Simon Lennane

is it St Mark's?

Kombucha Workshop - Workshop/Course in Crick, Caldicot, Caldicot Discover how to make your very own fermented tea drink (kombucha!) at home

There was a kombucha workshop in our village hall recently. Can't find out who ran it now, but this might be suitable? www.visitmonmouthshire.com/whats-on/kom...

Neighbourhoods as engines of change On the need for bridges from the edges to the centre

Some thoughts sparked by a great event in Leeds yesterday on neighbourhood health and the UK government's Test, Learn and Grow intiative. How do we make neighbourhoods engines of change?
medium.com/@jamestplunk...

Please, for the love of God, stop buying supersized cars | Arwa Mahdawi Why would anyone want a car that’s too big for parking spaces, or that’s a menace to other road users? Arwa Mahdawi has a theory

SUVs increase the odds of killing in a collision. They're high at the front, your children get dragged under then crushed to death. They're also too big for parking spaces. They shld just be treated like vans, subject to lower speed limits, higher parking charges. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

PH role in climate shorthand speaking note from a conference. This is a take as a jobbing PH professional within local govt, and a DPH. PH is a large and diverse field, there are many other very legit PH roles around…

Climate
what to PH peeps add

This is a take as a jobbing PH professional within local govt, and a DPH. PH is a large and diverse field, there are many other very legit PH roles around climate. Q is what do I add to the party........:

gregfellpublichealth.wordpress.com/2025/03/31/p...

If you read one report today, make it this one from Project Change Scotland. Even the filename is on point...

"We’re here to hold up a mirror — and maybe make you snort into your tea while looking at it"

A hand-drawn illustration of an "Attachment System Hierarchy of Needs" based on Maslow's Hierarchy. The image depicts a pyramid divided into six horizontal sections, each representing a different level of need. The levels, from bottom to top, are: Physiological Needs (Regulator), Physical & Interpersonal Safety (Protector), Intimate Relationships, Family Formation, Friends (Comforter), Self-Awareness and Sense of Agency (Guide), and Achieving One's Full Potential (Partner). The top of the pyramid is labeled "Self-Actualization" (Attachment Figure). The pyramid is further categorized into Basic Needs, Psychological Needs, and Self-Fulfillment Needs on the right side. The illustration is attributed to Crittenden, Spieker, Landini, and Grey (2021) and is related to the use of parental attachment in family court proceedings.

Human Attachment systems meets Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Each stage has a corresponding attachment figure. Interesting.

by @heidipsychology
www.instagram.com/p/C7b9cYusp6H/

First, jab more babies As aid shrinks, donors and recipients should focus more on health

”On average, each dollar spent on vaccination yields a hefty $54 in returns.” - That is a good investment!

Great blog from @danwarrender.bsky.social exploring the evidence for brief admissions for those told they have BPD. I’m often told NICE recommend 72 hour admissions and they recommend no such thing 👇👇👇

Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing - Nature Communications Virtual nature exposure reduces self-reported pain and is associated with decreased brain responses linked to somatosensory and nociceptive processing, providing new insights into the underlying mecha...

Even just looking at images of nature changes our brain and can reduce physical pain, a new study by @maxsteininger.bsky.social and colleagues finds!

Local organizations, -embedded within a community, small scale, staffed by local ppl; where the vision is cocreated & the effort is shared-provide a critical & irreplaceable vector for *care* & support in & by the community. Scale matters, small & local is the alternative future.

AI generated photo of a female in scrubs in front of a Union flag. Her stethoscope is very weird, with apparently earpieces at both ends, though one end also has something of a cross between a bell and a diaphragm.

Not convinced about these new double-earpiece stethoscopes.

On the five-year anniversary of Brexit, I argue it's time to stop pretending Brexit has worked, and start building the case— boldly, confidently, and unapologetically—for returning to Europe.

Read my full op-ed in the Byline Times.
bylinetimes.com/2025/01/31/b...

lovely to see you here Cormac!

Early morning photo of a house with hard frost on roof and ground

Evening photo of a hazy cold landscape

Internal photo of open plan kitchen, dining and living space with a mini-split air to air unit providing warm air

A small external condenser unit

The second -5C night ahead 🥶

Our 2.5 kW Mitsi air to air mini-split unit has been ticking over, keeping our passivhaus at super comfy 20C.

