David Martin (still has an underlying condition)

How to become a computational social scientist Scientific research and teaching are increasingly influenced by computational tools, methods and paradigms. The social sciences are no different, with many new forms of social data only available or p...

Join us today at 10am for our How to become a computational social scientist workshop.

Please follow the link to watch the livestream: www.youtube.com/live/ot7-TB1...

We have been awarded £16.3m from NIHR to do applied health research over the next 5 years. I will be leading the Healthy Communities and Prevention Theme focusing on addressing population health inequalities. The team is amazing and so motivated to make change!
www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2025/10...

Launch of the new UK Data Service Data Catalogue — UK Data Service We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new UK Data Service Data Catalogue. This updated data catalogue has been designed with user...

🚀 We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new UK Data Service Data Catalogue!

This updated data catalogue has been designed with user feedback at its core to make finding and working with data faster and easier.

🔗 ukdataservice.ac.uk/2025/10/08/l...

So I spent much of my working life working on #redistricting computations and #census methods... they weren't exactly mainstream issues: maybe I retired a couple of years too soon!

Who benefits from the abolition of stamp duty land tax?

The first answer: people buying very expensive homes. Average saving for someone buying a £10m+ home is £1.7m. Average saving for someone buying a £250k-£500k home is £5k.

102,000 hairdressers in England with 40,000 salons

27,000 GPs with 6200 Surgeries

31 million people visit GPs every month a similar number have haircuts

You can see the problem @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social judging by Wes’s trim he is going to the hair salon a lot more than his GP unlike many

View across sea from Great Cumbrae, Scotland with islands left, right and centre. Cloud over mountains on furthest island which is Arran. Grass foreground, blue sea, blue sky

View across the sea from a mountainside on Arran, Scotland. Three walkers are silhouette against a blue sea with blue sky and scattered cloud above. Great Cumbrae and mainland Scotland in the distance

Last September: stood on the shore of #GreatCumbrae thinking #Arran looked stunning. This September: stood on Arran looking back - it IS stunning! #Scotland

The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration It’s not hard to see how so many came to worry about the issue. But the data isn’t there

Impassioned plea for more mixed-methods research (quant & qual) from @timharford.ft.com

"The hard data is never as eloquent as a good story. Humboldt would measure the cactus but also sketch it; drag his barometer up a volcano, but spin a yarn about the epic climb."

www.ft.com/content/d419...

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants The BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards, up to £10,000 in value and tenable for up to 24 months, are provi...

Ooh we've opened our call for small research grants. £10k for any humanities or social sciences research. Open to independent scholars. We use partial randomisation to allocate the funding: random allocation between all that meet the quality threshold
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/ba-l...

Illustration of a 1970s dining room with text that explains that the lack of servants in the modern home makes a serving hatch a necessity

The modern kitchen.
Why serving hatches are a necessity
from ‘Look and Learn’ 1963

A Daily Mail headline that reads: "ANDREW NEIL: It's stifling growth, killing industry and making households poorer. That's why Net Zero is the most costly self-inflicted wound in modern British history"

This is Britain's most popular media outlet. Not a single aspect of this headline is remotely true, and I don't know anyone in economics or industry who would recognise these statements as having any relationship with reality.

Spot on. The insanity is that we are moving to a model that will cost nearly all of us more, may not actually cover our times of greatest need, and diverts yet more of our health spend to private providers and insurers...

I'm sorry, how have I NEVER heard of this website before? This is incredible. You can view basically every train's location in the country?

www.map.signalbox.io?location=@54...

The Wikimedia judgment is best understood as a warning shot. Although the question of Category 1 designation remains unresolved, the judgment makes clear that compliance with fundamental rights, adherence to proportionality, and recognition of functional differences between OSPs are essential to applying the OSA 2023 lawfully. The judgment underlines how difficult the regulatory environment now is, both for OSPs to adhere to, and also for Ofcom to apply. For OSPs, the strategic priorities are clear: engage early with Ofcom during consultation processes, document how your service differs from high-risk platforms, and be prepared to defend decision making if designated inappropriately. The Court has confirmed that such decisions are reviewable, meaning this will not be the last judicial word on the scope of the OSA’s reach.

