By contrast in Finland: the Development Minister disproportionally cut the Trade Union Solidarity Center’s funding yesterday afternoon and it is front page news today. Finland is not perfect but we still trust each other enough to argue about things.

‘When Adam Smith wrote “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest,” he omitted any discussion of the unpaid work of his mother (& later his sister) that went into cooking his dinner.’ on.ft.com/4olyOut

I’m in Doha for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. If you are too, see you in that building? Media release with our key messages from @fingo.fi here (in Finnish 🇫🇮). Basically, (1) equality and human rights in social policy and (2) investment. #WSSD2025 #WSSD2 fingo.fi/ajankohtaist...

This is my central concern: that low birth rates, and the ensuing population panic, is just a cover to convince people that it's reasonable to support pronatalism, when really it's only nominally about raising birth rates and really about (re)creating a gender/race-ethnic/religious/etc hierarchy.

Facebook keeps recommending me pages from the US Dept of Labor, and I have to admit, I am grimly fascinated.

The most regular people who work in the office are the CEO (works mostly through people) the 3 interns (keen to learn) and me (new, sociable). The knowledge workers stay home and make output. But I wonder how someone likes me, whose motivation comes from supporting the whole team to rise, fits in.

“Woke liberati arty farty,” is such an extraordinary thing in a sentence about politics, I can’t get over it. Like she’s running out of battery and will blow a few raspberries then power down.

These were the candy flavors of my childhood: ammonium chloride, menthol, tar and anise. Being a Finnish child meant having to choose between tar and anise. It was grim af. Somebody slapped you if you asked for pomegranate flavor.

If the goal is stable and productive societies, we need investment in social security, health coverage and decent work. We will re-state the case for social development and equality in an era of geopolitics. It was a joy to speak with Clarisse Sih about the upcoming world #SocialSummit -#WSSD2.

This is absolutely vicious.

I could not love this article by @stephenkb.bsky.social more. 💯 to the key message of “stop trying to dick around with fertility and work with the world as it is”. And I LOVE this section⬇️. FYI Kenya is on track to publish shadow national accounts that include care. Ihttps://on.ft.com/4hvwZIT

Every now and then something small reminds me of how long it is since I left Britain. (Sits in my retina-searing Finnish apartment which is also an anteroom for my special circle in Hell). I’m not offended, just interested in the cultural gap it highlights.

1/4 My analysis and suggestions on social policy from a civil society perspective, for the UN World Summit on Social Development is here (happening in a few weeks, in Doha). In English, French, Spanish, Portuguese - language button top right corner. www.forus-international.org/en/pdf/fingo...

Il laisse derrière lui un héritage complexe.

1/2 Yesterday I met someone who I thought was Ugandan but she was talking about Kenyans as "we" so I asked if she is also Kenyan. She said, no, she is fully Ugandan but she is also East African. "So when I talk about Kigali, I say here in Kigali, when Nairobi, I say here in Nairobi."

Post you from a different era. Here I am, in 1992 in a deadline crisis. Which is very different to me in 2025, in a deadline crisis.

This is brilliant. As the care economy emerges as something that will shape the wider economy we are growing into - it’s brilliant to see it’s history too.

If only there were people who could go around and find out what the reality is, and then perhaps report on it back to everyone. They could even publish their reporting in print or online, and possibly even make a business out of keeping folk informed about what's happening in the world. If only.

When I talk to women friends my age in the UK, HRT is so commonplace that if someone isn't taking it, it's like "wow, she's raw-dogging her menopause with just soy milk and magnesium." Whereas in Finland my doctor seems to think its acceptable to say she won't see me again until I've lost weight.

Textbook example of someone saying that being called out for racism is worse than the racism they expressed. In this case, according to Jenrick, calling out racism causes terrorism. It's an upside down, gaslit world.

More than a third of countries spend more on financing their external debt commitments than funding their education systems. Debt repayments to international financial institutions (IFIs), primarily, the IMF, override life opportunities for millions of children and young people.

I just… what even is this.

Frankly at this stage I am inclined to vote for anyone, of any party, who could plausibly promise to get threats of violence out of politics. From Aaron Banks interview with Anna Gross in @financialtimes.com

Great article to read in the run up to the UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases tomorrow - the link between diseases like diabetes, environments, and power... #UNGA #HLM4 #NCDs

Yeah but no.

