Thank you! It’s been an enormous privilege working with and learning from you Trish

And thanks to all my colleagues at @lshtm.bsky.social and @obshealth.bsky.social and in over 100 countries who enabled me to do the work this award recognises

I’m donating the prize to HealthProm, a fantastic charity of which I’m a patron, which supports many of the groups I’ve worked with all my life, especially apt as Walter was once a refugee (from the Nazis). Please support them too.

www.healthprom.org

Greatly honoured to be one of the first two winners of @lsehealthpolicy.bsky.social Walter Holland lifetime achievement award. I was privileged to know Walter well, a real champion of public health

www.bmj.com/content/360/...

"Apparently the fact that you needed to know was not known at the time that the now known need to know was known, and therefore those that needed to advise and inform the Home Secretary perhaps felt that the information that he needed as to whether to inform ...

3/ however, several other questions also need answers & suspect ISC has a list. Also some questions for previous cabinet secretary

2/ seems to me 2 key unanswered questions a) why did Starmer think appointing Mandelson was a good idea b) why did he ignore Simon Case’s advice? Repeatedly failing to answer second question

1/ Some very good questions from both sides of house on Mandelson statement - like @barrygardiner.bsky.social & Bernard Jenkin, but few good answers. But also some questions completely off point

Cervical cancer in Bulgaria since EU accession in 2007: a struggle in the face of political instability Bulgaria has one of the highest cervical cancer incidence rates in the EU, driven by persistently low screening uptake and HPV vaccination coverage. D…

Indeed - the chronic instability made it impossible to do anything - in the case we studied, organise a cancer screening programme. Not sure this new government (once agreed) will survive contact with reality

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Frontiers | The hidden toll of colleague absenteeism: exploring its impact on emotional strain and burnout among frontline health workers in Nigeria BackgroundAbsenteeism among health workers is a persistent challenge in resource-constrained health systems, increasing workloads for those who remain presen...

5/5 Key takeaway: tackling absenteeism isn’t only about monitoring attendance. It requires fair scheduling, supportive supervision, and recognition of emotional labour, all critical for resilient health systems everywhere.
Read the full paper here www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

4/5 Informal power structures, favoritism, and gendered expectations shape who can be absent without consequence, and who absorbs the costs. These dynamics are not unique to Nigeria.

3/5 Absenteeism doesn’t just disrupt services. It redistributes emotional labour. Workers report exhaustion, frustration, isolation, and moral distress, especially where accountability is weak or uneven.

2/5 Using qualitative research in Nigerian PHC facilities we found that unscheduled colleague absenteeism dramatically increases workload, emotional strain, and burnout for remaining staff.

🧵1/5 Health worker absenteeism is usually framed as a governance failure. But what about its hidden costs for those who still show up? Our new study with @dinabalabanova.bsky.social and Nigerian colleagues shifts the lens to the frontline workers left behind.

The Census 1926 Exhibition Tour - National Archives

There is a major exhibition ‘The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census’ and I’m delighted that we are hosting this in London at @britishacademy.bsky.social from 24 April - 15 May. Free entry and no booking required. Pop in if you are around!
nationalarchives.ie/engage-and-l...

Happy birthday! Doesn’t time fly! And good luck

The Carer’s Allowance Overpayment Scandal is a stain on the British State's record.

Over years, the DWP penalised thousands of unpaid carers who unintentionally earned above the limit.

I am calling on the government to overhaul the system to ensure carers can live with dignity and security.

My latest in the @bmj.com on needing to learn the lessons from the COVID Inquiry and implement its recommendations

www.bmj.com/content/393/...

TRUMP, throwing insults at Pope Leo:
“weak on crime”
“terrible for foreign policy”
“catering to the Radical Left”
“owes his position to me”
“sit down and mind your own business”

POPE LEO, unbothered:
“We are called to love.”

Massive queue for Eurostar at Amsterdam on Sunday. No separation of EU/non EU citizens. Train left 30 minutes late. Utter chaos.

Yes, I will be a first year congressperson. I’m a Public Health PhD with 40 years of experience.

Congress doesn’t need another career politician, it needs more expertise in health care—the largest spending category in our federal budget.

That’s where I come in. That’s where I make an impact.

A scatter chart showing the length of public inquiries from 1990 to 2025. The chart includes both statutory and non-statutory inquiries, but only those that have been completed, updated in April 2026. The trend line shows the length of time taken by public inquiries is increasing. It also highlights outliers including the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Hyponataemia Inquiry, the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry which each took over 3000 days to complete.

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs has officially launched today - unusually it has been given a timeframe (3 years) and a budget (£65m)

The timeline is ambitious, on average public inquiries take just over 2 years but the length of inquiries has been increasing esp for complex inquiries

Magyarország győzött YouTube video by Magyar Péter Hivatalos

Sadly not - watching link sent by Hungarian friend

www.youtube.com/live/CJTCi2W...

Memo to Republicans standing in mid-terms. Make absolutely certain to get endorsements from Trump and Vance and, if you need to negotiate anything, be sure to get Vance on your team

Amazing scenes in Budapest

The riches of Viktor Orbán’s home village [FREE TO READ] Hungary’s longtime leader is trailing in the polls ahead of April’s election, as the opposition alleges widespread corruption

Perhaps now is a good time to share the @financialtimes.com investigative series on Viktor Orban. To start with here’s the one we sent a reporter up in a plane for … (300 free clicks)

as.ft.com/r/8cd54659-d...

Congratulations to Member of @europarl.europa.eu Péter Magyar on the victory in today's national elections in Hungary.

Hungary's place is at the heart of Europe 🇪🇺🇭🇺

Apropos of nothing in particular, just posting pictures from my most recent trip to Budapest, when we were all cautiously hopeful, but recalled being so before. Really looking forward to next visit to celebrate

ORBÁN CONCEDED

Well … so pleased to know that @eurostarnews.bsky.social did so much to prepare for the new EU entry/exit system. Given complete chaos at Amsterdam today, with late departure to get everyone through, I dread to think what would have happened if they hadn’t.