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David Firth @firthstat.bsky.social · 1d

But don't forget that there's actually a discussion meeting even *before* that, tomorrow (8 Oct): 'Statistical exploration of the Manifold Hypothesis' by N Whiteley et al. Details at rss.org.uk/training-eve...

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

If you are looking for a thought provoking night out in London this week we are holding a free evening of talks, exhibits, performance and even zine making on Thursday. All on the theme of ‘Living with the Planet’. You need to book but tix are free
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/livin...

Living with the planet LATE

Tackle big questions and explore bold ideas about the future of our planet in this season’s British Academy Late. Immerse yourself in the sounds and music of the rainforests of Papua New Guinea; discu...

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

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David Firth @firthstat.bsky.social · 5d

That's the first post this season about my "evenings and weekends" project, alt3.uk. That really is an unusual amount of apparent "home disadvantage" so far in the EFL Championship. I don't think I have seen anything like this since the covid times.

It's early days, of course...

Reposted by David Firth

Emil Hvitfeldt @emilhvitfeldt.bsky.social · 14d

I'm exited to announce a new resource about making slides with quarto and revealjs. This book is the combination of all the work I have done in this area, reordered and polished up

There isn't a lot of new information yet, but this format allows me to add more easily

slidecrafting-book.com
#quarto

Screenshot of first page of slidecrafting-book.com website

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Thomas Lumley @tslumley.bsky.social · 6d

Ok so "top statistician breaks silence" is up there with "worthwhile Canadian initiative" as a headline, but you still might want to read it
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Top statistician accuses government of spinning rock art science

A scientist who quit a major study on WA rock art is accusing the government of downplaying findings linking damage to heavy industry.

www.abc.net.au

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 6d

The Royal Society has met to discuss Elon Musk – and they’re NOT removing his fellowship. They are criticising him publicly, but stopping short of actual removal.

This feels like the kind of compromise that will please *absolutely nobody*.

“I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish. Today at a meeting of the Royal Society’s Council, I led a discussion regarding some of those threats.

“Science thrives when individuals and institutions have the freedom to carry out research without fear of discrimination, censorship, or other restrictions that would hinder their work. In support of that, Council believes that it is not the role of the Royal Society to police the personal political opinions of individual Fellows and disciplinary procedures should not be initiated because of a Fellow’s social and political views.

“However, the Society can and will criticise Fellows who act in a way that runs counter to the values of tolerance, courtesy and respect for others that allow science to flourish. Elon Musk’s contribution to the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally is an example of a growing tendency towards the use of the language of violence, and narratives of division and polarisation. This language and these narratives threaten the values that enable science to thrive and the Royal Society rejects them, from wherever they originate.”

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 7d

I’d double down. “Yes. I’m obsessed. He’s a fascistic, law breaking, populist, Russia aligned, dark money sponge. He’s leading in the polls. This is an emergency”

James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 7d

Right-wing media fluffs Farage for years, to the point where he now leads the polls, and then start whining about Starmer being 'obsessed' when he starts telling some long overdue home truths. It's actually hilarious.

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Jane Green @profjanegreen.bsky.social · 10d

We do this kind of research precisely so everyone can be better informed and the political and media narrative can get things right. It’s relevant for all parties, and free to read!!

Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 10d

These are particularly critical points that should be much better understood, not just by the government but also by political commentators, journalists, and broadcast bookers.

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 11d

Nathan Gill is no fringe politician.

He was the leader of the Reform Party and before that UKIP in Wales.

A Brexit Party MEP.

A friend and ally of Nigel Farage, who in 2016 called him:

"terrific," and "as honest as the day is long."

This is a MASSIVE story

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Reform UK's ex-Wales leader Nathan Gill admits pro-Russia bribery

Nathan Gill admits eight charges of bribery while being a Member of the European Parliament.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Birmingham 81 @birmingham81.bsky.social · 13d

RIP Danny Thompson. Here's a playlist featuring just some of the hundreds of songs that were graced by his bass playing. Includes Nick Drake, Pentangle, Donovan, John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Marc Bolan, David Sylvian, Kate Bush, Talk Talk, Lilac Time, Julian Cope etc
▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/4XS...

RIP Danny Thompson

open.spotify.com

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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 15d

Trump at the UN:

"I look at London where you have a terrible mayor... Now they want to go to Sharia law."

This is entirely false. London Mayor Sadiq Khan is politically moderate and has never ever called for Sharia law.

This is Islamophobic propaganda and a bigoted attack on Khan.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 14d

The US Administration has proposed an astronomical tax on lawful, high-skill immigrant workers.

The economic evidence is clear about what Americans can expect: Less innovation, less entrepreneurship, lower productivity.

A diminished future.

My new summary at @piie.com —>

New US curb on high-skill immigrant workers ignores evidence of its likely harms

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered an unprecedented new restriction on lawful immigration to the US by high-skill workers. Starting Sunday, new applications for H-1B visas required payment of an...

www.piie.com

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Andy Garrett @andygarrett.bsky.social · 15d

www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

A useful reminder of what happens when due process is not followed. We have regulatory agencies with a breadth & depth of expertise for a reason (inc labelling). Look no further than the Kefauver-Harris Amendment (1962) & earlier Drug, Food and Cosmetic act (1938).

