Ally Brown
@allybrown.bsky.social
Research Associate in Social Policy @ Strathclyde Uni.
Food policy for THRIVING Food Futures.
Also policy approaches to health inequalities, and to mental health.
Food policy for THRIVING Food Futures.
Also policy approaches to health inequalities, and to mental health.
Pinned
Ally Brown
@allybrown.bsky.social
· Nov 5
The health inequalities agenda is "tired and risks having run out of road" - not my words, the words of a senior health policymaker in the Scottish Government. But other SG policymakers told me health inequalities were a "huge priority" - so what's going on? A thread... 1/
Reposted by Ally Brown
An alt measure that looks at lack of access to 14 amenities (a warm house, three meals a day) found 2m children living in “deep material poverty”.
Yet nearly half of them would not have been covered by the official poverty measure!
More in my column
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
Yet nearly half of them would not have been covered by the official poverty measure!
More in my column
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
February 8, 2026 at 11:44 AM
An alt measure that looks at lack of access to 14 amenities (a warm house, three meals a day) found 2m children living in “deep material poverty”.
Yet nearly half of them would not have been covered by the official poverty measure!
More in my column
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
Yet nearly half of them would not have been covered by the official poverty measure!
More in my column
www.thetimes.com/article/fb88...
Reposted by Ally Brown
Short thread on our new paper. We use face mask efficacy research as a “stress test” for systematic review methods. We analysed 66 systematic reviews of face mask efficacy; they reached widely different conclusions (~half said they work, half said that evidence of efficacy was lacking). 1/
Our new paper:
Synthesis challenges in complex evidence: A critical analysis of systematic reviews of face mask efficacy
#episky #healthpolicy #medsky
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Synthesis challenges in complex evidence: A critical analysis of systematic reviews of face mask efficacy
#episky #healthpolicy #medsky
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Synthesis challenges in complex evidence: A critical analysis of systematic reviews of face mask efficacy | Research Synthesis Methods | Cambridge Core
Synthesis challenges in complex evidence: A critical analysis of systematic reviews of face mask efficacy
www.cambridge.org
February 8, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Short thread on our new paper. We use face mask efficacy research as a “stress test” for systematic review methods. We analysed 66 systematic reviews of face mask efficacy; they reached widely different conclusions (~half said they work, half said that evidence of efficacy was lacking). 1/
Reposted by Ally Brown
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
February 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
Reposted by Ally Brown
Useful graphs for when I teach the power of partisanship in a few weeks.
Here is a force which can get 20% of the US public to see Canada (!) as an enemy overnight, based on nothing at all beyond the brain farts of a deranged party leader
Here is a force which can get 20% of the US public to see Canada (!) as an enemy overnight, based on nothing at all beyond the brain farts of a deranged party leader
And the trend goes both ways, by the way.
The US government is telling Americans to hate Europeans and Canadians. And many have dutifully changed their opinions.
The US government is telling Americans to hate Europeans and Canadians. And many have dutifully changed their opinions.
February 6, 2026 at 11:23 PM
Useful graphs for when I teach the power of partisanship in a few weeks.
Here is a force which can get 20% of the US public to see Canada (!) as an enemy overnight, based on nothing at all beyond the brain farts of a deranged party leader
Here is a force which can get 20% of the US public to see Canada (!) as an enemy overnight, based on nothing at all beyond the brain farts of a deranged party leader
Reposted by Ally Brown
Most of Westminster is still using a website that has been producing and distributing CSAM, maybe a bit of self-reflection is in order.
Isn’t the point that you shouldn’t be mates with a convicted child sex offender anyway? Like the depth and the money should be add-ons
February 5, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Most of Westminster is still using a website that has been producing and distributing CSAM, maybe a bit of self-reflection is in order.
Reposted by Ally Brown
🎉 Free research support for third sector & community orgs!
Launching the Centre for Health Policy's new Community Research Cafes!
