Dominic Cummings has exposed a hole at the heart of the British government – and a glaring problem with the way we choose prime ministers

The COVID inquiry is possibly the most sophisticated and wide-ranging blame game that has ever played out in British politics. That said, the great benefit of public inquiries, as opposed to parliamentary scrutiny, is that their breadth allows for an exploration of issues in a way that promotes “cool thinking” (balanced, reflective, evidence-based) over “hot rhetoric” (aggressive, adversarial, emotive). Source: Dominic Cummings has exposed a hole at the heart of the British government – andContinue…

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Ady Barkan, Activist Who Used His Illness To Advance Progressive Causes, Dies At 39 | HuffPost Latest News

Ady Barkan, a progressive activist and attorney who used his years-long struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to call for the protection and expansion of public health care coverage, died on Wednesday. He was 39. Source: Ady Barkan, Activist Who Used His Illness To Advance Progressive Causes, Dies At 39 | HuffPost Latest News

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Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Registered Voters in Florida and Ohio During the COVID-19 Pandemic | Public Health | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network

Between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2021, there were 538 159 individuals in Ohio and Florida who died at age 25 years or older in the study sample. The median age at death was 78 years (IQR, 71-89 years). Overall, the excess death rate for Republican voters was 2.8 percentage points, or 15%, higher than the excess death rate for Democratic voters (95% prediction interval [PI], 1.6-3.7 percentage points). After May 1, 2021, when vaccinesContinue…

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Forget culture wars: the Covid inquiry is a stark reminder of what government is really about | Zoe Williams | The Guardian

Neither Covid nor life after it, including the hundreds of thousands missing from the workforce, are comprehensible without looking squarely at what austerity has done to society. Even if the Conservatives hadn’t kept the NHS on a shoestring, even if we hadn’t had half the ICU capacity of Italy and France, the decisive factor would still have been this simple thing that we knew all along: the belt-tightening that Cameron sold as blitz spirit, andContinue…

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#MillionsMissing 2023 – #MillionsMissing

#MillionsMissing 2023

#MillionsMissing 2023 will be held at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC on May 12th that will feature an art installation and press conference. This year, #MEAction in partnership with Body Politic, will host #MillionsMissing 2023 to demand bold, urgent governmental action for the millions of people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), Long COVID, and other infection-associated, complex-chronic diseases.Our protest will be an art installation that will have rows and rowsContinue…

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This Questionable Study Caught Fire in Anti-Vaccine Circles. How Did It Get Through Peer Review?

Anti vaxxer study proven false

After two months of going viral, the study is set to be retracted by BMC Infectious Diseases, the author and the journal told The Chronicle. Three years into a pandemic that has killed more than 6.8 million people, the episode is the latest illustration of the pressure on scholarly journals to vet Covid research that may be built on falsehoods — a high-stakes job that they routinely botch, observers say. Source: This Questionable Study CaughtContinue…

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COVID-19: African Americans & Health Disparities | The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Why does COVID-19 impact the Black community with such force here in the United States?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this year, one thing has become abundantly clear: the coronavirus impacts the African American community at a disproportionate rate when compared with other populations.To help make sense of why this continues to be the case, The Wright has partnered with Detroit Public Television to present a new virtual series (sponsored, in part, by our friends at AARP Michigan) about the historical, political, and social factors intensifying the impact ofContinue…

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100 years and counting of mask wearing in Japan | Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gradually, the practice of mask-wearing became less dependent on a specific pandemic threat and premised more on an individual duty to protect one’s family, community and country, which demanded sustained engagement. It was not surprising then that public campaigns also built upon themes that integrated family and work life. On the one hand, mask-wearing came to symbolise the love and care in people’s relations with their family members. Source: 100 years and counting of maskContinue…

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US still has the worst, most expensive health care of any high-income country | Ars Technica

Americans spend an exorbitant amount of money on health care and have for years. As a country, the US spends more on health care than any other high-income country in the world—on the basis of both per-person costs and a share of gross domestic product. Yet, you wouldn’t know it from looking at major health metrics in years past; the US has relatively abysmal health. And, if anything, the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the USContinue…

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These benefits will disappear when Biden ends the Covid national and public health emergencies in May | CNN Politics

President Joe Biden intends to end the Covid-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, the White House said Monday. That means that many Americans could have to start paying for Covid-19 testing and treatment after the declarations cease.The White House, in a statement of administration policy announcing opposition to two House Republican measures to end the emergencies, said the national emergency and public health emergency authorities declared in response to the pandemic wouldContinue…

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