Trump Promoted Hydroxychloroquine, A Drug Now Linked To 17,000 Deaths

Trump promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine as Covid-19 treatment in the spring of 2020. A new study shows that the drug has been linked to approximately 17,000 deaths.

www.forbes.com

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American Statistical Association History of Statistics @hos-asa.bsky.social · 16d

#OTD 1759 William Playfair b (d 11 Feb 1823) A Scottish engineer he invented or improved numerous statistical graphics methods still used today, including line, area, bar & pie charts. 1/3

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Chris Constantine-Armstrong @rhodium103.bsky.social · 18d

Wikipedia:
▫️Free
▫️Sources at the bottom
▫️Full edit history
▫️Discussion page to check controversies
▫️Openly stated editing policies
Academia: "This isn't trustworthy!!"

AI:
▫️Literally none of the above and, usually, the complete opposite
Academia: "I guess we have to embrace this!"

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David Firth @firthstat.bsky.social · 20d

I forgot to tag @davidselby.bsky.social

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 20d

Impassioned plea for more mixed-methods research (quant & qual) from @timharford.ft.com

"The hard data is never as eloquent as a good story. Humboldt would measure the cactus but also sketch it; drag his barometer up a volcano, but spin a yarn about the epic climb."

www.ft.com/content/d419...

The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration

It’s not hard to see how so many came to worry about the issue. But the data isn’t there

www.ft.com

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David Firth @firthstat.bsky.social · 20d

There's also the excellent PhD thesis (2020) of David Selby, "Statistical modelling of citation networks, research influence and journal prestige" wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/15...

Statistical modelling of citation networks, research influence and journal prestige - WRAP: Warwick Research Archive Portal

wrap.warwick.ac.uk

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Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 20d

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

The new TOC from academia dot edu.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 21d

So you have a Wordle type itch but love data? So here’s Chartle. Powered by numbers from @ourworldindata.org
chartle.cc

Chartle - A daily chart game

Guess the country in red by analysing today's chart

chartle.cc

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Adam L @lauretig.bsky.social · 22d

A really neat paper thinking through what "Identifiability" means, how we can determine it, and implications for modeling.

Arxiv: arxiv.org/abs/2508.18853

#statssky #mlsky

A schematic showing some techniques for assessing identifiability and how computation-
ally expensive they are for computational models of different types, ranked in a typical order of
computational complexit

A diagram of implication conditions between identifiability concepts discussed. Note
how structural unidentifiability makes practical identifiability impossible, both locally and globally.
Conversely, practical global identifiability, that may be (loosely) tested as described in the ‘Brute
force checks . . . ’ section, would guarantee the other identifiability conditions

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Professor Dr Richard S.J. Tol FREcon MAE @richardtol.bsky.social · 23d

All is not well at Elsevier richardtol.substack.com/p/fraud-and-...

Fraud and cover-up

richardtol.substack.com

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David Burbach 🌹 @dburbach.bsky.social · 23d

The total number of deaths in the world, all the countries, from any cause, is about 65 million per year.

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Charlotte Nichols MP @charlotte2153.bsky.social · 24d

It melts my head that X is still used for official Government communications, and, catching up on today's news and the fact we have a foreign billionaire inciting violence on our streets, it's clearer than ever that this should end.

I raised this in Parliament last week 👇

Question from me: "I warmly welcome the Leader of the House to his new role and associate myself with the support across the House for my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson). Members have raised many times the unacceptable level of threats that we face. Increasingly, abuse and threats are being driven and whipped up by one platform in particular, X, previously known as Twitter, which has become a sewer of antisemitism, racism, misogyny and dangerous conspiracy theories. Its owner has specifically targeted Members of this House. With a new director of communications in No. 10 and a refreshed Front Bench, may we have a debate in Government time on whether it is appropriate for that platform to continue to be used for official Government communications?"

Answer from Sir Alan Campbell, Leader of the House: "What my hon. Friend says about X is truly shocking. We are very much in favour of free speech, but we are also against incitement to violence. We have delivered the Online Safety Act 2025 to seek to strike the balance between user protection and freedom of speech. On the matter of the Government’s use of X, it is right that the public are kept up to date with information and a number of people still use X, although of course many are moving to other platforms. I am sure that the Government will take that into account in our deliberations in future, and we also keep our wider social media practices under review."

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R-Ladies @rladies.org · 25d

R Developer Day at University of Warwick brought together R-Ladies from around the world 🌎.

Spaces like this remind us how powerful our global community is when we learn, collaborate and build together.

Thanks to Heather Turner for making this possible 💜

#RDevDay
#rladies

“Smiling group of 14 R-Ladies at R Dev Day, posing together in a meeting room with a whiteboard and chairs in the background.

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