One of the government's plans for the NHS is "left shift", taking services from hospitals and placing them in the community. Closer to the residents, more responsive to their needs, cheaper, and faster services. What's not to like? This is not as easy as some think. A short thread: 1/

We wrote an article explaining why you shouldn't put several variables into a regression model and report which are statistically significant - even as exploratory research. bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/.... How did we do?

Wales has such a tradition of great writing

Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025. www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...

We are appalled that public service broadcaster the BBC continues to provide a platform for tobacco industry giant, British American Tobacco, to lobby against the Tobacco & Vapes Bill. So we fixed the headline for them...

PMI paid the Spectator for this on 'cancel culture' in science. Big Tobacco has spent 50+ years funding 'science' that downplays health impact of smoking purely for commercial interests. That kind of track record should get you cancelled www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/defe...

Public health: the structural causes and salience challenge

11pm train out of Waterloo after a great evening out, conductor congratulated us on being on a train on the 200th anniversary of the first passenger rail service You love to see it, you love to be it

New briefing taking a deeper look behind the free school meal data in Wales. The number of e-FSM children in Wales has fallen since Welsh Govt began to phase out transitional protection. We estimate 25,000 secondary learners in poverty can't get a free school dinner due to the £7,400 means test.

The attack on the CDC was a terrorist action inspired by the current US Secretary of Health's lies about vaccines Public health professionals have a duty to each other, to the publics they serve and to the truth www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

🦷New article: Tobacco industry targeting dental professionals in 🇩🇪 With colleagues from @dkfz.bsky.social, we document how PMI pushes its 'harm reduction' messaging via dental magazines, events, education platforms, KOLs&more. 📜: tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/earl... @tcrgbath.bsky.social

Terrific paper ➡️Improves understanding of smoking patterns within + between populations ➡️New ways to frame smoking as urgent policy issue ➡️Great to see data for Wales and Scot reported, so link to devolved policymaking Already using the fig of 1.34bn cigs smoked in Wales/year!

"Blue steel!" "Magnum!"

🧵 THREAD: Why the Cato Institute’s new paper on “misinformation panic” is dangerously wrong, and why it completely misunderstands the real crisis we face. www.cato.org/policy-analy...

Migrant With Disturbingly Violent ‘The Edge’ Nickname Went Undetected By Authorities In Ireland For 62 Years

Study on London 20 mph limits shows: - collisions ⬇️ 35% - casualties ⬇️ 36% - fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34% - child casualties ⬇️ 46% - child deaths ⬇️ 75% - walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28% etsc.eu/20mph-limits...

Genuinely moved to get this final subscriber gift from @hiraethpod.bsky.social, still remembered, still enjoyed. Enjoying all the team still does, follow for essential Welsh history, culture and politics Ymlaen! @ceritheviking.bsky.social @hexter101.bsky.social @mimosacymru.bsky.social

So, a few things I've learned over the last few days, in case they're useful to anyone: - popes aren't informed of their new job on WhatsApp - there's no such thing as a '£200 one-off pope registration fee' Thanks

#LFC #Champions #Perch

This is a *key* new paper in the world of school mental health interventions A very large trial (N=6388) testing a universal CBT-based app for adolescent depression (13-14y) No effects found (on depression, anxiety, distress or insomnia) (🧵) mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...

A 7000 word rollercoaster ride through the village of governance. Not one of the exciting rollercoasters. More like the old wooden ones that hurt your back. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

2/12/1957, Cardiff. Sister Rosetta Tharpe & a group of kids from Tiger Bay📸Chris Ware

Well these are apotropaic marks, perhaps most commonly known as witch marks. They are a form of graffiti found in many historic places, from medieval churches to gentry houses, that were intended to ward off evil. 2/7

Really feel this - supermarket cafes are a real part of a lot of communities, esp if you have young kids and v few other options Still remember a lot of the staff in Barry Morrison's cafe, still remember the eldest waving the shop goodnight when we lived close enough to see it from our house

5/14 Top Quick Buys for NCD Prevention: 📌 Tobacco Control: 🚭 • Higher tobacco taxes (impact in 4 months) • Graphic health warnings (14 months) • Smoke-free indoor laws (immediate) • Nicotine replacement therapy (as part of structured intervention) (6 months)

A huge thanks to everyone who has engaged with the Money Power Health podcast this past few weeks, it is hugely appreciated, and a real conformation that communicating our research beyond our own academic worlds is a worthwhile endeavour. 🧵 #CDoH

public health approaches You'd think I like this stuff. I dont. Folk often ask me why.... strap in - a🧵

We wants it, the precious, yes, we wants it

“I’ll tell you why I like the cigarette business,” he said. “It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It’s addictive. And there’s fantastic brand loyalty.”