First cafe: Wed 25 Feb, 2-4pm at Townhead Village Hall, 60 St Mungo Ave, G4 0PL.
Drop in for tea, cake & expert advice on your research & evaluation ideas ☕ 🍰
Launching the Centre for Health Policy's new Community Research Cafes!
First cafe: Wed 25 Feb, 2-4pm at Townhead Village Hall, 60 St Mungo Ave, G4 0PL.
Drop in for tea, cake & expert advice on your research & evaluation ideas ☕ 🍰
Our Community Research Cafe | University of Strathclyde
www.strath.ac.uk
February 5, 2026 at 1:43 PM
🎉 Free research support for third sector & community orgs!
Launching the Centre for Health Policy's new Community Research Cafes!
First cafe: Wed 25 Feb, 2-4pm at Townhead Village Hall, 60 St Mungo Ave, G4 0PL.
Drop in for tea, cake & expert advice on your research & evaluation ideas ☕ 🍰
Launching the Centre for Health Policy's new Community Research Cafes!
First cafe: Wed 25 Feb, 2-4pm at Townhead Village Hall, 60 St Mungo Ave, G4 0PL.
Drop in for tea, cake & expert advice on your research & evaluation ideas ☕ 🍰
Reposted by Ally Brown
How can the other parties not beat this? I mean, seriously? These people should be shouted down in roars of laughter the minute they say this. Just toxic. www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
Nigel Farage wants to cut price of beer by reinstating two-child benefit cap
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged to reinstate the two-child limit on benefits to pay for a 5p cut off pints of beer to boost pubs.
www.bigissue.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:36 PM
How can the other parties not beat this? I mean, seriously? These people should be shouted down in roars of laughter the minute they say this. Just toxic. www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
open.substack.com/pub/blanphea... fascinating post about misleading research on genetic heritability
Why Disease Isn’t Written in Our DNA
What heritability gets wrong—and prevention gets right
open.substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:25 PM
open.substack.com/pub/blanphea... fascinating post about misleading research on genetic heritability
Reposted by Ally Brown
Political science profs: American government is a complex interplay of institutions, competing elites, organized publics, and historical inertia.
daily Epstein file drop: No. The absolute dumbest people you know are right about everything.
daily Epstein file drop: No. The absolute dumbest people you know are right about everything.
🤔You mean the *centrist* Dem responsible for killing good bills had ties to Epstein? Imagine that
February 3, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Political science profs: American government is a complex interplay of institutions, competing elites, organized publics, and historical inertia.
daily Epstein file drop: No. The absolute dumbest people you know are right about everything.
daily Epstein file drop: No. The absolute dumbest people you know are right about everything.
Reposted by Ally Brown
Humane and sensible step move by Spain in facilitating irregular migrants and asylum seekers to move to work with decent pay, social security and tax payments. Predictably the right is grumbling - unlike the UK, the govt isn’t allowing this to set their policies www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
‘It’s like a gift from God’: undocumented foreign workers welcome Spanish amnesty
Half a million migrants will be ‘regularised’ under plans to boost economic growth that have angered rightwing parties
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 9:42 AM
Humane and sensible step move by Spain in facilitating irregular migrants and asylum seekers to move to work with decent pay, social security and tax payments. Predictably the right is grumbling - unlike the UK, the govt isn’t allowing this to set their policies www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Reposted by Ally Brown
Blog from our intern, Sachin, who worked on our project last summer. We are engaging Sheffield residents on corporate influence and the commercial determinants of health. Read below 👇
sphr.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
sphr.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
The value of an informed opinion – using deliberative methods to engage citizens on corporate influence - NIHR School for Public Health Research
Blog by SPHR intern Sachin Weatherburn Determinants of health Within South Yorkshire, the gap in life expectancy between the least and most deprived areas is 8.7 years for men, and 7.6 years for wom...