Heat pumps work just fine in freezing temperatures in UK 👌

Labour’s agriculture plans will increase chicken waste in rivers, say campaigners Steve Reed says planning rules ‘have got in the way’ of farmers and apologises for ‘shock’ of inheritance tax change

Abysmal news for the River Wye—already close to ecological death from intensive poultry production—& other catchments.
Labour came to power promising to heal Britain’s river network; today the Env Sec singles out chicken producers & promises laxer regulation.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Sign advertising a talk for Kings Caple Environment Group, Thurs 16th Jan 2025 at 7pm, 'Community resilience and health' by Dr Simon Lennane

#Herefordshire I'm doing a talk in Kings Caple next Thurs 16th Jan about community resilience for health. I'll be covering climate change and health, and how community development can lead to more sustainable, demedicalised care.

More health lost than gained from NHS spending on new medicines NICE's cost-effectiveness threshold for new drugs is £20,000-£30,000 per extra year of health, higher than the NHS's usual £15,000 spend for the same result.

Some quick calculations on the cost (£) of one 'additional year of good health' for comparison:

1. NHS spend on new drugs 2000-2020: ~£20,000
2. Existing NHS services: ~£15,000
3. Public health interventions (& wider determinants): ~£3,800

#prevention #publichealth

www.lse.ac.uk/News/Latest-...

The dangers of industrialisation: why we need to rebuild a convivial society Writer Ivan Illich foresaw out current global polycrisis 50 years ago, which he blamed on us succumbing to industrial tools, not least in “health” care, writes Richard Smith . We need to maximise “con...

Excellent piece in the Christmas BMJ on #Illich and his ideas for a convivial society.
www.bmj.com/content/387/...

Cartoon #1: What we're built for... A bear jumps out of a bush, a man cries "oh no, a bear!" Cartoon #2: What we face now... A graph jumps out of a bush, a bored man says "oh, a graph."

The psychological challenge of climate change - our brains are hard-wired to respond to immediate threats, not a slow-motion disaster happening at a global scale (and that's not even considering the tsunami of misinformation hitting us every day).

Rebel Library: Favourite books of 2024.
rebellibrary.com/dec-2024/
XR Writers Rebel

Out today: Our new report, Creating Connections, explores the role creative arts can play to help build more cohesive communities in the wake of this summer’s riots. 🧵

LoRa and Meshtastic LoRa and Meshtastic: creating billionaire-free and collapse-proof communication networks (that work better in high places).

I've written more about Meshtastic & LoRa here: www.lowimpact.org/posts/friend...

Heltec LoRa 32 v3 Meshtastic 868MHz WiFi BLE OLED - The Machine Shop The Heltec LoRa32 v3 utilises the ESP32-S3 WiFi/BLE controller and newer SX1262 radio chip. There is also an on-board LiPo…

It's easy enough to get into meshtastic. £25 will buy a preprogrammed LoRa. Good present, especially for friends in high places.
themachineshop.uk/product/helt...

Picture from my favourite children's book, Boy on a hill top, by Kota Taniuchi and Peggy Blakeley

Line of sight transmission is dependent on the landscape, so nodes with good views offer the best chance of widening networks. This is where friends in high places come in; transmitters on hills, steeples & tower blocks are powerful connectors, like the beacons that crossed the country once were.

Map of #meshtastic #LoRa transmitters across Northamptonshire reaching down into Bedfordshire

Meshtastic offers a resilient, democratic infrastructure for local communication. A node connects to any others it can see, forming a mesh that links every node that can see at least one member of the group. The network of LoRa transmitter nodes needed isn't complete yet, though.

Internet access for many is not a given; private individuals having control over communications via platforms like Starlink is an extraordinary vulnerability.

But why bother with #LoRa, when the internet enables so much more? The point is the resilience - LoRa will stay working even if internet and power go down. This isn't unimaginable - climate breakdown will increasingly stress our infrastructure.

The #meshtastic protocol propagates messages across the network or 'mesh', on channels that can be open or private.

Heltec LoRa v3 transmitter - a small module with a screen, antenna and charging cable. The screen shows a message 'Yup it's been quiet'.

LoRa (pronounced 'Laura') transmitters are small, a few cm across, can run on batteries, and are low enough in power to avoid the need for a ham radio licence. They mainly connect by line-of-sight, low data rates allowing only text messages.