Please help us to save Modern Languages at Cardiff University: chng.it/Hmtvvdtptg

I did my PhD at Cardiff’s School of Modern Languages. It’s full of clever, committed people producing wonderful research. It runs a terrific MFL outreach programme. It’s a friendly & inclusive space for students. It’s also currently the only place I get to teach. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As I got some likes when I reposted this a few weeks ago, am signposting @miguelhernan.org fantastic course on casual DAGs on edx Great intro / companion piece to the book (+ can get audit access for a period) www.edx.org/learn/data-a...

Really key paper this one worth reading in detail

No, that's grenadine. Gen-d-er will be a member of the generation born two after the current Gen Betas, so sometime in the 2050s

what do I think about AI in healthcare, Clive? she's a cruel mistress. she's, she's more than a mistress. She's a wife, she's a mother, she's a daughter, she's an errant child. she's… she can make you laugh, she make you cry. She can bring tears to me eyes. She can bring blood to me shoulders.

This is such a great piece, esp for those of us in the public sector outside govt who need to understand how ideological commitments underpin policy development If anyone had any thoughts on how (if?) this maps onto Welsh labour govt thinking, would love to hear them

As a long time subscriber, v sad to read this, @hiraethpod.bsky.social has been one of the most important ways for me to understand the politics society and culture of contemporary Wales Few standout episodes for me:

the clock will count us out. Something will seem unnameably different, a house with the same furniture but none of us quite as we were...and the dead will be with us like children who have run ahead and waited for us. New Year's Eve by John Mole #NYE #poetry www.theguardian.com/books/2004/d...

Smoking kills. It’s a message most people will have heard. But just how much does smoking affect life expectancy? In a new editorial, we estimate that on average, each cigarette steals approximately 20 minutes of life. @robertjwest.bsky.social @ucl-targ.bsky.social

Still hard to believe something this good is free, but yes it is

From the Victorian society Wales - we need your nominations for our Top Ten Endangered Buildings list 2025! Email us about your local threatened, neglected Victorian & Edwardian buildings built between 1837 & 1914. To nominate a building email [email protected]

Oh my beautiful lovely Grauniad, never change @theguardian.com @jonathanliew.bsky.social

Truly one of the most remarkable interviews with a director I've ever read: On Die Hard: "The building is essentially a Shakespearean comedy. That’s the architectural form. It’s a Shakespearean company. Many things about it are very similar to Midsummer Night’s Dream."

I don’t think Labour is heading for disaster in Wales but clearly it’s going to have the toughest fight to be the biggest national party in 2026. Reform are going to do very well and I think the winners might be the Lib Dems if they can squeak a seat or two 1/3 www.newstatesman.com/politics/pol...

So told tonight that in scrutiny welsh gov have said that the NICs payment cover for welsh public sector won’t all be covered by Westminster. It will be a consequential and as we have more pub sec workers than England it won’t cover welsh needs

This concert at the @rwcmd.bsky.social was just an incredible experience Sidiki Dembélé and musicians are geniuses Sinfonia Cymru are one of the most exciting things on the scene in #Wales right now - bold, innovative, fun - a creative force on full power 🎼⚡⚡

Here is a handy checklist for delivery based on the £ millions worth of things I successfully delivered as a Civil Servant. Ready? Is the governance [A] realtime, focused and open or [B] ritualised and occasional? Is delivery owned by [A] a named, empowered individual or [B] an opaque “Board”? 🧵

⚠️ Pontypridd has been hit by devastating floods and our wonderful independent bookshop, Storyville Books, has seen much of its stock destroyed. If you’re able to buy a book from them, this would go such a long way to help support them rebuild in the aftermath. 👉 uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyvi...