Sarah Dixon Smith
@sarahds.bsky.social
Researcher, Imperial College London • Historian #HistMed • PhD in Military Medicine • Blast Injury • Chronic Pain • Applied History • Cats, Podcasts, Spooky Things. And Pastry.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Today’s Green recruitment policy - “we will confiscate family heirlooms from destitute refugees fleeing war.” bsky.app/profile/sund...
If this really is what is being proposed, I think adding the jewellery confiscation policy + the 20 year policy could kick off the kind of PLP revolt that (without rapid u-turn) could entirely destabilise a struggling government that risks falling over on every front
www.thesun.co.uk/news/3734007...
www.thesun.co.uk/news/3734007...
Small boat migrants to have jewellery & assets seized to pay for accommodation
ILLEGAL migrants’ valuables such as jewellery and watches will be seized and sold to pay towards their accommodation costs, The Sun can reveal today. Necklaces and chains — but not wedding rings — …
www.thesun.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Today’s Green recruitment policy - “we will confiscate family heirlooms from destitute refugees fleeing war.” bsky.app/profile/sund...
"We find that most life-years lost are among civilians... More than 1 million life-years involving children under the age of 15 years have been lost."
Over 3 million life-years lost in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Over 3 million life-years lost in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Over 3 million life-years lost in Gaza
On July 31, 2025, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (PMH) in Gaza released a list
of named people directly killed in Gaza since Oct 7, 2023.1 The list had 60 199 decedents
with their reported age, se...
www.thelancet.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:50 PM
"We find that most life-years lost are among civilians... More than 1 million life-years involving children under the age of 15 years have been lost."
Over 3 million life-years lost in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Over 3 million life-years lost in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
JESUS CHRIST IN RICHMOND PARK: ORIGINAL UPLOAD
YouTube video by JAGGL113
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
From today's Chronicle of Higher Ed briefing. I am *never* an advocate of cutting programs. But I am curious to see if there will be the same type of "students aren't majoring in this, so let's cut the program" discourse around computer science as there always is for the arts and humanities.
November 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
From today's Chronicle of Higher Ed briefing. I am *never* an advocate of cutting programs. But I am curious to see if there will be the same type of "students aren't majoring in this, so let's cut the program" discourse around computer science as there always is for the arts and humanities.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
The first thing we did as a nation to honour those people’s awful sacrifice was boo Winston Churchill like a panto villain and lurch Britain further left than has ever been thought possible since. Reframing previous generations as nostalgic conservatives is fucking ridiculous.
November 11, 2025 at 7:56 AM
The first thing we did as a nation to honour those people’s awful sacrifice was boo Winston Churchill like a panto villain and lurch Britain further left than has ever been thought possible since. Reframing previous generations as nostalgic conservatives is fucking ridiculous.
Interesting piece from @thelancet.com on the new arms race, the vanishing Golden Hour, and the impact on drones on every aspect on military medical care
Understanding the health threats of drone warfare - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Understanding the health threats of drone warfare - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Understanding the health threats of drone warfare
The use of drones as a weapon of war by both countries and non-state actors has transformed
conflict. And as technology develops further—including autonomous unmanned weapon
systems—implications for h...
www.thelancet.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Interesting piece from @thelancet.com on the new arms race, the vanishing Golden Hour, and the impact on drones on every aspect on military medical care
Understanding the health threats of drone warfare - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Understanding the health threats of drone warfare - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Hello it’s not just the sciences. The reason we’re in this mess is because they (and I also mean universities themselves) already killed the humanities and social sciences in subservience to the basic sciences and no one has a critical thought to bless themselves with
Meanwhile, in the real world: www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
November 1, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Hello it’s not just the sciences. The reason we’re in this mess is because they (and I also mean universities themselves) already killed the humanities and social sciences in subservience to the basic sciences and no one has a critical thought to bless themselves with
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
The publisher who disowns AI will make an absolute killing - it'll be seen as the most independent, trustworthy and imaginative and will be the place to which authors and readers will flock.
