Project on developing ethnicity-stratified transmission models with me and Neil Ferguson. Please get in touch with any questions!
Limited to home fees eligible students.

Canadian astronaut’s bon mots help heal wounds from French language row Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM

“Anyone who decides to learn to speak another language than their own, realizes the extent to which any language comes with a specific conception of the world & the universe around us ... a way to learn to see the world – our world – through a different lens.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Tomorrow is the deadline for registering to vote.

Voting is the single best way to drive change and create the Wales you want.

Register now or let other people decide your future.

Spending a short time studying in Europe is brainwashing?! These people are not well. If you‘re frightened that a few weeks in Europe will result in brainwashing or mind control, then you shouldn‘t be in parliament, you should be in therapy or an asylum.

After the latest Mandelson revelations, Starmer needs to get a good lawyer. Wasn’t he supposed to be one? | Jonathan Freedland If only the PM had been the process-obsessed technocrat he was once painted as, this disaster wouldn’t have happened – and he wouldn’t be on the brink, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

"If only the PM had been the process-obsessed technocrat he was once painted" - is it not plausible that he is indeed that technocrat but, in obsessively focusing on detail, has become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of 'stuff' he is trying (& failing) to control?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Corrosive Complacency" And the failure to produce a funding roadmap for British defence

A stormy week for British defence, after Lord Robertson rounded on the government. I've written about the need to match words with deeds and of course cash open.substack.com/pub/markurba...

Always worth remembering the debt Western medicine & science owes to the Islamic world...
hekint.org/2018/11/19/i...

A lot of Orbán's American fans are saying that this election proved he was never an authoritarian in the first place.

This is completely wrong — and, in fact, betrays a complete misunderstanding of both Hungarian politics and modern authoritarianism.

Here's why.

From Isis recruit to influencer: ‘People think: you’re that evil girl who ran away’ As a young mother, Tareena Shakil fled with her toddler from the UK to Syria and joined Islamic State. Now she’s giving dating advice on TikTok. How did she get here?

24-year old adult Shakil joined Isis in Syria but was allowed to return to UK to face justice & rebuild her life.
Groomed 15-year old child Begum joined Isis in Syria but was stripped of British citizenship & remains there in a camp stateless.
British justice?
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Wikipedia's AI agent row likely just the beginning of the bot-ocalypse An AI agent was banned from editing Wikipedia pages... and that's when things got weird, with the agent publishing its complaints publicly.

A new enormously complex global ecology is being created by widespread use of AI by companies, governments, armed forces, news organistations, universities, non-profits, individual citizens, all interacting with each other. No one knows the possible consequences.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/ai/2026...

Jimmy Cagney top of the world YouTube video by Jim Neil

'White Heat' director Raoul Walsh foretells the Trump presidency...
youtu.be/WQB_u6nGb_M?...

‘Feels like history is being made’: will young Hungarian voters oust Orbán? The rightwing populist has been in power for 16 years but a new generation of voters are preparing to vote for his opponent, polls suggest

If polls are correct & Orbán loses will Putin, who will have planned for this possibility, try & subvert the election result somehow? And might we see Trump making common cause with Putin over this?
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Voters in Wales failed by inaccurate UK media reports on devolved issues, study finds Reports on English policies seen in Wales as relating to whole of UK contribute to widespread confusion, researchers say

"UK media is failing to report properly on devolved issues in Wales, leaving voters ill-informed about May’s Senedd elections"
Shoddy UK media reporting the result of laziness or ignorance, or both?
www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...

Management consultants are ruining UK universities Relentless off-the-peg commercial rewiring has undermined British higher education

It's me in the Financial Times, detailing the deep and pernicious influence of one-size-fits-all management consultancy in our universities... Take a look! 👇
www.ft.com/content/5032...

Yesterday at the Supreme Court, a justice asked how things might get "messy" if birthright citizenship is limited.

