Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan
George Davey Smith
@mendelrandom.bsky.social
Time expired epidemiologist
I enjoyed giving the annual "distinguished lecture" on triangulation of evidence / the variety of evidence thesis @cam.ac.uk Medical school, particularly as I could remind them at the beginning that they had tried to throw me out when I was a clinical medical student there youtu.be/e2ttItEnwCU
Distinguished Lecture: Evidence triangulation: moving from correlations to causes
YouTube video by MRC IEU at University of Bristol
youtu.be
Looking forward to visiting @humantechnopole.bsky.social to discuss triangulation and meeting some of the fantastic faculty and researchers working there
Human Technopole@humantechnopole.bsky.social · 2w ago🧭 How can stronger evidence improve medical research? 📊 On 3 September, George Davey Smith @mendelrandom.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social, joins HT’s Connecting Discoveries series to explore triangulation and the variety of evidence. Register by 2 Sep 👉 humantechnopole.it/en/training/...
Does the (live) shingles vaccine protect against dementia? Fergus Hamilton and colleagues provide important evidence in a new preprint using hospital data from the whole of England in a regression discontinuity design from which we *don't* show evidence of a meaningful protective effect /cont
With England vs Argentina in the world cup don’t get too excited if it gets to a penalty shoot out .. here an analysis of the 1998 shoot out vs Argentina using regression discontinuity shows increase in heart attacks pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12493655/
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pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
With England vs Argentina in the world cup don’t get too excited if it gets to a penalty shoot out .. here an analysis of the 1998 shoot out vs Argentina using regression discontinuity shows increase in heart attacks pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12493655/
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pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that science flourishes when based on reliable evidence and rigorous testing" @royalsociety.org great response to US Office of Management and Budget latest anti-internationalist anti-science moves has a familiar ring to it? royalsociety.org/news/2026/07...
Response to the consultation on the “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance” proposed by the US Office of Management and Budget | Royal Society
Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, responds to the “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance” proposed by the US Office of Management and Budget.
royalsociety.org
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and this essay by Johnson and VanderWeele is no exception. Just like I'm entitled to my opinion that this is one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever read. ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/epdf/10....
AJPH
American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)
ajph.aphapublications.org
adam whalen, mph 🐳@awhale.bsky.social · 3w agolol. lmao. of course it's vanderweele. full of obfuscation, cherry picked examples, and deliberately avoiding the harms of conservatism (the trump admin isn't conservative?) mostly just insane that such a blatant piece of propaganda gets published in AJPH ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...
Keir Starmer and Alexander Kerensky: compare and contrast in 300 characters. Win the most banal Ted Talk of all time
Completely agree I’ve written about the saga here ( @mendelrandom.bsky.social was kind enough to give me his input before I published!) Like the findings? Then limitations don’t matter! It’s now a fact!
The truth about the shingles vaccine and dementia
Ground breaking intervention or senseless hype?
open.substack.com
Link to a great talk by @mendelrandom.bsky.social presenting new work that finds no effect.
George Davey Smith@mendelrandom.bsky.social · 2mo agoHow strong is the evidence that live shingles vaccination prevents the risk of dementia? A talk yesterday @oxprimarycare.bsky.social on this available here youtu.be/qlTnnQytOJ0
How strong is the evidence that live shingles vaccination prevents the risk of dementia? A talk yesterday @oxprimarycare.bsky.social on this available here youtu.be/qlTnnQytOJ0
Guest Lecture 17 June 2026, does the shingles vaccine prevent dementia?
YouTube video by Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science
youtu.be
Much interest (and hope) invested in whether shingles vaccination can reduce dementia risk, but what does the evidence actually show? I'll be presenting some new analyses virtually (and in person in Oxford) at 12.15pm UK time 17th July (free registration) events.ox.ac.uk/oxford_event...
Oxford Events
Oxford research division site
events.ox.ac.uk
Missed this nice commentary from @gushamilton.bsky.social and @mendelrandom.bsky.social - lots of food for thought for someone thinking of dipping their toe into some infection genetic epi ...
Mendelian Randomization and Infection: Pitfalls and Promises - PubMed
Mendelian randomization (MR) is an increasingly common study design in infectious diseases (ID). It holds promise for identifying causes and consequences of infections where conventional epidemiology ...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
.... although in truth when there isn't a photographer about some of us push our bikes slowly up the hills ...
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 3mo agoImpressed by the number of bikes and bike lanes in Bristol. The city could have said, look, we are made entirely of hills, biking is madness, maybe we could have a funicular or something. Instead they said no, we are strong, we can do it, we will have the finest quads in all the kingdom 🚴♂️🚴♀️🚴
Should be good. It seems that July will be randomisation month this year. rss.org.uk/training-eve... 100 years ago Fisher wrote this: repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/id/eprint/20...