October 27, 2025 at 9:32 PM
The publisher who disowns AI will make an absolute killing - it'll be seen as the most independent, trustworthy and imaginative and will be the place to which authors and readers will flock.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
“When an emergency sitting was called to (basically) nationalise a steel plant at Scunthorpe to save 2500 jobs, the [House of Commons] was packed. When about 14,000 people have left or been laid off in less than a year from one of this country’s biggest sectors, that gets a parliamentary yawn.”
I wrote about the stupid white paper.
In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.
In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.
Somewhere in the Department for Education, a phone is ringing
On October 20th at a bit after 5pm, the UK government introduced its Education and Skills white paper to Parliament, to absolutely no…
hitchcockian.medium.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:08 AM
“When an emergency sitting was called to (basically) nationalise a steel plant at Scunthorpe to save 2500 jobs, the [House of Commons] was packed. When about 14,000 people have left or been laid off in less than a year from one of this country’s biggest sectors, that gets a parliamentary yawn.”
Had a brief exciting moment, thinking I'd found a big data historian job. Odd for Linkedin, but you never know 🤷♀️
Nope... just making AI more fascist
Nope... just making AI more fascist
October 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Had a brief exciting moment, thinking I'd found a big data historian job. Odd for Linkedin, but you never know 🤷♀️
Nope... just making AI more fascist
Nope... just making AI more fascist
Was looking forward to spending the day sorting out grant & Fellowship applications.
Was not expecting to be punched in the stomach by Agatha Christie on the way to work...
#AcademicSky
Was not expecting to be punched in the stomach by Agatha Christie on the way to work...
#AcademicSky
October 20, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Was looking forward to spending the day sorting out grant & Fellowship applications.
Was not expecting to be punched in the stomach by Agatha Christie on the way to work...
#AcademicSky
Was not expecting to be punched in the stomach by Agatha Christie on the way to work...
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Literally nobody who wants to follow a "vocational" route is prevented from doing so in the UK today by the existence of universities. Entire networks of colleges exist to provide such routes. Many universities themselves have a wide range of "vocational" provision.
September 30, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Literally nobody who wants to follow a "vocational" route is prevented from doing so in the UK today by the existence of universities. Entire networks of colleges exist to provide such routes. Many universities themselves have a wide range of "vocational" provision.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Might be wise to do a wee bit of reading up on the actual history of technology.
AI can be ‘primary driver of prosperity’, says Dsit minister.
Labour 2025: Kanishka Narayan calls achieving UK “transformation” through tech “the central political question”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
Labour 2025: Kanishka Narayan calls achieving UK “transformation” through tech “the central political question”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
AI can be ‘primary driver of prosperity’, says Dsit minister - Research Professional News
Labour 2025: Kanishka Narayan calls achieving UK “transformation” through tech “the central political question”
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
September 30, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Might be wise to do a wee bit of reading up on the actual history of technology.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
There is no arrogance quite like an MD treating your expertise as a hobby.
September 30, 2025 at 1:35 AM
There is no arrogance quite like an MD treating your expertise as a hobby.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
'Even when women were mentioned, the report found they were more often victims than protagonists, with the women murdered by Jack the Ripper more likely to be taught in lessons than the female code breakers at Bletchley Park during the second world war 1/2
School history lessons minimise the role of women, report finds
Campaigners say key stage 3 curriculum plays to misogny and teaches a ‘false version of the past’
www.theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:17 AM
'Even when women were mentioned, the report found they were more often victims than protagonists, with the women murdered by Jack the Ripper more likely to be taught in lessons than the female code breakers at Bletchley Park during the second world war 1/2
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Also it’s not a great leap to criminalising women who now take Tylenol whilst pregnant (in a similar way to which women who have miscarriages can now be prosecuted) and also continuing the dehumanising of people with autism in a way that ends very badly.
Firstly Tylenol etc should sue him into oblivion.
But the thing that people should also remember when it comes to stuff like this & RFK Jr’s conspiracy bullshit: fascists want people to die. Of course they’re murderous to their enemies. But they also have no issue with their supporters dying.
But the thing that people should also remember when it comes to stuff like this & RFK Jr’s conspiracy bullshit: fascists want people to die. Of course they’re murderous to their enemies. But they also have no issue with their supporters dying.
BREAKING: President Trump promotes unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism without new evidence.