From Wikimedia to the wider web: What the High Court's judgment means for the Online Safety Act 2023 www.sharpepritchard.co.uk/latest-news/... legal analysis from Sharpe Pritchard LLP (UK)

#OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #openweb

Quick report: 3 months of #EV ownership (inc 1100 mile trip):
- Great to #drive
- #Range is fine
- Easy to find #EVChargers via App
- Home charging v. cheap
- Mway services not much cheaper than #ICE
- Charger payment systems still a mess: too many #apps
- Would do it again? *Definitely*

Delete your old emails to save water, says Environment Agency Emails and photos stored on the cloud are supported by large water and energy-demanding data centres

Delete your old emails to save water during drought, Environment Agency tells Britons.

This is desperate.

How about building new reservoirs; renewing old pipes; not contaminating rivers with sewage; building a national grid, ending privatisation.

Dear Britain, it’s now clear: 20mph zones save lives and don’t slow traffic. Implement them | Sadiq Khan There is too much bluff and bluster on this subject. Ordinary people just want safe streets for themselves and those they love, and we can achieve that, says London mayor Sadiq Khan

The evidence for more 20mph zones ⤵️

✔️ Cut deaths and serious injuries by 1/3
✔️ Protect children
✔️ Reduce crashes
✔️ Lower noise
✔️ Boost walking & cycling

How RFK Jr is systematically undermining vaccines around the world Vaccines saved 154 million lives. But as fear of disease fades, so does protection – raising the chilling prospect of a return to the pre-vaccine era.

@sheencr.bsky.social and I wrote about how Kennedy is systematically undermining vaccines in a coordinated and very effective way in the US for @uk.theconversation.com

full article here:
theconversation.com/how-rfk-jr-i...

Discover the Power of Population Data: Join Our Upcoming Webinar WorldPop are thrilled to announce the launch of a ground-breaking open-access collection of high-resolution global demographic datasets, available from 4 September 2025.

📊 Discover The Power of Population Data! 🌍

Join WorldPop’s free webinar on Sept 4 to learn about our new high-res, open-access population datasets (2015–2030) for 242 countries.

Learn from experts + get your questions answered!

🔗 Register now: www.worldpop.org/blog/discove...

#PopulationData

Paddle steamer Wingfield Castle under a grey sky in the docks at Hartlepool, UK

The inner bailey of Warkworth Castle, looking towards the Great Tower. Seen under a blue sky. UK

Bridges over the River Tyne in Central Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Low level bridge in the foreground, Tynemouth Bridge beyond. Seen in sunlight under a mostly clear sky

The harbour mouth at Seaton Sluice, looking north up the coast towards Blyth. The river bends below the grassy bank where the photographer is standing and enters the sea. Mottled cloud reflected in still water.

So I've been mostly offline, travelling for a while in the #NorthOfEngland. A few favourite photos #PhotoHour #Geograph #Hartlepool #Warkworth #NewcastleUopnTyne #SeatonSluice

Southern Water applies for permission to draw water from rare chalk stream Environment secretary urged to stop drought order that could damage the ecology of River Test in Hampshire

Southern Water applies for permission to draw water from rare chalk stream.

Macquarie controlled company loses 91m litres of water per day to leaks.

No new reservoirs built since 1989.

Dumped sewage for 300,000 hours into rivers.

Customer bills up 47% this year.

End fleecing. Nationalise water.

The NHS – a Suitable Case for Treatment? - Policy Exchange Download Publication Online Reader ‘The NHS – a Suitable Case for Treatment?’ makes the case that the NHS is not fit for purpose and is in urgent need of reform.The report finds that NHS performance r...

