Sally Howard

How sleepovers expose the hell of other people’s parenting From paranoid parents and device wars to dietary disagreements and clashing parenting styles, hosting friends has become a cultural pillow fight — until now

devices wars and snack spats: for @thetimes.com I report from the frontline of of the sleepover scene #parenting

www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Culinary wit from maple-syrup land. 🇨🇦 🔥

Drastic cuts to global health funding will leave millions without essential HIV and STI services.

Over two decades, huge strides have been made in ending AIDS as a public health threat, saving millions of lives

Commit to sustained funding and uninterrupted HIV services. Protect progress, save lives.

🚨 Drastic cuts to global health funding are leaving millions without essential HIV services. Young people, key populations, and marginalized communities are being abandoned. Millions are at risk. Act now, save lives!
Learn more: 🔗 bit.ly/41CDnrD

#ZeroDiscrimination

straw poll: are other folk seeing leftist communities dissolving into spats at the moment? Seeing these vituperative meltdowns everywhere from diggers communialisrs to fo-row hippies and global journo mutual aid groups— what’s with?

ChatGPT scheduler = ‘calming’ @restispolitics.bsky.social

Meet 'wedgies' reply guy. One of the many men who online stalk British women journalists

early arrival on the tide of mullets from Holland: bathing their bellies therapeutically in the chalk water from Lewes weir #fishspa

Feature on smoking bans. Excerpt here. Illustration is of a world map. Since 2007 there have been moves towards stricter regulations on smoking in public spaces across the world. But have any of these had noticeable health impacts? Sally Howard and Geetanjali Krishna report The UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently making its way through the House of Commons. It will—if passed—further restrict smoking in outdoor public spaces. Smoking in indoor public spaces has been banned since 2006. The bill also goes a step further, however, prohibiting the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 2009. If the bill is passed, it will be one of the strictest anti-smoking regulations in the world—and the first to ban smoking for younger generations. In 2022 New Zealand nearly enacted a similar “generation ban” which would have introduced a steadily rising legal smoking age to stop those born after January 2009 from being able to buy cigarettes legally. New Zealand’s bill was to be implemented from July 2024, but was scrapped in November 2023 after the government which proposed it lost the 2023 national election, and the new coalition government halted proceedings.

Analysis by different countries: A mixed bag of evidence Scientific evidence remains mixed. Studies suggest that comprehensive indoor smoking bans are associated with a 2.35-3.29% average reduction in the adult population who smoke tobacco products.1 Partial indoor smoking bans are harder to read. Studies that have been conducted did not find any significant impact on smoking prevalence, and warned that they could even increase smoking intensity among people who smoke every day.2 Indoor smoking bans in public places also seem to have little impact on incidence of smoking and passive smoking in domestic dwellings, researchers report.3 A study in Denmark and Switzerland found positive effects on lung function in populations in the years after indoor smoking bans.4 That said, several studies note other factors that impoverish indoor air quality may be affecting results. These include poor ventilation, indoor fireplaces,5 and the burning of black fuels such as peat and turf. Additionally, the chronic diseases born of tobacco smoking—such as heart disease, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—often present after many years’ tobacco use, and may not yet be captured by mortality data. In 2023, 22.3% of the world’s population used tobacco (36.7% of men and 7.8% of women), with 80% of tobacco users (both smoked and smokeless tobacco products) living in low and middle income countries, according to the World Health Organization.6 That said, in many countries the rates of tobacco smoking are diminishing, with some of the most marked reductions in Mexico and Uruguay.

Final page. See text on previous picture.

It’s all about the big issues in the @bmj.com this month!

Do smoking bans work? And what about the role of e-cigarettes?

A review here from @salvolatile.bsky.social and Geetanjali Krishna.

It’s a mixed picture, but some successes across the world.