sphr.nihr.ac.uk
January 28, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Blog from our intern, Sachin, who worked on our project last summer. We are engaging Sheffield residents on corporate influence and the commercial determinants of health. Read below 👇
sphr.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
sphr.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Reposted by Ally Brown
Looking for a good listen on the rainy and horrible #commute this morning? Give the first episode of Sick Society a try and learn why the #NHS almost didn't happen, what #GwenythPaltrow has done to health and why politics are a silent killer! #Tuesday #StormChandra #podcasting
January 27, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Looking for a good listen on the rainy and horrible #commute this morning? Give the first episode of Sick Society a try and learn why the #NHS almost didn't happen, what #GwenythPaltrow has done to health and why politics are a silent killer! #Tuesday #StormChandra #podcasting
Reposted by Ally Brown
3.8 million people in destitution.
That's more people than the entire population of Wales, or every city that isn't London.
That's more people than the entire population of Wales, or every city that isn't London.
The analysis is based on data for the year 2023-24 - the latest for which official figures are available.
The estimate shows about 3.8 million UK people experienced destitution – a category even more extreme than very deep poverty, in which households cannot afford to stay warm, dry, clean, clothed
The estimate shows about 3.8 million UK people experienced destitution – a category even more extreme than very deep poverty, in which households cannot afford to stay warm, dry, clean, clothed
January 27, 2026 at 7:41 AM
3.8 million people in destitution.
That's more people than the entire population of Wales, or every city that isn't London.
That's more people than the entire population of Wales, or every city that isn't London.
Reposted by Ally Brown
Last week, we heard so much about the need to respect territorial sovereignty in relation to Greenland, and such strong words from world leaders.
Israels annexation of the occupied West Bank continues apace
Nida' Ibrahim reports on Israel seizing the archaeological site at Sebastia
Nida' Ibrahim reports on Israel seizing the archaeological site at Sebastia
January 26, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Last week, we heard so much about the need to respect territorial sovereignty in relation to Greenland, and such strong words from world leaders.
Reposted by Ally Brown
The government might as well be posting on Truth Social. There’s no reason to stay on X.
January 23, 2026 at 5:06 PM
The government might as well be posting on Truth Social. There’s no reason to stay on X.
Reposted by Ally Brown
New @cphjournal.bsky.social special issue on decentring health systems out: journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jcph featuring articles exploring how competing narratives, agency & resistance shape health policy & practice. Includes papers examining economic restructuring... 1/4
Journal of Critical Public Health
journalhosting.ucalgary.ca
January 23, 2026 at 8:45 AM
New @cphjournal.bsky.social special issue on decentring health systems out: journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jcph featuring articles exploring how competing narratives, agency & resistance shape health policy & practice. Includes papers examining economic restructuring... 1/4
Reposted by Ally Brown
YES THAT'S WHAT MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS
AND THATS WHY WE DON'T USE IT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
AND THATS WHY WE DON'T USE IT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
January 22, 2026 at 8:04 PM
YES THAT'S WHAT MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS
AND THATS WHY WE DON'T USE IT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
AND THATS WHY WE DON'T USE IT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Reposted by Ally Brown
Important thread
TRUMP: I was the first man to speak French. bonjour I said one day and my doctor started throwing up. how are you doing that, he asked. it's medically not possible. I say baguette, the guy has a heart attack. very sad. his kids are orphans now
BBC NEWS: reassuring words on the EU from Trump
BBC NEWS: reassuring words on the EU from Trump
January 21, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Important thread
Reposted by Ally Brown
The best way of describing someone who’s all talk and no action that I’ve ever heard in the UK, by far, is “they’re all wardrobe and no Narnia.”
* read on for fun ways of saying “all talk and no action” in other languages (a thread)
* read on for fun ways of saying “all talk and no action” in other languages (a thread)
January 22, 2026 at 12:44 PM
The best way of describing someone who’s all talk and no action that I’ve ever heard in the UK, by far, is “they’re all wardrobe and no Narnia.”
