Ally Brown

More than 50 child asylum seekers still missing after disappearing from Kent care Council data obtained by the Guardian shows 345 children have gone missing in recent years, many probably taken by traffickers

Jesus Christ. We go mad about one bloke we wrongly released, yet hear next to nothing about this horror? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

"The worst social policy ever" We have a couple of bonus guest posts over the next week.

New post out:

"The worst social policy ever"

Today we have a guest post from @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social on the abomination that is the two-child limit and why Labour need to scrap it ASAP.

Lots of data but also powerful testimony.

(Free to read)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

X is a cesspit led by an unhinged billionaire who is desperately trying to stir up civil war in Britain.

Nobody with any sense or decency should be there.

No organisations, government departments, or politicians should be there.

Everyone who is, is enabling this monster.

We are in the process of creating a new journal for our community, the Population Health Journal, and we are now inviting applications for editors:
journals.gla.ac.uk/phj/announce....

Shocked that this is on X - a lawless, extreme platform where the majority of Westminster still mingles without any thought to whether they should be there.

The hidden cost of ultra-processed foods on the environment: ‘The whole industry should pay’ Industrially made foods involve several ingredients and processes to put together, making it difficult to examine their true cost

The relationship between UPFs and the environment is miles more complicated than this. UPFs are a hugely diverse category, but this article pretends they are all like M&Ms. What about plant-based meat and dairy alternatives?

Size is already a matter of class (but I fully agree this makes it even more
so)

What timing! The "planetary health diet" has just been updated: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

That's a leaflet targeted at Ian, a Brit

But we can call their policies racist.

Maybe don't need to personalise it about voters who we might charitably consider "low-info".

But policies and the people who set them - absolutely.

Highlights Household food insecurity is grow-ing in Canada and effective evidence-informed responses to this problem are badly needed. Accountability in policy making is essential to ensure that scarce pub-lic funds are not allocated to initia-tives that lack evidence of impact. Many policy interventions that increase the incomes of low-income households have been shown to reduce household food insecurity; there is no such evidence base for food-based interventions. To increase accountability and incen-tivize effective, evidence-informed income interventions that address food insecurity, we propose that the federal government commit to reducing food insecurity by 50% and eliminating severe food inse-curity by 2030.

Implications for future policy responses This is a time for reckoning. There is little to no evidence of food-based interven-tions having an impact on household food insecurity. Yet the fund-raising communi-cations of charitable and alternative food providers explicitly claim that they are addressing or preventing food insecurity (see, for example 18-20). Scholars have also commented on underlying corporatization as justifying food-based interventions. 21,22 Interdisciplinary research could reveal more about these dynamics, but surely the first step is to call out the incongruity of food-based interventions as a strategy for food insecurity reduction now that the absence of evidence has been revealed. We believe that the related lack of accountability for the impact of recent investments in food charity (e.g. pan-demic-related federal programs23 and the ongoing Local Food Infrastructure Fund¹7) is part of the explanation for the persis-tently high prevalence of food insecurity in Canada. No government has seriously tried to reduce food insecurity.

Conclusion As the problem of household food insecu-rity continues to grow, effective evidence-informed responses are badly needed. The systematic reviews of evidence compiled by PHAC provide an important foundation for such action. But the results of these evidence reviews also lay bare the need for accountability, so that no more public funds are wasted on initiatives with no evidence of impact under the guise of addressing food insecurity. We need tar-gets for food insecurity reduction and some accountability for policy interven-tions that come with significant public investments. Household food insecurity rates and the related adverse conse-quences are only going to get worse unless we address the inadequate and insecure incomes that are the primary driver of this population health problem.

is the effectiveness of federal and provin-cial policy interventions that modestly increase the incomes of Canadians living at low income, for example, Old Age Security pensions, the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) and social assistance. Idzerda et al. concluded with moderate to high certainty that income supplementation reduces food insecurity, but they found no evi-dence that the assessed housing assis-tance programs and food retail subsidy programs had any impact.5 Their findings suggest that inadequate and insecure incomes are the primary driver of house-hold food insecurity and that income sup-port policies are key to reducing this population health problem.5

NEW systematic review of the evidence shows that raising incomes is how to reduce food insecurity. The evidence does not support food-based interventions as reducing food insecurity. Food retail subsidy programs and housing assistance programs don't ⬇️ food insecurity.

www.canada.ca/content/dam/...

