Others have commented on the incoherence of Sunak’s speech on extremism and how some of his MPs have fuelled it. But there’s something else to consider 🧵 Research with colleagues @GregoriGalofre @davidstuckler @cmicmeissner @jtkoltai et al has documented how austerity creates conditions that allow populist / xenophobic politicians to thrive

We in @TheBMA welcome the determination of the @covidinquiryuk to probe decisionmaking within government. We need to discover how policies like “Eat out to help out”could have happened
theguardian.com/business/2023/… My colleague John Edmunds pulls no punches - “spectacularly stupid”

I'm getting worried about our Prime Minister - keeps going to international meetings to talk about things that aren't on the agenda. First it was the Council of Europe Summit in Iceland when he wanted to talk about stopping boats - still, I guess Icelanders do know about boats Now its the European Political Community in Moldova, where he still wants to talk about stopping boats.

🧵1/9 Finally caught up with last night's #moralmaze om @BBCRadio4 on suicide. My colleague @waterssarah56 was a witness following our paper on Ofsted - a few observations
bmj.com/content/381/bm… 2/9 Panellists kept focussing on lack of a single cause for an individual suicide as reason not to investigate deaths - totally misses the point, which is to find patterns. That's what epidemiologists do

🧵 1/6 Inflation in 🇬🇧 remains stubbornly high, with food prices rising especially fast. So what does this mean for the NHS? Sam Rigby, @HadjerNacer Sam Field, @IPapanicolas, @joncylus & I w/ @OBShealth have published a detailed analysis @bmj_latest 2/6 The paper is available here bmj.com/content/381/bm…
Key messages - headline figure conceals variations in prices of inputs. Energy costs especially high recently.

🧵1/6 Headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life after her school was downgraded in an Ofsted inspection. @waterssarah56 & I have a long interest in work-related suicides so decided to dig a bit deeper 2/6 We found at least 8 other cases where teachers had killed themselves and it had been linked to an Ofsted inspection. Details in our paper @bmj_latest

bmj.com/content/381/bm…

Our new @EU_Health #EXPH report on #LongCovid is just out.
Recommendations in 🧵👇

ec.europa.eu/newsroom/sante… 1. Research on long COVID should, as far as possible, be explicitly co-produced with people living with the condition, with co-creation of potential therapeutic interventions, as well as consideration of the pathway along which the findings of the research can achieve impact

I try to avoid amplifying disinformation but this is dangerous nonsense that some people will believe. Shocked that some otherwise sensible scientists peddling the “immunity debt” nonsense. Someone senior at UKHSA needs to get a grip

https://twitter.com/bbcnews/status/1598811011791953921

Somehow we are to believe that policies that allowed the vast majority of school children (99% in secondary schools) to get COVID somehow stopped them getting other infections!

lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/new…

1/8 Britain's not working
@lu_hiam & I have been looking at the health-related workforce crisis in 🇬🇧 @bmj_latest
bmj.com/content/378/bm… 2/8 Last week @jburnmurdoch published an extraordinary analysis @FT showing 🇬🇧 unique among industrialised countries in not getting pandemic-related loss of workers from ill health back to work. This should have been headline news
ft.com/content/c333a6…

Our new paper @TheLancetPH argues for shift from “Health in All Policies” to “Health for All Policies”
From @OBShealth w/ @scottlgreer @m_falkenbach @WismarMatthias @josepfigueras @luigi_siciliani

sciencedirect.com/science/articl… For years, we’ve (rightly) been asking what other sectors can do for health - good housing, safe transport, healthy environments, crime prevention and much else make us healthier

Some of the greatest mistakes in the pandemic were in procurement. We’ve now published a summary paper from our report for @EU_Health
w/ @annagaal @JanDeMaeseneer @luigi_siciliani @lasleh & colleagues

cambridge.org/core/journals/… Public procurement widely misunderstood. It’s not just buying stuff. Can also promote innovation, development of small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable green growth and social objectives like public health and greater inclusiveness.

