Andy Garrett

A provenance casualty - won’t be the first or last to be caught out. It’s a new trap for the incurious.

Short days they may be, this time of year, but you get to see some lovely sun rises when walking the dog. Sun not quite up in Oxwich, Gower with the Bristol Channel in the distance.

Frosty Richmond Park this morning.

Nice to see KK was pleased with the travel clock and aftershave. Different times indeed.

For historical context, played Leeds United in 4th Round. 0-0 and then replay in Leeds. Dispute between the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers led to miner’s strike. Kick off for replay was 2:30 Wednesday as not allowed floodlights. Leeds won 2:0 @iandoylesport.bsky.social

Back from Liverpool visiting Mum. Found this from the Kevin Keegan Fan Club. Must have been early 1972 based on the games referenced. Football very different then, although arguably Keegan was one of the first superstars. Fan club had just 200 members at this point. Signed by Kevin himself.

Each Friday, we’re sharing highlights from our Top of the Charts, a look back at our most popular charts, articles, & more in 2025.

Today we give you our top 5 most-read topic pages this year. 🧵

1. CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

→ ourworldindata.org/co2-and-gree...

If you had to choose one team in the Premier League for Wirtz to start against, it would be Spurs.

Beautiful sunrise in Kew down by the river this morning - whilst walking the dog. Chiswick Bridge in the distance and the Boat Race finish line.

Not withstanding the long term impact of losing key expertise from some federal institutions. The long-term impact of that is yet to be realised. As is the impact of the data holes. You never find out how important something is until you realise it isn’t there anymore.

💡 Thanks to @timandraharkness.bsky.social, Chair of @significancemag.bsky.social editorial board, for discussing this issue’s “Bad Stats” column on Times Radio!
📣 Hear her on Rod Liddle’s show (starts at 40min): www.thetimes.com/radio/show/2...
📖 Read & subscribe: significancemagazine.com

ICC Wales to host the RSS 2027 International Conference

We are delighted to announce that the @royalstatsoc.bsky.social international conference in 2027 will take place at ICC Wales in Newport. Put the dates Monday 6 - Thursday 9 September 2027 in your diary! #RSS2027Conf rss.org.uk/news-publica...

The @royalstatsoc.bsky.social annual international conference is now on bluesky and looking forward to our conference in Bournemouth next September: rss.org.uk/training-eve... #RSS2026conf

Some of the best data detective work I’ve seen, and embarrassing for @bmj.com

The most telling part was that VJ was a lot closer to a red card than Bradley, not least because Bradley dribbled past VJ more successfully than vice versa. Some proper tight ‘old school’ defending from Bradley throughout.

Well worth a read. Accessible writing on, and analysis of, climate change targets and carbon intensity from @adrianraftery.bsky.social - a member of our @royalstatsoc.bsky.social Climate Change Task Force.

Emissions from economic growth undermine international progress on climate change, University of Washington study says A study led by the University of Washington found that while the decade-old Paris Agreement has made some progress in fighting climate change, those gains have been outweighed by emissions associated ...

I was interviewed on @obp.org ’s Think Out Loud by Dave Miller about our study on climate trends since the 2015 Paris Agreement: www.opb.org/article/2025.... The study is at www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Too many politicians forget that digitalisation (of inputs and outputs) is really the great enabler. Stochastic solutions like AI are simply a subset of the many opportunities that digitalisation brings.

Turbulent flights and the climate connection Did you know that there are different types of turbulence, and that it's becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change?

Did you know turbulence is getting worse because of climate change? Jet streams, shifting weather and atmospheric changes are making flights bumpier. Where are the hotspots, and what's driving the change? 👉 Read our blog to find out: www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2025/tu...

The impact of screening is often counter intuitive. A fascinating trade off between the false positive and negative rates and their interplay with underlying disease prevalence - whilst debating the counterfactuals.

The great digital retreat. Started with vinyl. Now pencil and paper business continuity plans. Mark my words, we will all be back shopping on the high street before we know it.

This is a vulnerability map for 8 key bodies: ONS, OBR, Food Standards Agency, MHRA, Met Office, UKRI, Natural England, & UKHSA.

ONS has the most independence. All but ONS have ministerially appointed leadership. 3 could be abolished with no oversight as they have no statutory basis.
6/11

England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

Why do Liverpool fans sing 'Ring of Fire'? Champions League chant explained | Goal.com UK If you've ever been at Anfield on a European night you'll no doubt have heard the Kop singing the famous "doo-doo-doo's" in unison

It doesn’t get much cooler than this….

‘The iconic Cash song has been adopted by Liverpool fans during European nights, beginning during the journey to the 2005 Champions League final where the Reds were ultimately victorious against AC Milan ….’

www.goal.com/en-gb/news/w...

Or only allow Nokia.

What Americans die from and the causes of death the US media reports on Causes of death in the US in 2023 Heart disease (29%) Cancer (26%) Accidents (9.5%) Stroke (6.9%) Lower respiratory diseases (6.2%) Alzheimer's disease (4.8%) Diabetes (4.0%) Kidney failure (2.4%) Liver disease (2.2%) Homicide (<1%) Terrorism (<0.001%)| COVID-19 (2.1%) Influenza/Pneu monia (19%6) Media coverage of these causes of death in 2023 in... The New York Times The Washington Post Fox News Heart disease (2.8%) Heart disease (2.9%) Cancer (4.1%) Cancer (4.7%) Accidents (5.9%) Cancer (3.8%) Accidents (6.1%) Accidents (9.7%) Suicide (4.1%) Suicide (3.3%) COVID-19 (6.0%) COVID-19 (7.9%) Suicide (3.8%) COVID-19 (5.3%) Drug overdose (7.5%) Drug overdose (9.8%) Drug overdose (9.5%) Cancer (26%) Accidents (9.5%) Stroke (6.9%) Lower respiratory diseases (6.2%) Alzheimer's disease (4.8%) Diabetes (4.0%) Kidney failure (24%) Suicide (2.1%0) COVID-19 (2.1%0 Homicide (42%) Homicide (52%) Homicide (46%) Terrorism (18%) Terrorism (12%) Terrorism (11%) Homicide (<1%) Terrorism (<0.001%) Note: Based on the share of causes of death in the US and the share of mentions for each of the causes in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Fox News. All values are normalized to 100%, so the shares are relative to all deaths caused by the 12 most common causes + drug overdoses, homicides and terrorism. These causes account for more than 75% of deaths in the US. A "media mention" is a published article in one of the outlets which mentions the cause (e,g. "influenza) or related keywords (e.g. "fu") least twice. Data sources: Media mentions from Media Cloud (2025): deaths data from the US CDC (2025) and Global Terrorism Index.| CC BY

Nice chart from @ourworldindata.org showing the contrast between what Americans die of (heart disease and cancer) v what the US media reports on (homicide and terrorism). This naturally leads to it being trickier to build a fact based world view
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...

We’ve joined @senseaboutsci.bsky.social @resmedia.bsky.social & @niesrorg.bsky.social in writing to PACAC to defend the independence of UK stats 📊

Free from political pressure = trustworthy data = better decisions for all.

rss.org.uk/news-publica...

rss.org.uk/policy-campa...).

@royalstatsoc.bsky.social explainer here. Not a surprise.

In a UN speech today, President Trump said that "all of these [climate] predictions were wrong".

Back in 2019 I led a research effort to digitize old climate model projections and assess how well they did. Turns out they got future warming pretty spot on!