What we need to talk about is why are so many people so badly informed about their own country? yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has been arrested by British police on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after a man was allegedly assaulted at a London railway station. He was arrested as he stepped off a flight from Faro, Portugal. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

DHSC has launched an evidence review into LGBT+ health inequalities. The evidence submission closes on 31st August (!) so if you do want to submit evidence, get cracking. The link sets out what is and isn't within scope. share.google/RnTMIw9q5bjg...

Lots of powerful comments in this piece from Sarah Shaw at @msichoices.org "It’s not just about an empty shelf. It’s about unfulfilled potential. A girl having to drop out of school. Someone having to seek an unsafe abortion and risking their lives." share.google/Zh3madZuseyf...

"After the richest man in the world shuttered [USAID], the government is now going to spend money destroying the contraceptives, medications and food items it chose not to distribute." By @jillfilipovic.bsky.social for @msmagazine.com I can't find the words for this. share.google/kriJbDKWyjcZ...

"You're lowering the voting age because young people tend to support your party! It's rigging the system!" A hack to get around this: try proposing some policies that would benefit young people!

Great to see this piece reference Alison Hadley's excellent book on teenage pregnancy and young parenthood. Highly recommend! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If you care about global gender and health equality, read this 👇👇👇 www.msichoices.org/latest/secur...

✨ Join our team ✨ Apply to be our next Head of Content & Editorial 👇

If anyone has seen the Daily Telegraph story about people in "left wing cities" being more likely to need or choose abortion care (!), some interesting context to these figures is this excellent report by Healty Equity North on gender inequality in the North of England share.google/PORxOelkQBvH...

This is one of the central things to understand when it comes to polling on policy, the reason you pay people to do it properly is so you aren't just feeding clients a bunch of "here's what people's top of the head views are" and actually design something useful

“The UN Human Rights Council voted on Monday to renew the mandate of an LGBT rights expert, a move welcomed by advocates amid the absence of the United States, a former key supporter that is now rolling back such protections.” Good to see the UN HRC renew independent monitoring of LGBT rights. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

It's been exactly one year since Labour won the general election - but what has it meant for reproductive rights? Read our new blog from @louknightsmccudden.bsky.social 👇