Kieran Walshe

UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11

Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? | Aditya Chakrabortty The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silence, writes Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Especially delicious as this published 24 hours ago by an OpenAI employee ⬇️
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

For anyone who's published a book. (Source: www.alcs.co.uk/news/the-lat...)

The day the Home Office tried to deport me When the government decided her marriage might be a sham, Jo Elvin fought for rights that she fears may now be denied her

The day the Home Office tried to deport me

www.thetimes.com/article/ffe3...

The second Trump administration: A policy analysis of challenges and opportunities for European health policymakers The second Trump administration has already made major changes in US policies that affect health and health systems worldwide.We use the Health System…

Wish the UK government had read our advice (ahem). Free to read.

What the current disinformation and discussions on vaccines, Tylenol (Paracetamol), autism could mean for us all. Disinformation and Disarray in American Health Policy Making

New from @sheencr.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/sheenacr...

Again, with the essential use of sibling controls, in a nationwide prospective study in Sweden of ~2.5 million children, no increased risk even with higher dose exposure
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Let's talk about "gold standard science"

The sordid reality of retirement villages

I confess I sometimes wonder whether Unherd should really be called Unhinged. But just occasionally, especially when it does reportage rather than rage-baiting, it comes up with real gems. This IMHO is one of them. unherd.com/2025/09/the-...

NIHR ARC Wessex closes X/Twitter platform account after comments from owner NIHR ARC Wessex has withdrawn from the X/Twitter platform following comments at the weekend by its owner Elon Musk. See BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnvr5782yp3o We would encourage...

NIHR ARC Wessex withdraws from X/Twitter

@nihrarcs.bsky.social @nihr.bsky.social

www.arc-wx.nihr.ac.uk/post/nihr-ar...

Girls who play after-school sport in UK 50% more likely to later get top jobs, study finds Despite benefits, girls far less likely than boys to play sport due to cost and lack of access, according to the research

CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION! Disappointingly poor reporting from @theguardian.com. Of course we want more girls to play sport, but this study is what is technically termed "a load of nonsense". www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The BBC, the NHS and a 'new' think-tank A case study in how vested interests rebrand themselves as "think-tanks".

There's a new social care 'think tank' that has appeared from nowhere. @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social has some questions... open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...

Fiona Godlee

The BMJ’s former editor in chief, Fiona Godlee, was arrested this weekend alongside over a dozen other healthcare workers at a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in London while holding a sign reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”
www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Take a look at our NIHR funded research project on quality, safety and clinical governance at the interface between the NHS and the independent sector. Some interesting outputs on this from @nuffieldtrust.org.uk and @healthfoundation.bsky.social too. www.alliancembs.manchester.ac.uk/research/fun...

This, from the Quakers, is worth reading. It's a serene, confident, utter rebuke of the hate and fear that's peddled by Sex Matters. The last two pages are smokin'. If you're on the wrong side of the Quakers, you really need to sit down and have a good chat with yourself.

I don't have a religious faith, but I think if I did, I'd want to join the Quakers. This is such a thoughtful, careful and compassionate statement on trans-inclusive facilities. Common sense and kindness and true Christian values.

CDC erupts in chaos after ousted chief Susan Monarez refuses to resign Lawyers for Monarez say she was ‘targeted’ for ‘protecting the public’ by not endorsing ‘unscientific’ orders

The kind of pushback I’d love to see more of www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Our research on locum doctors found it is still possible for problem doctors to move from place to place and evade scrutiny. Some frank and revealing interviews - full paper at
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

It's easy to blame the locum doctor when something goes wrong. Some eye-opening qualitative data in our new paper on liminality, locums and concerns about performance. Full paper (OA) at www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

"What seems to be the problem? Locum doctors, liminality and concerns about performance". Really great paper led by Gemma Stringer on liminality and locum doctors just out in Social Science and Medicine. Open access at www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Increasingly I feel that what once was considered the political mainstream in the U.K. has completely lost its moral compass. When did the question about concentration camps and mass deportations become one of practical feasibility?

Improving productivity in the NHS Innovation may fall short of delivering improvement The UK government’s 10 year health plan for England1 was published against concerns of ailing productivity within the NHS2 and the wider UK economy...

‘Between 2015 - 2020, 84% of new drugs recommended by NICE were less cost effective than existing services’ ‘The life science plan to introduce “ innovators passports” will allow a single NHS organisation’s evaluation of a new technology to trigger system wide adoption’
www.bmj.com/content/390/...

A must-read on the underlying problems of a life sciences strategy based on selling more (and more expensive) stuff to the NHS, and an NHS plan which envisages saving £££ through efficiencies and prevention. It doesn't add up.

New article in Social Theory & Health, co-authored with
@judegreen.bsky.social, open access.

In a nutshell we argue that that lived-experience research is not the same as qualitative sociology in health research. The difference exists and matters.

Read here: rdcu.be/evZ7F

Our paper (@davefev.bsky.social + others) out today shows London LTNs have led to est. 613 fewer road injuries (-100 Killed or Seriously Injured).

No significant impact (with benefits for cyclists/motorcyclists) on boundary roads.

injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/earl... (Open access soon!)

Health research in England is grinding to a halt Wes Streeting, the UK health and social care secretary, announced in 2024 that “the NHS is broken” against a background of ballooning waiting lists, delays in disease detection, and reduced staff prod...

New comment piece by me & colleagues in @bmj.com on the using health data for research in UK

Processes are so complex and so slow now that less research is happening and we are wasting the enormous potential of the NHS to drive innovation

www.bmj.com/content/390/...

I went last week to the funeral of Penny Mullen who died in May aged 81. She was an academic at the Health Services Management Centre in Birmingham for many years, supervised my PhD, and was later a colleague. Uncompromising, irascible but absolutely dedicated to her students and her work. RIP.

Really interesting and challenging paper about the evolution of UK health economics, role of women academics and the early dominance by a male cadre of senior profs. Well worth reading. Full paper at www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Polygenic risk scoring and precision prevention I’ve had occasional long and at times difficult correspondence with various bodies who are busy promoting polygenic risk scoring who want me to be a “strategic partner” or something (ie “Greg Fell …

gregfellpublichealth.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/p...

Polygenic risk scoring and precision prevention

Cynics view

I think "neighbourhood health hub" is an anagram of "Darzi polyclinic".