As we explain in our brief, the answer is very "messy" indeed.

Not if, but when: how Spain’s coastal towns are preparing for tsunamis In the holiday hotspots of the Costa del Sol, the risks are rarely mentioned. But in neighbouring Cádiz, the country’s first tsunami-ready town is leading by example

"Preparedness, say the scientists, is not about predicting the day & time. It is about choosing not to be surprised when nature eventually repeats what history & geology say it will."
History & geology suggest a tsunami hit Cardiff & the Bristol Channel in 1607...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"if the UK Chancellor does stick to her very tight spending plans towards the end of this Westminster term, these manifesto commitments will not be possible without significantly reprioritising funding & cutting back on services. This would go well beyond finding efficiency & productivity savings"

Stephen Lewis, Canadian politician and social activist, dies aged 88 Lewis was the father of Avi Lewis, who was elected leader of the progressive New Democratic party one day before his father died

“It’s not just the fact that people will die; it’s the fact that those who have made the decision know that people will die ... in the inner sanctums of development ministries & cabinet discussions? What in God’s name do they say to each other?”
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

King Charles’s state visit to US will be ‘humiliation’ amid Iran war Visit with Camilla to go ahead in late April despite calls for delay over conflict and Trump-Starmer tensions

'Crónica de una vergonza anunciada'
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Four Characters in Search of an Off Ramp Reading the runes on the Iran war end-game

How on earth to read the runes of the Iran war end game? Telltale signs of a search for closure markurban.substack.com/p/four-chara...

Given the scale of the Iran story I’ve been mobilised as a co-host for the @channel4news.bsky.social podcast and recorded this episode today with Matt Frei t.co/UqxCYmquGO

Initial response to Welsh Labour’s manifesto | Institute for Fiscal Studies A manifesto with more spending for priorities, but which also increases the chance of cuts to some other areas.

"And it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that despite being in government for 27 years, Welsh Labour, like the other Welsh parties, is not fully facing up to the difficult fiscal reality facing the next Welsh Government."
ifs.org.uk/articles/ini...

Wars of Choice vs Wars of Survival And how starting the first could become the second for Netanyahu

A weekend read from me - on Trump and Netanyahu's aspirations for the Iran war, and what they could end up with markurban.substack.com/p/wars-of-ch...

YouGov withdraws survey said to show rising church attendance in England and Wales Research suggested resurgence in Christianity, especially among young people, but some respondents found to be fraudulent

'YouGov had used a model of online opt-in surveys that was “self-selecting” [which] led to “bogus respondents” [also] the method was susceptible to “survey farmers”; people in the global south could complete these surveys en masse for a small monetary reward.'
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

"Put simply, Wales is becoming less British."

If only the English press commissioned more analysis of Welsh politics as good as this.

'In February two former justice ministers from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party signed a letter accusing the current Israeli government of allowing the “active and horrific ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.'

No Israel prosecutions for killing Palestinian civilians in occupied West Bank since start of decade Dozens of former Israeli military, police and spy chiefs describe situation as ‘organised Jewish terrorism’

[Former PM calls for prosecution] 'of violent settlers who are “assisted, supported & inspired by government circles” as they wage a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Pogroms in Palestinian villages are reminiscent of those “once directed against Jews in Europe”'
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

On World TB Day, it's more important than ever to invest to #EndTB and ensure countries have the capacity to support public health initiatives

Our recent story highlights the potential impact of funding cuts of TB programmes from international donors

Read more 🔽

Good news for Swansea's rail line Mike Hedges – MS for Swansea East There is a very strong economic case for the United Kingdom, with not only Wales being a net beneficiary of redistribution, but also larger countries can more easily ...

"Welsh & UK Government’s plan sets out a long-term commitment that will put an end to the previous government’s policy changing & underinvestment that held the country back for too long" - jam tomorrow likely to be kicked into the long (very sticky!) post-elections grass
nation.cymru/opinion/good...