Discussion paper meetings
rss.org.uk
George Davey Smith@mendelrandom.bsky.social · 3mo agoIf you're interested in the history and philosophy of randomization in all its forms I'm co-organising a *FREE* conference in glorious Bristol 2-3rd July wth the legendary Samir Okasha, registration is here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/randomizat... If you think it looks interesting please advertise
If you're interested in the history and philosophy of randomization in all its forms I'm co-organising a *FREE* conference in glorious Bristol 2-3rd July wth the legendary Samir Okasha, registration is here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/randomizat... If you think it looks interesting please advertise
Randomization in Science, Society and Nature
Exploring the role of randomization across decision theory, clinical trials, politics, evolutionary biology and genetics
eventbrite.co.uk
Yet another spurious non-linear Mendelian randomization paper has been retracted by a journal academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/a... Kudos to the editors of the Journal of Public Health for following through and retracting spurious publications. What is shocking is that many other journals /cont
Retraction of: Association between Vitamin D and mortality risk in gout patients
This is a retraction of: Xinyu Fang, Jie Zhang, Zixing Zhang, Dongqing Ye. Association between Vitamin D and mortality risk in gout patients, Journal of Pu
academic.oup.com
G-EE A very much needed (and brilliant) reflection for Mendelian randomization
George Davey Smith@mendelrandom.bsky.social · 5mo agoFailure to understand that the fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization (MR) is of gene-environment equivalence contributes to the flood of nonsense MR papers that are appearing; Shah Ebrahim, Gib Hemani and I explain why in this short commentary. journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...
Have seen thousands of Velvets covers and also saw the Velvet Underground be their own tribute band on two unforgettable nights at Edinburgh playhouse June 1993, but think Waldo’s Gift at Ritual Union 2026 Bristol got closer to the VU spirit than any others I’ve seen
Blog by Andrew Elmore on the genotype-phenotype map reaource ieureka.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2026/03/11/g...
A Guide to The Genotype-Phenotype Map – IEUREKA!
ieureka.blogs.bristol.ac.uk
A comprehensive new tool for exploring how genetic variation influences outcomes, of relevance to everything driven by phenotypes, which encapsulates many domains, from how drugs work to how natural selection works ... / cont
Andrew Elmore@elmorea.bsky.social · 5mo agoExcited to announce the release of The Human Genotype-Phenotype Map! * We processed 16k complex traits & 2.7M QTLs * Turned 49.3M significant colocalizations into 97k distinct groups * Upload your own GWAS to compare against all data Website: gpmap.opengwas.io Preprint: tinyurl.com/3ktsr9hw
Failure to understand that the fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization (MR) is of gene-environment equivalence contributes to the flood of nonsense MR papers that are appearing; Shah Ebrahim, Gib Hemani and I explain why in this short commentary. journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...
Gene-environment equivalence: The fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization
In this Perspective, George Davey Smith and colleagues outline how and why gene-environment equivalence, the fundamental principle of Mendelian Randomization (MR), must be properly applied and critica...
journals.plos.org
🤓There's an open 2 yr postdoc position in my group 🏘️ On interactions between area-level socioeconomic position and environmental factors in weight trajectories in children 📈 Using multilevel models; applying the target trial framework 📆 Apply before April 7th! international.au.dk/about/profil...
Postdoc in Epidemiology - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Public Health - Department of Epidemiology, Aarhus University
international.au.dk
Embarrasing correcton required for this - it was intended to say "gene-environment equivalence" not interaction is the fundamental principle of MR ..
George Davey Smith@mendelrandom.bsky.social · 5mo agoFailure to understand that the fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization (MR) is that of gene-environment interaction contributes to the flood of nonsense MR papers that are appearing; Shah Ebrahim, Gib Hemani and I explain why in this short commentary. Responses welcome!
Failure to understand that the fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization (MR) is of gene-environment equivalence contributes to the flood of nonsense MR papers that are appearing; Shah Ebrahim, Gib Hemani and I explain why in this short commentary. journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...
Gene-environment equivalence: The fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization
In this Perspective, George Davey Smith and colleagues outline how and why gene-environment equivalence, the fundamental principle of Mendelian Randomization (MR), must be properly applied and critica...
journals.plos.org
Failure to understand that the fundamental principle of Mendelian randomization (MR) is that of gene-environment interaction contributes to the flood of nonsense MR papers that are appearing; Shah Ebrahim, Gib Hemani and I explain why in this short commentary. Responses welcome!
PLOS Medicine@plosmedicine.org · 5mo agoIn this Perspective, George Davey Smith (@mendelrandom.bsky.social) and colleagues outline how and why gene-environment equivalence, the fundamental principle of Mendelian Randomization (MR), must be properly applied and critically considered in MR studies 🧪 plos.io/3NGAxNU
www.grahamscambler.com/habermas-and...
Habermas and Strategic Versus Communicative Action
In this fourth in a sequence of blogs on the theories of Jurgen Habermas I move on to consider his use of the concepts of lifeworld and system. These receive their fullest expression in his magiste…
grahamscambler.com