Sam Downie

NEW - Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, is expected to call for Keir Starmer to step down as PM.

United States Completes WHO Withdrawal WASHINGTON —  January 22, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of State today announced the United States’ completion of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) due to the organization's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.

The United States has officially withdrawn from the World Health Organization.

This is a shameful move that puts both Americans and people all over the world at greater risk from disease outbreaks, which require international collaboration to contain.

I got to have a fun chat with Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor David Seager about the truly stunning work for 'Tron: Ares'. Read it for free over at ILM's website. (Link in my bio!) ⬆️

"If you give your data to any third party, you are inevitably giving up some control over it and people should be extremely cautious about doing that when it's their personal health information," EFF’s Corynne McSherry told @darkreading.bsky.social. www.darkreading.com/remote-work...

This is quite a post

www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/reality-is...

Skilled migrants on path to residency warned status may change INZ is using two classification systems to decide whether jobs should be classed as skilled - which affects which visas they can get.

Skilled migrants warned about changes to path to residency

Ex-CEO sued by New York for insider trading tied to COVID vaccine contamination A former chief executive of Emergent BioSolutions was charged on Thursday with insider trading by New York Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly selling the contract drug manufacturer's stock while knowing about contamination problems at a Baltimore plant that made COVID-19 vaccines.

Ex-CEO sued by New York for insider trading tied to COVID vaccine contamination reut.rs/3NfOt10

X claims it has stopped Grok from undressing people, but of course it hasn’t It’s still easy to get Grok to edit photographs of real people into sexualized poses, despite X’s updated restrictions. 

X claims it has stopped Grok from undressing people, but of course it hasn’t

A little banner outside a cafe says: ‘sometimes having coffee with a friend is all the therapy you need’. A line drawing of two human figures embracing, both of them emerging from coffee cups.

Any government, when the subject of better funding of mental healthcare is raised:

Coherent Comedy Logo - Two line drawings of strawberries next to each other one upside down with Coherent Comedy written underneath. Colour is black and white on a rose pink background.

🍓FEBRUARY🍓

We put on a great show and we go again in February.

Not only we will have some fantastic comedians, we’ll also be revealing the price of yarn.

📅 Monday 2nd February 20:00
🖥️ Online, via Zoom
🎟️ Tickets are free and available at the below link
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1966906431...

And if you like doing four* minutes of stand-up to 3000** people, please sign up for Coherent Comedy!

bsky.app/profile/cohe...

Lovely to hear

All I will say is @harecomedy.bsky.social is on it.

Adult man still lives with his autism A man who grew up living with autism still hasn’t moved out, it has been reported. Dexter Livingstone, 22, left his parents’ home at the age of 18, but to their dismay took his autism with him. …

Dexter Livingstone, 22, left his parents’ home at the age of 18, but to their dismay took his autism with him.

@thedailytism.com @sararoseg.bsky.social seems The Guardian is now also #TheDailyTism

“People with autism take everything literally” claims man who doesn’t know what “literally” means People with autism will believe literally anything you tell them, a man who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “literally” has said.  Graeme Hart, 31, who claims to know “literally hundreds…

Graeme Hart, 31, who claims to know “literally hundreds of people with autism” has observed that “literally all of them” have no idea when someone’s taking the piss.

Comment under piece with headline: Autistic travel! Top three destinations to imagine in detail but have no desire to actually visit Comment reads: “Nothing to do with autism, do better”

Honestly the best part of the job is the comments. They’re funnier than the actual website. If we ever run out of ideas, we’ll just pivot to comments.

Neighbourly gets injunction to stop release of hacked information An IT security expert has previously told RNZ the hack has included GPS details which could identify people's homes.

Neighbourly gets injunction to stop release of hacked information

DEAD POETS SOCIETY returns to the PCC next Sat 10th Jan for an afternoon show & Wed 11th Feb, both screening from 35mm. Peter Weir’s timeless story of youth, rebellion, and the power of words - with Robin Williams in one of his most beloved performances.

🎟️: buff.ly/mHdgsUb

JOIN US in stopping police use of unregulated facial recognition technology:

https://action.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/page/182163/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=hq7fyanm

We are working to restore service. Apologies for the disruption!

Integrative Medicine Education for Medical Students? NO, IT’S NONSENSE! This paper reports a project aimed to develop and refine an integrative medicine (IM) elective to improve health education and learning, thereby enhancing future physicians’ knowledge, skills, and sel...

Integrative Medicine Education for Medical Students? NO, IT'S NONSENSE! edzardernst.com/2025/12/inte...

It’s #wifiwars Christmas show today in London. www.wifiwars.co.uk

Alien resurrection: Absynth 6 delivers a powerful update to a futuristic classic - CDM Create Digital Music Back in green: three years after Native Instruments announced its demise, Absynth 6 makes an unexpected return from the dead. What we get is not just a rerelease, but the biggest update for the polysy...

I updated the full Absynth guide with additional info on tuning (MTS-ESP, Scala, MPE!), accessibility, presets, and a more complete changelog for V6.0 (and current 6.01 build).

(plus cleaning up some typos, apologies)!

Less than a week until our Christmas shop closes on Monday 15 December! Whether it’s festive cards, a cosy bobble hat or a #SophieFromRomania 2026 calendar, don’t miss your chance to get your orders in before Christmas 🎄Explore our Christmas collection: buff.ly/NtgwwkZ

Good to hear my friend and Movers and Shakers colleague Mark Mardell on Today on R4 explaining that Turkish Airlines appear to have changed their policy on demanding people with #Parkinsons have a doctor’s note. Trouble is it now appears the policy applies to all “sick” passengers

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of a #SophieFromRomania 2026 calendar! We’ve collaborated once again with our patron @rorycj.bsky.social to create a stunning A4 landscape calendar featuring 12 photos of his beloved dog (and internet sensation) Sophie! Buy now: buff.ly/903dxlY

Today our incredible fundraiser Jo helped us update the number of covid dead. We will never forget them. ❤️

Given the current polling, asking Kemi Badenoch to respond to the Budget is about as relevant as asking what Chesney Hawkes thought of it.