* read on for fun ways of saying “all talk and no action” in other languages (a thread)
* read on for fun ways of saying “all talk and no action” in other languages (a thread)
Reposted by Ally Brown
There you have it, the Board of Peace is nothing more than a corrupt real estate deal dressed up as diplomacy with the sole purpose of enriching Trump and his favoured cronies.
Trump makes concluding remarks. He says Gaza ceasefire push began because he is “a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location, and I said, ‘look at this location, on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property’”.
January 22, 2026 at 11:16 AM
There you have it, the Board of Peace is nothing more than a corrupt real estate deal dressed up as diplomacy with the sole purpose of enriching Trump and his favoured cronies.
Reposted by Ally Brown
‘Terrible things are happening outside… Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return… to find their families gone.’
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials
Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas
www.theguardian.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:43 AM
‘Terrible things are happening outside… Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return… to find their families gone.’
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Reposted by Ally Brown
This is actually a weirdly boring time to specialize in International Relations because there's no actual intellectual substance to any of this. Like, yeah, man. Shit's fucked. Fucker's nutso. That sort of insight is why I'm a fancy-pants political scientist you should all respect and consult.
January 21, 2026 at 7:08 PM
This is actually a weirdly boring time to specialize in International Relations because there's no actual intellectual substance to any of this. Like, yeah, man. Shit's fucked. Fucker's nutso. That sort of insight is why I'm a fancy-pants political scientist you should all respect and consult.
Reposted by Ally Brown
Abstract submission open for the LEAP conference, taking place in Oxford in April. Please circulate and submit!
We are excited to announce that submissions are now open for the 2026 LEAP conference. Send us your abstracts on meat and dairy production and consumption.
Details of what we are looking for: www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/article/leap...
cc: @oxmartinschool.bsky.social @petescarbs.bsky.social
Details of what we are looking for: www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/article/leap...
cc: @oxmartinschool.bsky.social @petescarbs.bsky.social
January 21, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Abstract submission open for the LEAP conference, taking place in Oxford in April. Please circulate and submit!
Reposted by Ally Brown
JOB! I'm hiring a postdoc for 2 years on my ERC MaMo project.
Looking for someone with strong quant methods, ongoing work close to the project's aims, and a desire to publish in sociology. Start flexible in the next 12 months.
Formal call out shortly, but contact me first.
Looking for someone with strong quant methods, ongoing work close to the project's aims, and a desire to publish in sociology. Start flexible in the next 12 months.
Formal call out shortly, but contact me first.
January 21, 2026 at 12:32 PM
JOB! I'm hiring a postdoc for 2 years on my ERC MaMo project.
Looking for someone with strong quant methods, ongoing work close to the project's aims, and a desire to publish in sociology. Start flexible in the next 12 months.
Formal call out shortly, but contact me first.
Looking for someone with strong quant methods, ongoing work close to the project's aims, and a desire to publish in sociology. Start flexible in the next 12 months.
Formal call out shortly, but contact me first.
Reposted by Ally Brown
Oh, come on ...
Being computer illiterate is not an acceptable excuse for filling in your Universal Credit incorrectly or missing your council tax payment. The consequences are severe.
Only the wealthly allowed to be a "computer illiterate oddball"?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Being computer illiterate is not an acceptable excuse for filling in your Universal Credit incorrectly or missing your council tax payment. The consequences are severe.
Only the wealthly allowed to be a "computer illiterate oddball"?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Nigel Farage apologises for 17 breaches of MPs’ code of conduct
Reform UK leader, who failed to declare £380,000 on time, says he is computer-illiterate ‘oddball’
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:37 PM
Oh, come on ...
Being computer illiterate is not an acceptable excuse for filling in your Universal Credit incorrectly or missing your council tax payment. The consequences are severe.
Only the wealthly allowed to be a "computer illiterate oddball"?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Being computer illiterate is not an acceptable excuse for filling in your Universal Credit incorrectly or missing your council tax payment. The consequences are severe.
Only the wealthly allowed to be a "computer illiterate oddball"?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...