Much as I love the News Agents their discussion on Covid was ill-informed and misleading. christinapagel.substack.com/p/we-are-lea...

We are learning the wrong lesson from Covid school closures

A response to yesterday's News Agents podcast...

christinapagel.substack.com

The News Agents@thenewsagents.co.uk · 3mo ago

“I’m glad we live in a country that is deferential to expertise - but at times in the pandemic, that did go too far.” “I’m not sure school closures were a price worth paying.” Lewis on how ‘legitimate questions’ have emerged - and should be asked - about how we handled Covid.

Am racking my brain to think of ways we can all keep the pressure and heat on this story. Meta & Mark Zuckerberg - one of the richest men in the world - are putting unfathomable legal and financial pressure on whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams. Pretty sure most people are on her side - not their's

The News Agents@thenewsagents.co.uk · 4mo ago

"What the f*ck is going on, because this doesn't feel normal," says Emily Maitlis. META whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams is under such a strict legal gag that she was asked to leave The News Agents studio www.thenewsagents.co.uk/article/why-...

BTW, just while I am feeling a bit mardy, here's a short post about my feelings on 'red flag' emails. And, please let me know if you have ever flagged an email as 'low importance'. (Though it might, on reflection, be the best/snarkiest approach to a red flag email.) euan.is/raging-about...

Is there ever justification for 'red flagging' emails?

I have to admit, when I get an email with a red flag stating it is 'important', it raises antibodies with me. I strongly suspect the person at the other end ...

euan.is

“Blink once if you can hear us, Sarah, twice if [Mark] Zuckerberg is an asshole.” Best response here is to read Sarah Wynn-William’s book, Careless People, and recommend it to everyone. @biggreenbooks.bsky.social - I’d be very happy to buy someone a copy via yourself, if you still do that.

Meta legal action forces Facebook whistleblower to sit in silence at Hay festival

Sarah Wynn-Williams did not speak during event after lawyers warned of possible sanctions from tech firm

theguardian.com

Great to see the Levellers getting some love. Part of my life since 1990 and looking forward to seeing them at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool later this year. #levellers

Banned from the radio after Princess Diana died: how Levellers made What a Beautiful Day

‘Its release seemed timely as the Tories had just left office. But then Diana died and all cheerful songs were taken straight off the radio. Boom! It disappeared’

theguardian.com

Brief update from the battlefields of attacking extreme wealth concentration (we're still far from making any progress) crookedtimber.org/2026/04/09/e...

Another version of "never fucking surrender" aka hope in action.

Janne M. Korhonen@jmkorhonen.fi · 7mo ago

Pilots and especially astronauts are trained to "work the problem." Even, perhaps especially, if the situation seems truly hopeless. Because the only sure way to lose is to not even try. Cynical pessimism and despair are very seductive traps. Been there myself. But they paralyse you. And others.

Go on. Delete it right now… (This is mostly about authoritarianism but perhaps the most grim sentence I read this week on AI and war was how it “shortens the kill chain”.) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman

As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

theguardian.com

“Labour are clearly flailing…” as @zackpolanski.bsky.social accurately notes. People going to the Greens certainly care about nature - but what people want is progressive social policies that are environmentally sound. It’s not really about beavers, you muppets. (As welcome and as cute as they are…)

Lost species to be released as Labour seeks to stave off Greens’ election threat

Push for good nature news before polls with reintroduction of white-tailed eagles, pine martens and beavers in England

theguardian.com

OpenSAFELY is open from today! Huge thanks to all who supported this vast collaboration: whole population GP data; in a productive platform; innovative privacy protections; unprecedented support from professions, privacy campaigners; &c Now it's over to users! www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/02...

OpenSAFELY news: you can apply to do non-COVID research, from today! | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science

We are delighted to announce that - from today - you can submit applications to the OpenSAFELY service for non-COVID-19 studies.

bennett.ox.ac.uk

Seeing my research in print is so exciting, and it's featured in the BJGP editorial too! So grateful to all at @wolfsonpallcare.bsky.social

Note the timing of Home Office re-press releasing the “most ever raids” & “hardest ever immigration crack down” today. Signalling alignment with Trump & ICE. They haven’t got a clue how to make ordinary British people’s lives better, only how to make migrants suffer. #r4today

How long should it take to retract a paper with incontrovertible signs of data fabrication? Sleuths think 2 months is too long, particularly when clinical risks are involved. deevybee.blogspot.com/2026/01/an-o... #retraction #stemcells #cardiology @erictopol.bsky.social

Lovely article from David Misselbrook on the “pings and the bongs of regulatory micromanagement and guideline hypertrophy” and the erosion of the patient-doctor relationship. “For at least the last two decades we have all had a DHSS sponsored buffoon sitting in our consulting rooms.” 🤣

BJGP@bjgp.org · 10mo ago

BJGPLife: The machine that goes ping bjgplife.com/the-mac... #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #FamilyMedicine

Oh, that’s a nice surprise - my article, featuring the fabulous @deevybee.bsky.social, is included on the list. Thank you to the wonderful editors for all their support 🤩

New Humanist@newhumanist.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Looking for some end-of-year reading? We've got you covered with our top reads of 2025, featuring some of the very best journalism on politics, science, philosophy and culture this year:

Brighton & Sussex Medical School is seeking to appoint a practicing GP as Associate Professor or Professor of General Practice jobs.sussex.ac.uk/job/cde88946... @bsmsmedschool.bsky.social #academicprimarycarejobs #primarycareresearch

Clinical Associate Professor or Professor of General Practice Ref: 42195 - Job page - University of Sussex Job Search

jobs.sussex.ac.uk

In this blog, we explain why we need to have an Extreme Wealth Line, just like the Extreme Poverty Line. Also, having a line as a social indicator does not necessarily commit one to a limit on wealth possession via taxation only; it's a regulative ideal. blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...