September 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Also it’s not a great leap to criminalising women who now take Tylenol whilst pregnant (in a similar way to which women who have miscarriages can now be prosecuted) and also continuing the dehumanising of people with autism in a way that ends very badly.
Utterly absurd that the US has gone from >125,000,000 prescriptions in a single year for opiates alone, to "maybe women shouldn't be allowed painkillers" in 18 months.
Setting aside the bad science, the message here is that pregnant women should suffer--and risk harming their fetus with untreated fever--to reduce their chance of having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Which makes clear his disdain for women *and* people with ASD.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Trump makes unproven claims linking autism to Tylenol use by pregnant women
Some studies have suggested an association between the two, but experts say there is no causal relationship.
www.bbc.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Utterly absurd that the US has gone from >125,000,000 prescriptions in a single year for opiates alone, to "maybe women shouldn't be allowed painkillers" in 18 months.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Think betting on GenAI is a brilliant PR move?
Take a gander at the lovely ratio on that post and think again
Delightful that they're getting roasted like this for supporting the assault on actual science & expertise by pushing GenAI-slop
Take a gander at the lovely ratio on that post and think again
Delightful that they're getting roasted like this for supporting the assault on actual science & expertise by pushing GenAI-slop
September 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Think betting on GenAI is a brilliant PR move?
Take a gander at the lovely ratio on that post and think again
Delightful that they're getting roasted like this for supporting the assault on actual science & expertise by pushing GenAI-slop
Take a gander at the lovely ratio on that post and think again
Delightful that they're getting roasted like this for supporting the assault on actual science & expertise by pushing GenAI-slop
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
September 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
Written by a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital, London after the Tommy Robinson march on 13/9.
September 15, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Written by a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital, London after the Tommy Robinson march on 13/9.
The team at the Centre of Paediatric Blast Injury Studies at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social do amazing work that's more urgently needed than ever, and it's great to see them recognised today
www.linkedin.com/posts/save-t...
www.linkedin.com/posts/save-t...
Duke of Sussex visits Blast Injury Centre | Save the Children UK
From Gaza to Ukraine, Sudan to DRC, more explosive weapons are being dropped on spaces where children play and go to school than ever before, with catastrophic consequences. In Gaza, our teams are see...
www.linkedin.com
September 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The team at the Centre of Paediatric Blast Injury Studies at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social do amazing work that's more urgently needed than ever, and it's great to see them recognised today
www.linkedin.com/posts/save-t...
www.linkedin.com/posts/save-t...
Trying his best to smile for a picture on Ginger Cat Appreciation Day 🐈🐈
September 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Trying his best to smile for a picture on Ginger Cat Appreciation Day 🐈🐈
Reposted by Sarah Dixon Smith
The reactions by historians to *that* Nature paper are because we are routinely consistently told by both laypeople and too many STEM colleagues that our methods are irrelevant, nonexistent or inferior, and our fields pointless.
Our institutions agree.
Miss me with defending STEM in this moment.
Our institutions agree.
Miss me with defending STEM in this moment.
Reactions by historians here indicate that barriers for interdiscplinary work are robust, even may reflect hostile attitudes. Although they seem more rooted in different styles of thinking and communicating, rather than ideological differences.
August 30, 2025 at 4:03 AM
The reactions by historians to *that* Nature paper are because we are routinely consistently told by both laypeople and too many STEM colleagues that our methods are irrelevant, nonexistent or inferior, and our fields pointless.
Our institutions agree.
Miss me with defending STEM in this moment.
Our institutions agree.
Miss me with defending STEM in this moment.
Based on one small 93 year old dataset, that was known to be iffy & unreliable in 1932, and done by someone with no training & no other sources.
But "it's science, not speculation" and in Nature, so automatically more reliable & prestigious than actual historians.
But "it's science, not speculation" and in Nature, so automatically more reliable & prestigious than actual historians.
August 30, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Based on one small 93 year old dataset, that was known to be iffy & unreliable in 1932, and done by someone with no training & no other sources.
But "it's science, not speculation" and in Nature, so automatically more reliable & prestigious than actual historians.
But "it's science, not speculation" and in Nature, so automatically more reliable & prestigious than actual historians.