Ghastly selfie at UNGA 2 years ago but my reminder to self is that 2 yrs ago we got good language agreed on universal health coverage. A lot has changed since then but it will continue to change in the next two years and more, and we are not powerless outside America.

🧵/10 Okey cokey, I had a speed read of the new US global health strategy. Key words: America first, infectious disease surveillance, NO BUDGET THAT I CAN SEE, but it will go to frontline health workers and commodities... No NGOs, but promotion of American health trade. www.state.gov/america-firs...

Delighted to announce that Borderlines is one of @waterstones.bsky.social paperbacks of the year!

'Tylenol' is known in the civilised world as Paracetamol 2.4 million children born in Sweden between 1995 and 2019. Studied 186,000 children whose mothers were treated with paracetamol during pregnancy. news.ki.se/no-link-betw...

Both in principle - but mainly costs in practice.

New US global health policy has dropped. Sitting here trying to square the focus on control of infectious diseases with a country working overtime at home to undermine vaccine science. Anyone got any clues on how this will play out? @martinmckee.bsky.social? www.devex.com/news/trump-a...

REVEALED: bombshell evidence of the link between Tylenol and autism.

Just a reminder that, despite what these freaks would have you think, antivaxx is extremely unpopular and we need to attack them relentlessly for putting insane dipshittery over our health

KuKKuut-kollektiivin syyskausi alkaa kuoleman kahvilalla 🍂🍄‍🟫 🍁 Teemana on luonto ja kuolema. Luonnossa elämän kiertokulku on luonnollista – miksi me ihmiset vierastamme kuolemaa? Kuolemankahvila ei ole sururyhmä tai terapia, vaan tila avoimelle turvalliselle puheelle. Kaikki tervetulleita!

I am grateful for the Netflix series North of North, in large part for the soundtrack introducing me to so many Canadian First Nations musicians. Watch the show, but if you like EDM the Halluci Nation was my starting point, while Elisapie’s Inuktitut cover of Time After Time made me emotional.

Tämä olisi hyvä olla tiedossa Suomessa.

I grow weary of well meaning people telling me that democracy and freedom of speech are “too abstract”. Farage won Brexit on a platform of (among other things) taking back democratic control. The US right has popularised discussion of ”freedom of speech.” Question is, why can’t progressives do it?

Great community cohesion initiative in London. www.london.gov.uk/programmes-s...

Very good reporting from the BBC here on Intervision, the Putin/Lavrov response to being excluded from Eurovision. Participants include the rest of the BRICS, USA, Venezuela, Madagascar… Fascinating. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Good piece in @bmj.com on how political polarisation affects public health (though very US focused). I have a LOT of thoughts about this but mainly NO, health should not be "more political", good grief, and YES, context and listening is critical for health comms. www.bmj.com/content/390/...

The main story on BBC 6 Music News this morning is that a ‘boat carrying migrants is on its way to France’ Delivered in the same upbeat tone as England winning the women’s Euros. The migration ‘debate’ in this country is unmoored from reality, and the media-political complex is feeding it

Open question over whether the Nordic welfare model will survive this decade, and an even more open question over what populist right parties think should replace it.

Great that these women are protesting this. Anyone know anyone in Belgium who can influence this?

My thoughts on positional vertigo. I‘m fed up of tasks like washing my face making me feel sick and fall-overing.

I love a Finnish prepping news story (I now have everything on the official Finnish prepping list except duct tape.) But on this one, I got stuck at “mild continental climate.” Which continent is Finland’s climate a mild version of?? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre....

CIVICUS-järjestön mukaan maailmanlaajuisesti vain 3,6 % väestöstä elää maissa, joissa kansalaisyhteiskunnan tila on arvioitu avoimeksi. Suomi kuuluu 40 maan ryhmään, jossa kansalaisvaikuttamista voi tehdä verrattain vapaasti.

F. Rotis and curry chickpea, thanks

This is an extraordinary piece on Russian pro-natalist policies. Putin will do anything to increase the population except stop sending men to war to be brought home in body bags.

Found it hard to sleep thinking about the protest in London. I am grateful for @hopenothate.org.uk’s investigations as they give context. I’m in London in a few weeks and I’m sure it will feel normal. But I feel I have to understand more about what is going on under the surface. Any other sources?

My message might get screened out as I am currently outside the UK. But those of you who are inside it might want to write something.