Do you, your team/ organisation need the flexibility of a #qualitativeresearch and #evaluation consultant? I work with academic teams, What Works Centres, non-profit organisations and charities, to support them with high quality data generation, coding, analysis & writing. Please share 🙏

Do you, your team/ organisation need the flexibility of a #qualitativeresearch and #evaluation consultant? I work with academic teams, What Works Centres, non-profit organisations and charities, to support them with high quality data generation, coding, analysis & writing. Please share 🙏

fuck, I’m sorry, I can’t compete with this

So the Telegraph is taking this well

The long 2010s are finally over

When I was 7, my teacher told us to write an article about “world cultures” for school over the weekend. I remembered it late on Sunday so in a panic I made up something called the "Icelandic Fish Festival", figuring said teacher wouldn’t know either way.

The Epstein files document what many women researchers have long experienced but rarely seen laid bare so starkly: exclusion operating behind closed doors, shaping who gets funded, invited, mentored, and taken seriously. How many of these networks, norms, and gatekeepers remain in place?

The press has reported on yesterday’s Supreme Court decision as if it were only about tariffs. Wrong. It’s far bigger and even more important. Let me explain. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-supreme-courts-tariff-decision

Former UK PM Gordon Brown is providing - voluntarily and not for the first time - information to the police about abuses of power relating to the Epstein files. As PM Brown was briefed against by people such as Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson as being ‘psychologically flawed’ ….1/

Superb reporting from @katherineeban.bsky.social for @rollingstone.com on the scandal around the RFK-fueled, unethical HBV vaccine study in Guinea Bissau that horrified CDC staff, scientists and ethicists around the world. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Why are so many academics in the Epstein files? It’s not just about money | Christopher Marquis

Squealed with excitement when I saw that my yellow crocuses have begun to crocus. The purple and lilac ones have yet to flower. Archie the cat was determined to be in the photo. #Crocuses #Gardening #Spring

“Will anyone in the Epstein files be held accountable?” What you have to understand is that while sexual violence is technically illegal and frowned upon in the abstract, in practice it is accepted, ubiquitous, de rigeur, and a primary vehicle for male bonding.

"Mother of Chemotherapy" Dr. Jane Wright died #OTD in 2013. + Helped shift cancer treatment from palliative care to modern chemotherapy by establishing methotrexate as a foundational treatment for breast cancer in 1951 + Only woman co-founder, American Society of Clinical Oncology #WomenInSTEM #BHM

SPCR Masterclass: Engaging people experiencing socioeconomic deprivation in research 🗓️ Thursday, 19 March 2026 🕚 12noon to 1pm 💡 Drawing on real examples from NIHR‑funded work and co‑designed studies. 🔗 bit.ly/4rELXjJ @nihrsphr.bsky.social @nihrsscr.bsky.social @sapc.ac.uk

Oh, my goodness, this is a huge breakthrough in cancer research. This is another example of why it is crucially important to fund basic scientific research. Scientists Discover How To “Switch Off” Cancer Genes for Good share.google/WFhMJP5m3AK4...

Police organise the biggest birthday surprise Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has ever had.

Working my way through BBC’s #Detectorists again, after finishing #SmallProphets. I love the way Mackenzie Crook writes about friendships and his valuing of people who might be dismissed as odd. He also has a knack of making the ordinary quite magical. So brilliant.

We have the vaccine, we have the means to distribute it. We need to redouble efforts to tackle the slow loss of confidence in vaccines. No quick way to do this but we have the tools – it needs effort, outreach, listening to people’s concerns, answering questions, & working within communities. 8/8

📣CFP: "Relationships and Mental Health", Birmingham, May 12th 2026 We are excited to announce a collaboration with our lovely colleagues in the Phenomenology of Health and Relationships (PHaR) group at Aston University on a one-day conference along the theme: Relationships and Mental Health 🧵1/4

<once again holding up a tiny sign that says we actually have good evidence about the complex reasons people don't vaccinate, and how to talk to them about it, and, believe it or not, yelling about how stupid/irresponsible they are, while possibly cathartic, has the opposite of the desired effect>

I found this interview really moving. For me, if really highlighted the emotional work of being a working-class woman trying to fit into a club not made for her (ahem - me & academia) and having lived experience, being an advocate for others and change. Exhausting. Worth it though 👊

Feeling ancient. Just had to google ‘Who is Bad Bunny?’ for a crash course, having never heard of an apparent mega star.

