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.

@stephenkb.bsky.social @Nicovel0 Wilson’s statement was strong.

News from Finland. A 9-year-old lost an especially good stick he’d had since he was 2. He hung up 20 posters. A few days later it was returned. It had been found by a 2-year-old, who wanted to keep it for herself, but her mother made her return it. She got toys, flowers and candy as a reward.

Puzzled by why the “Unite the Kingdom” racists are carrying the flag of Georgia (a country I am keen to visit but surprised it’s on their radar apart from the red and white colour scheme).

When I am more on the same page with H&M about the need for safe and dignified routes for migration, than I am with either of the governments I pay taxes to.

It’s good to see this. Demography has not exactly been popularised before and now there’s an urgent need for everyone to understand both the long arcs that have for us here and the unforeseen futures of population development

I am shocked, shocked, that Labour did not give a role to a competent woman but went with a man that they felt, just, well, felt like he had the edge

It's terrible either way, I think, because the position as it stands is 'I am ashamed of this real message, which per the country I am ambassador to, is in the same book as a fake message' Or as Gary describes:

There is some interesting stuff here in the UN world population report on people's desired family size, and reasons for choosing a smaller family. Some things that policy makers can act on it if they want to try to engineer demography again... but it would take real effort. www.unfpa.org/swp2025

Can’t read any more about Epstein. Just confirms what we knew about powerful men treating women as disposables. For some reason I’m particularly grossed out by Mandelson. Like I thought he might have had some moral disgust about it. But no.

Saw a woman in the cafe wearing her wine-red cowl necked sweater and soft pants combo, clearly crying out for autumn, if silently. I feel it too. And yet it stays insistently 20C and slightly humid like summer just doesn't know how to leave the party and is on a mission to get messy.

Bemused that the USA is sending an artist to Intervision, Putin’s anti-camp challenger to the Eurovision Song Contest. They will perform alongside Kazakhstan and Venezuela. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

When the forest earth is damp but it’s sunny through the trees, those are the best days.

As part of the we, not the they - this would be a lot easier to do without climate change doing a number on the Arctic region.

@mikkonen.bsky.social possible counterpoint to the zombie stat that countries with younger populations win the innovation race? China's population skews older than USA no...? Almost like it's more systems and commitments and habits that produce innovation...

Blink-and-you-miss-it but quietly heartbreaking notice on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

And this spells out neatly the connection between racism and the desire to control women.

Anyone concerned with gender equality needs to watch how the current fertility panic is tending. See this in the comments of the article below - and not the only one, just the most reasonably expressed. Gilead can be brought about by people wearing the most reasonable looking business suits.

“Regional & #globalhealth organisations must do more to support LMIC to stem #braindrain” 📌 adherence to ethical recruitment, help destination countries w/ self-sufficiency, advocate for source countries & foster bilateral agreements among source & destination countries www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Shout out to my global social policy peeps. Do we have one social indicator that is as iconic as GDP to economics or arguably ppm (of CO2) for climate? I don’t think we do but maybe I am having a “can’t see the wood for the trees” brain glitch?

observer.co.uk/news/columni... Great read, on the point but some very funny slices of life.