The pandemic is NOT over. The 🇬🇧 may have given up but we on @IndependentSage haven't. Today we set out a 7 point plan @bmj_latest
🧵
1. Clear and consistent messaging concerning covid risk and risk mitigation, reinforced by public statements by those in positions of authority; 2. Increased efforts to promote vaccine uptake, among all age groups, with particular emphasis on groups whose uptake has been low, in particular ethnic minority communities, coupled with a clear long term plan to address waning immunity and immune escape by new variants;

Great to be meeting in person with colleagues in our @Magnet4Europe project in Cork. Thanks to @HorizonEU for supporting this important project to improve mental health in the health workplace & to @JdaDrennan for hosting us @LindaAiken_Penn showing shockingly high levels of burnout in European hospitals, but enormous variation even within countries. Also real problems with work environments but again it varies - bad conditions aren’t inevitable

So many times I was asked “But Sweden …”
Now we have a detailed, and damning account of what went wrong. “drastic deviation from 280 years of respect for scientific facts” A reminder that a well prepared country with expertise +++ can go terribly wrong nature.com/articles/s4159… And a reminder of what we on @IndependentSage said about 🇸🇪 in September 2020, in case anyone is suggesting it’s only obvious with hindsight - it was pretty obvious then

independentsage.org/wp-content/upl…

>100 of us have called for an urgent global “vaccine plus” policy @bmj_latest
With thanks to @adamhamdy for his leadership

bmj.com/content/376/bm…

🧵

https://twitter.com/sgriffin_lab/status/1477918253909434373

.@WHO should
1. Unequivocally declare SARS-CoV-2 an airborne pathogen & stress implications for preventing transmission
2. Promote use of high-quality face masks for indoor gatherings and other high-transmission settings.
3. Advise on effective ventilation and filtration of air

Politicians have attacked English GPs, arguing patients can’t get face to face consultations. But are patients getting less access? Our new analysis led by @markalangreen w/ @vkatikireddi @LancetDigitalH asks what has happened

thelancet.com/journals/landi… To recall, before pandemic ministers pushed for consultations to go online, with GPs or, more controversially, an App

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5…

Russia experienced very high excess mortality in 2020 associated with #COVID pandemic. Our new paper led by @SergeyTimonin2 w/ @leon_davida & other Russian colleagues looks at what happened
sciencedirect.com/science/articl… Given changes in underlying mortality in recent years, important to adjust for secular trends. Doing this (method B), Russia has highest of countries studied (also relevant for UK given seasonal spikes pre 2020)
Note: we only include countries with high quality data

1/7 I’ve been reflecting on work I’ve done over the past decade and attitudes to it. Maybe I’m being unfair but I sometimes sense a bit of hypocrisy from some people
🧵 2/7 People who condemn restrictions on freedom but took away the freedom of so many others to live, love, and work in the EU after #Brexit
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30819519/

A short thread on how I see the state we’re in. And I know I’ll be attacked so I will block any accounts that are hostile and anonymous or are abusive Most MPs work very hard to become elected (see @IsabelHardman ‘s book Why we get the wrong politicians) and once they are elected, and many (maybe not all) could be paid much more in other jobs. They spend long hours away from families. It’s a pretty awful job

1/5 Europe must advocate for stronger, better governed multilateral institutions in wake of pandemic. Our analysis, led by @markjit w/ @ananth_aparna @ojwouters @BeutelsPhilippe & Yot Teerawattananonch @LancetRH_Europe
sciencedirect.com/science/articl… 2/5 An effective global response to a pandemic requires investment in 2 major public goods:
Shared knowledge – on surveillance, research, evaluation
Population immunity – no-one is safe until everyone is
See also: euro.who.int/en/health-topi…

I've been citing @SebastianEPayne all week in discussions with other journalists - England's new COVID policy is political, pure and simple. Let's not pretend there is a scientific basis

https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1415017181348253698

I know some (very) senior colleagues believe health and politics should be kept separate. I disagree strongly (for avoidance of doubt I don’t mean party politics - I’ve never been a member of a party)