I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.

Trust me, the woman of academia are not at all surprised by the number of academic men orbiting Epstein.

Remember when we thought Sarah Palin was the dumbest person in politics Good times.

Like Dominic Cummings, Morgan McSweeney helped deliver electoral victory but, in doing so, debased and subverted everything his party claimed to stand for.

I'm excited to share a Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Qualitative Research in Psychology on New developments and good practice in reflexive thematic analysis co-edited by me, @ginnybraun.bsky.social @eileenjoy.bsky.social and Lisa Trainor. Please contact any of us if you have any questions.

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Disproportionately happy to see the shoots of daffodils, tulips, crocuses and hyacinths pushing through. #gardening #wintergarden

A bit of a long shot this one. But do any listeners to Weird in the Wade have a connection to Christ College Cambridge?

The NHS appears to have set up an Independent Review re: 'increased demand for mental health, autism and ADHD assessment and support across all age groups'. They are looking for people with relevant Lived Experience to join the Review as 'Partners' - important work! #livedexperience #autism #adhd

As St Brigid's Day Lá Fhéile Bríde approaches we round up some of the events organised by Irish community organisations to mark the day, a national holiday in Ireland💚☘️ Find an event near you! Want to add your event? Email [email protected] https://ow.ly/t6Yo50Y4QZy

*Not so fun fact. Matt Goodwin was my dissertation supervisor. Only briefly mind. I swapped after he said that my idea - a study and survey on the politics of the homeless (less than 1% vote) - was of "no academic interest". I got a 1st 🎓

In @prospectmagazine.co.uk, our Deputy Director of Research @sarahscobie.bsky.social looks ahead to the publication of a new National Cancer Plan for England. There are shared risk factors that apply to many types of cancer and which could be addressed by cross-government action.

Now out! Special Issue 'Competing Narratives in Decentred Health Systems', guest edited by @profkatsmith.bsky.social, Justin Waring & Mark Bevir, and PACKED with great papers from leading authors applying decentred theory to key issues in #publichealth journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jc...

There’s still beauty in the world. The Northern Lights put on a wonderful display all over Scotland. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As Trump menaces Greenland, this much is clear: the free world needs a new plan – and inspired leadership | Gordon Brown

I feel like we’re living in a dystopian novel so dystopian that even if Huxley, Orwell and Bradbury had collaborated on a book, the three of them together couldn’t have dreamt this shit up.

📣 @nihrarcs.bsky.social #PPI webinar: Evaluating #PublicInvolvement with children & young people 🌟17/2/26 Presenters incl me, @helenabnett.bsky.social & @hertsypag.bsky.social + hosted by @skourkos.bsky.social & @elspethma.bsky.social Info & booking: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/involving-...

So lovely to see the unassuming Jessie Buckley smashing it at every awards ceremony for #Hamnet. What a superb actress & what a beautiful film. She deserves every lovely thing coming her way. (Denise Van Outen is being forced to eat her words right now. Too good for ‘I’d do anything’!)

Good Evening

Not commenting on Venezuela is one thing, but Starmer's ministers not even being willing to say "no of course the US shouldn't invade a peaceful sovereign democratic NATO country, which is one of our closest allies" is quite another.

If we can capture another country's president, can another country come and capture ours? Asking for a friend.

Last night over Reykjavík's skyline. Simply magical to live with this in your skies. #northernlights #aurora #fullmoon

An Irish tradition on #NewYearsEve that says you should open the back door to let the old year out & when midnight strikes, open the front door to let the new year in! Happy New Year ♡ #legendarywednesday #wyrdwednesday #irishfolklore #Ireland #traditions #customs #beliefs Photo: Co. Cork

Japanese New Year traditions include a thorough cleaning of the home, putting up decorations, eating soba noodles, visiting a shrine, and taking note of your first dream. I've written all about it here, with lots of #JapaneseArt too. Happy New Year! 🎍 #WyrdWednesday open.substack.com/pub/curiouso...

According to Swedish folklore, the perfect way to ring in the New Year is to fast from food and social interaction all day, followed by a walk in the woods. This ritual, known as årsgång (or “year walk”), is meant to provide insight for the upcoming year. 🧵 #PhantomsFriday #FolkyFriday

In Icelandic folklore Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat, comes to eat those who do not wear their new clothes for Christmas. In this image, you can see somebody did not put on their new Christmas sweater. Or perhaps even more unfortunately, no one got them one! More ... 👇