Megan Florence

Good morning! Boxing day is my favourite day, bubble and squeak for lunch!

A Christmas tree and fireplace with lights and decorations.

Merry Christmas to all.

It is looking very festive here!

If you think you might have Covid - or you’re just feeling sick - stay home this holiday season. Don’t be the reason someone’s loved one ends up in the hospital (or worse).

If you absolutely can’t stay home - wear a well fitted respirator. You could save a life.

If you agree national rules about what physician associate’s can & can’t do, standard guidance on supervision & an agreed process for patients to give consent are needed, support @anaesunited.bsky.social who are fighting to protect patient safety

This is so spot on. As a climate scientist and public intellectual, I see or experience these often

Why is the government not capable wiping the floor with Nigel Farage every single day like this? Alastair Campbell effortlessly destroys him over his Brexit legacy which by almost every economic and financial measure has been disastrous for the country

My teenagers love learning and are extremely high achieving at school.

However, every day they come home feeling dissatisfied with the systems at their school. They see high turnover, lots of cover lessons and ineffective behaviour systems.

Thank goodness for the dedication of their teachers.

Exclusive, I think: English teenagers’ sense of “belonging” at secondary school among lowest in the (tested) world – and declining – new international survey reveals
www.educationuncovered.co.uk/news/172831/...
Findings are from the TIMSS study, published yesterday.

It’s not “wear a mask or don’t wear a mask” it’s “wear a mask or risk long term health”

We’ve learned so much about COVID in last 5 years & anyone paying attention is trying hard to avoid it

Yet we can’t even get simple things like masks in healthcare. We’re making it easy for the virus to win

It’s not about information literacy Why people’s risk calculus around COVID has changed

It’s not about information literacy: Why people’s risk calculus around COVID has changed by @librarianmer.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/meredith...

The problem is that his supporters are lapping this nonsense up.

We had a roast lunch and a family game of Scrabble this afternoon. That felt quite festive! The decorations can't go up until next weekend as we have a new sofa arriving on Thursday.

Or maybe we just realise that we don't have to put up with that shit anymore and have the confidence to speak up against these pillocks with delusions of adequacy

If you see this post a bird 🦉

I made this cake years ago, but it is still a favourite.

#birds #bskyart #cake

I wonder what needs to happen before doctors, nurses and other health care professionals go back to wearing masks and testing?

Thanks for sharing. My son and I just read it together.

Neurodiversity Can Explain Differences in How People Experience Everyday Life Neurodiversity means that all people’s brains process information differently from each other. In other words, people think and learn in a variety of ways. Being neurodivergent means that the way a pe...

Fabulous resource for young people

kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

This is so important for children and young people.

My children are in what shouldn't be a privileged position.

Their school has a fab full time librarian who also runs their after school chess and debate clubs.

A lot of people don't realize that many patients with #LongCovid are now often being treated in Brain Injury Clinics, together with patients recovering from traumatic brain injury after a concussion. It's been hard to keep up with the literature, but here is a new one published yesterday #NeuroCovid

Beyond breathing: How COVID-19 affects your heart, brain and other organs The "head-to-toe" effects of COVID-19 infection mean you still need to be cautious, experts say.

"In addition to the cognitive impairment, we see worsening or new-onset migraines. We see new neuropathy in the legs and arms – numbness, tingling, difficulty walking”

COVID might also be unmasking other neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson's & Alzheimer's.

www.heart.org/en/news/2024...

I'm not very comfortable with the idea that we are reliant on luck to avoid further crisis for the NHS.

this screenshot says: "Every year in England and Wales, a cynic1 might describe a process like this: Around spring, the incumbent government / devolved government promises that they are working hard to fix NHS capacity before next winter. In summer, the relevant NHS bodies warn that nothing meaningful is happening on the ground and/or everything’s much worse, and they are in no way ready for the winter. Through October and November we watch nervously as ripples of seasonal respiratory infections (e.g., RSV, flu and now COVID) grow into waves. The NHS know what’s coming and try vaccinate as many of the old, young and vulnerable as possible. As winter progresses, wards fill up with patients, so A&E is unable to admit patients to the hospital, so A&E fills up, so ambulances are unable to transfer patients safely to A&E, and queue at the front door, and are unable to respond to new calls. Patients suffering from heart attacks and strokes wait hours for help, and incur enormous harms - enough to show up in excess death indicators. In late December or early January, the waves of RSV, flu and COVID peak. If they all are high and peak at the same time, you get the winter of 2022 - average response time to stroke/heart attack symptoms of 1 hour 32 minutes. If, by luck, the peaks of infection are lower, or offset, you get the winter of 2023 - average response time 45 minutes. The target response time is 18 minutes. The waves recede in January and February, the NHS cares for the survivors and we bury the dead. Go to 1. "

It is however nuts that for literally the most predictable NHS crisis we still rely on the luck of the disease draw (and the weather) every winter.

@paulmainwood.bsky.social put it brilliantly a few weeks ago in his substack (which I recommend). 5/6

Biggest employment reforms in a generation unveiled to Get Britain Working again Unveiling the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation, Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall has today (26 November) published the Get Britain Working White Paper, marking the Govern...

Aargh.
So here we are again with a government white paper about bullying <checks notes> sorry, encouraging people who are long term sick into work.
Let's break some of this malicious incompetence down into bite sized chunks so we can understand it...
www.gov.uk/government/n...

I made flapjacks yesterday. They are easy and you can pretend that they are healthy!

I've just learned that today is national cake day in the US.

Here is a photo of a cake that I made to help you celebrate.

Happy cake day to all!

This is your reminder to get a library card. They have so many services and basically all of them are free.

Mine don't let me walk them to school anymore (14yrs old) 🥲

I do still go out at the same time as them every morning though. I get to walk with them as far as the turn off to the park and the dog and I have a good morning routine.