'Buy one, get one free' deals for unhealthy food banned in supermarkets Crisps, sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks will be covered by restrictions starting in England.

Big news today: price or multibuy promotions on unhealthy food and drink (e.g. BOGOF deals) are now banned in England! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is not open or tolerant. It's ridiculous. There is no positive policy justification here. It's just inflicting cruelty and hazard on people who want to contribute in order to appease the unappeasable. Morally wrong, politically stupid.

Corporate profit is being prioritised over public health. Discover how corporate power is driving public health crises in the upcoming documentary, Unmasking Influence. #CDOH #CorporatePower @maizie333.bsky.social

If we don't measure it, then perhaps we can forget that 13.5% of the US population (in 2023) does not have consistent access to enough nutritionally adequate and safe food. That is 1 in 7 people! 😢

UNBELIEVABLE - USDA terminates 'redundant' Food Insecurity Survey, because it does "nothing more than fear monger" and "failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder".
www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...

Fit for the Future: A Fair Deal on Food for a Healthier Britain Fit for the Future: A Fair Deal on Food for a Healthier Britain

beyond healthcare, TBI's work on food systems / obesity is a another example of how AI is being promoted as a 'technological fix' to what is fundamentally a political problem

institute.global/insights/pub...

✨ Please repost!! ✨

Calling all qual researchers working in clinical trials! Can you help? Fill in a short questionnaire for my wonderful PhD student @ythqual.bsky.social. Any questions, give him a shout!

1/5 We have published a new article in Lancet Public Health on how a transition to a #WellbeingEconomy might impact positively on population health tinyurl.com/yc4w9xbd @mmbuchs.bsky.social

Trump’s health and the medicalization of American politics Whether it’s Trump’s ankles or Biden’s gait, our leaders’ bodies have become sites for projection and speculation.

What @eric-reinhart.com said. www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/t...

We're are now accepting applications for an exciting DPhil at the @oxprimarycare.bsky.social, *FUNDED* by the THRIVING Food Futures research hub!
The project is about divisive policies, supervised by me, Dr Rachel Pechey @petescarbs.bsky.social @ashakaur.bsky.social
lnkd.in/eezGaZZ3
Pls share! ✨

Raising the roof: can Scotland’s Housing to 2040 Strategy help as an approach to reduce health inequalities? - Scottish Health Equity Research Unit Can Scotland’s Housing to 2040 Strategy help as an approach to reduce health inequalities?

🏡 Our new report: what role can Scottish housing policy play in reducing health inequalities? See here: scothealthequity.org/raising-the-...

Is there a trade-off between diversity and social cohesion? - Understanding Society Material deprivation, not social diversity, threatens to stretch and tear the social fabric diversity and social cohesion

"it’s material deprivation, not social diversity, that threatens to tear the social fabric. Perhaps it’s harder to have trust when you’re competing for resources. Whatever the cause, the solution seems to lie less in measures to limit immigration than in investment to tackle poverty and inequality"

From a thread yesterday - successive governments are (so far at least) positively selecting this as an acceptable tradeoff bsky.app/profile/toma...

Screenshot of a tweet with the text, “Thanks everyone for comments on the draft, here it is revised with all your edits.” The image accompanying the tweet is a photograph of a pizza that is half traditional, and half topped with a roasted chicken and colorful candies

#AcademicWriting be like

Tapping the sign

Good, careful review justifying calls for action on alcohol marketing – and also noting that in some areas such as sport and sporting events, gambling exposure and advertising were even more common than alcohol. As so often, predatory industries use similar strategies.

‘Ursula von der Leyen announcing that Gaza’s civilians have suffered enough; Keir Starmer’s sudden realisation of what he calls “the pressing need for Israel to change course”: none of this is any more than a shift in rhetorical positioning, the striking of a pose of moral condemnation.’

Hi @glasgowfpp.bsky.social @sustainweb.org @nourishscotland.bsky.social @foodfoundation.bsky.social please feel free to repost above (or original TFF post) to your followers who might be interested, cheers!