Policy exchange, backed by Sajid Javid, think we need to switch the NHS funding model to social insurance, and introduce new charges for NHS services, like to see a GP

policyexchange.org.uk/publication/...

These are not new ideas, but they are bad ideas

A thread with some evidence

The cover illustration and title of the book, showing a dam at the head of a large reservoir, edged by trees and surrounded by hills

Ladybird book in the Spotlight

‘Public Services: Water Supply’ 1969
[Deep sigh]

Artist: John Berry

2031 #Census @ukdataservice.bsky.social ##Population www.ons.gov.uk/news/news/hm....

Let officials speak Sir, The government's new guidance that prevents public officials from participating properly in public or stakeholder events is a mistake. Effective government relies on public servants, whose salaries are paid by the taxpayer, hearing directly from businesses, charities, academics and citizens to help them make better policy. They should be able to explain government activity to those same groups. Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent, speaking for the government about the guidance, recognised this when she said that there was a "a responsibility on our civil servants to engage every day". The unpublished guidance contradicts this, saying that "officials speaking at a sector-facing event with Q&A and/or media expected to be in the audience... should not go ahead". It is causing confusion and a chilling effect on public discussion. It should be withdrawn.

Dr Hannah White Institute for Government; Theo Bertram Social Market Foundation; Jess Bowie and Suzannah Brecknell Civil Service World; Alastair Campbell former Downing Street director of communications; Sarah Chaytor Universities Policy Engagement Network; Mike Clancy Prospect; Sir Simon Clarke Onward; Polly Curtis Demos; Professor Bobby Duffy Policy Institute, King's College London; David Durant TransformGov Talks; Gavin Freeguard Public Digital Data Bites; Kevin Keith UK Open Government Network; Professor Michael Kenny Bennett Institute of Public Policy; Sir John Kingman former second permanent secretary, HM Treasury; Maxwell Marlow Adam Smith Institute; Daniel Bruce Transparency International; Professor Anand Menon UK in a Changing Europe; Dave Penman FDA; Charlotte Pickles Re:State; Professor Meg Russell Constitution Unit, University College London; Hetan Shah British Academy; Ryan Shorthouse Bright Blue; Baroness Spielman former chief inspector of education, children's services and skills; Matt Stanley Think Digital Partners; Thea Stein Nuffield Trust; Matt Tee former CEO, IPSO, and former permanent secretary for government communications; Jeni Tennison Connected by Data

Govt should withdraw its guidance which prevents civil servants from speaking at public or stakeholder events as this will reduce the quality of policymaking. I’m a co-signatory of this letter in The Times coordinated by @instituteforgovernment.org.uk a
asking for this guidance to be reconsidered

Wharf on a narrow canal under a blue sky, with moored narrowboats, Aynho, Oxford Canal, UK

What better possible alternative could there be to motorway services on a hot day? #AynhoWharf #OxfordCanal #PhotoHour

U.S. measles cases reach 33-year record high as outbreaks spread Johns Hopkins University data reflects the public health reversal in defeating the vaccine-preventable disease since measles was officially eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.

The United States has recorded its highest annual measles cases in 33 years. The milestone marks a public health reversal in defeating a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease as the anti-vaccine movement gains strength.

This comparsion in the NYTimes today is pretty stark. China is racing ahead to be a high-tech exporter of 21st century technologies, while the US is doubling down on being a petro-state exporting the technologies of the 19th century: www.nytimes.com/inte...

Memorial marking the point where the Greenwich Meridian crosses the south coast of England, Peacehave, seen on a summer day with clear blue sky.

Well, this is very #Geographical - Memorial at the point where the #GreenwichMeridian crosses the south coast of England #Peacehaven #Longitude

View over a steep path descending into a bay with chalk cliffs and a sea fog partly obscuring the opposite hillside. Arish Mell, Purbeck, UK

Not sweltering like the rest of the country today as a sea fog rolled in, but those hills are steep! #ArishMell #Dorset #Purbeck #PhotoHour #WeatherHour