#TobaccoControl
#Smoking
#SDOH

*awaits pee Pulitzer 😆

roundly disagree with this. Calenderising through LLMs has been revolutionary for me as it corrects for my optimistic cognitive biases around time use and helps me push back professionally against cheeky and pressurising requests (v useful for a people pleaser who doesn’t want to revist #CFS)

On Jan 27, rescheduled due to ye olde Zoom version issues, I
share my grandmother's Virginia's wartime recollections of war work at a requisitioned #Glyndebourne and the freedom that the war brought for young women like her #socialhistory

leweshistory.org.uk/2024/12/16/n...

Birmingham's wood burning emissions increased sevenfold over 12 years A team from the University of Birmingham has looked into domestic woodburning in the West Midlands and found that it is the source of 20% of the total PM2.5 in the area. Notably, they also found that...

The University of Birmingham looked into domestic #woodburning in the West Midlands & found that it is a source of 20% of the total PM2.5 in the area. Notably, they also found that #woodburning related PM2.5 emissions were x7 higher than those measured in 2008-2010 airqualitynews.com/health/birmi...

Rearranged due to Sussex ❄️- date TBC!

We're really looking forward to welcoming Marina Gerner to Brighton tomorrow to discuss her new book, The Vagina Business, with Sally Howard.
They will be discussing the innovative breakthroughs that could change everything in women's health.

@salvolatile.bsky.social

‘Inferior port, bad salads and hangovers’: newly discovered 1935 diary offers invaluable view of England’s festive past A diary bought at auction reveals the antics of two intrepid gourmands in search of the perfect English Christmas

on @theguardian.com I follow a rediscovered 1935 diary on a trail of limp lettuce in Dorset www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Coffee in 2025? I’m on Friars Walk: a tall damp house for a tall, damp dame

Yes!

Nimble Electric Trucks Are Supercharging African Trade In Rwanda, farmers often watch their harvest spoil before it can reach the market. A fleet of simple, efficient trucks is changing that.

In Rwanda, farmers often watch their harvest spoil before it can reach the market. A fleet of simple, efficient trucks is changing that. Geetanjali Krishna and I report for @rtbcheerful.bsky.social with assistance from @gatesfoundation.bsky.social and EJC

reasonstobecheerful.world/nimble-elect...

Syria: Doctors warn of refeeding syndrome and infections in released prisoners Doctors from Syria who work for the NHS have told The BMJ about “Holocaust-like” scenes that have unfolded at the liberated Saydnaya military prison 18 miles north of the Syrian capital, Damascus, aft...

Doctors from Syria tell me about “Holocaust-like” scenes that have unfolded at the liberated Saydnaya military prison - 18 miles north of the Damascus - after the fall of the country’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad. I report for @bmj.com

www.bmj.com/content/387/...

GOOD LUCK and strength and solidarity to all striking today and tomorrow!!

No thanks too specialist for general callouts services

looking for Middle Eastern medics who have fled turbulent home nations in recent years for the Gulf states #journorequest #casestudyrequest

Taliban bans women from training in nursing and midwifery in Afghanistan Health and human rights organisations have condemned the Taliban’s ban on women from attending nursing and midwifery training institutes in Afghanistan. Non-governmental organisation Human Rights Wat...

The Taliban bans women from nursing and midwifery training in Afghanistan.

A student who who had been ordered to leave her training course on Dec 3 tells me that the ban was a tragedy that “will kill even more women and babies in our country”. I report for @bmj.com

www.bmj.com/content/387/...

any UK-based, Afghanistan background doctors on here?

PR disaster

‘A handful of middle class women’ is the new ‘binders full of women’ #gregwallace

I'm looking for GPs in the following ICBs to chat about healthcare inequalities:

Lancashire, South Cumbria, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Humber and North Yorks, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Mid and South Essex or North Central London

sea foam at Hove yesterday: a mixture of plankton and proteins whipped up by the wind, sea foam (‘Neptune’s detergent’) can be a sign of a healthy marine ecostem #winter #stormBurt

Big shout out to Greener Practice, trailblazing primary care led national sustainability network, wouldn’t have been possible to conceive this project without their support & inspiration!

www.greenerpractice.co.uk

such a lovely flurry of fresh blue skyers, in marked contrast to the other place when I’m being trolled by an ‘unvaxxed pure blood patriot country boy’.