Let’s be clear – an Extreme Wealth Line is not a cap on wealth

An extreme wealth line (EWL) defines a level where the harms associated with extreme wealth become socially unacceptable. It is not the same as a cap on wealth

blogs.lse.ac.uk

FYI @bjgp.bsky.social @bjgpopen.bsky.social @euanlawson.social @drtomround.bsky.social @timsenior.bsky.social @nadakhan.bsky.social

Andrew Papanikitas@gentlemedic.bsky.social · 12mo ago

This fantastic book arrived today written by Ben Hoban an Exeter GP it builds on his excellent articles in @bjgp.bsky.social . It comprises an excellent set of reflections discussions and short stories. Who knew that fun could also be Cpd? FYI @rcgp-innovait.bsky.social @bedsidereading.bsky.social

At a conference? Why not check the speaker against the Disclosure UK database? They might be paid thousands of pounds from the pharmaceutical industry. I think we can agree transparency is important - but I suspect many (?most) doctors don't know about it. search.disclosureuk.org.uk

How do we keep GPs in the job? New research from Sophie Park. www.phc.ox.ac.uk/news/gp-work...

How can we keep GPs in the job? New review points to relationships, meaning, and learning

New research shows GP retention depends on how services are organised, not just individual resilience. Meaningful work, strong relationships, and learning cultures help GPs stay in post and deliver be...

phc.ox.ac.uk

Listen to the full audio interview with BJGP Editor, @euanlawson.social‬, for editorial insights into journal impact and real world applicability. www.bjgplife.com/212 #ResearchMethods #PrimaryCare #GPsky #Medsky

Inside the BJGP and editorial insights: Euan Lawson on the future of publishing and how to get published

Quickly and easily listen to BJGP Interviews for free!

bjgplife.com

My thoughts with the good people at @releasedrugs.bsky.social but also, especially, with the people who are being targeted by the far-right. As they say “Solidarity is key when under attack…” www.release.org.uk/blog/office-...

The Govt needs to go much further on private school reform if it wants to reach its goal of ‘smashing the class ceiling’

LSE British Politics and Policy@lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social · last yr.

💡New! Taxing private schools won’t smash the class ceiling, argue @aaronreeves.bsky.social and @samfriedman.bsky.social. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

The story of how I met Enid Balint and two other remarkable psychoanalysts, but never became one myself. Just out @bjgp.bsky.social. bjgplife.com/encounters-w...

Encounters with three remarkable women

"Although I knew so little about them at the time I met them, it now feels an extraordinary privilege to have encountered these three remarkable women." A slice of memoir from John Launer

bjgplife.com

Nick Clegg - here he is, again, rationalising the staggering malignancy he has blithely facilitated. Austerity and its litany of deaths. Tuition fees and the disintegration of HE. Facebook and the tech bros. If there is a social ill or moral void seems we'll find him greasing the wheels.

‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at Meta’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, AI and Starmer’s half measures

When Britain’s former deputy PM took a job at Meta, nothing could have prepared him for the ‘cloying conformity’ of the tech world. So why does he still think social media is a force for good?

theguardian.com

Read the issue dedicated to #QualitativeResearch, with an editorial from Prof. Carolyn A Chew-Graham‬ plus a celebration of qualitative research from @euanlawson.social‬ bjgp.org/content/75/755

British Journal of General Practice: 75 (755)

bjgp.org

The review also found a lack of evidence about who is most likely to be missed, highlighting the need for more research to understand and prevent inequalities at this crucial point of care. You can read the full paper here: doi.org/10.3399/BJGP... #PalliativeCare #Research #GeneralPractice #BJGP

Equitable inclusion of patients with cancer on the palliative care register: a systematic review in primary care

Background GPs are instrumental to palliative care in the UK and most practices maintain a register of patients with palliative care needs. However, many people with incurable cancer who could benefit...

doi.org

theconversation.com/what-people-...

What people really want from their GP – it’s simpler than you might think

Patients are being clear about what they want but nobody’s listening.

theconversation.com

Our paper on repeat prescribing duration is in this edition of @bjgp.bsky.social doi.org/10.3399/BJGP... Lots of great articles beyond ours, including a thoughtful editorial from @euanlawson.social on co-proxamol I'll write more next week !

BJGP@bjgp.org · last yr.

BJGP | JULY 2025 The 'Prescribing' BJGP is online now, with articles on: Stopping HRT, Nitrofurantoin and long-term side effects, prescribing antidepressants and risk of postural hypotension, SMS intervention to support T2D self-management, and repeat prescriptions. bjgp.org/content/75/...

Pretty sure more than 50 people will need this £10 graphic novel...

David Ziggy Greene (Jam bookshop)@jambookshopuk.bsky.social · last yr.

Taking pre-orders for possibly the greatest book ever made: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/vintage-de... #comics #book #books #zine #comicbook #selfpublishing #smallpress #illustration