Dr Priest

More great feedback for Team Of One: What a tonic! A real page turner, with a riveting plot I laughed, I squirmed, I cried Like the best satire, it holds up a mirror in which to see ourselves. Tragicomic in true Greek style! More info here: midpsy.uk/2024/12/27/t...

This is an essential message, repeated in all walks of life: '[Journalists] see their job as reporting on the actions of individuals, not analysing the social structures that force some people onto the streets in protest while others flee the scene in private jets.' We need more #OUTSIGHT!

At the VERY LEAST, the contract with the NHS should not be renewed in 2027.

Exactly. Time to stop blaming individuals. Corporate greed has a lot to answer for. #outsight

Excellent article by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social. Part 2 could include how similar public exhortations are applied to cancer (lifestyle choices in the face of a toxic environment) and mental health (insight into personal failings in the face of a cruel and unequal world).

Why haven't they mentioned the toxic environmental and psychological conditions we have created? Give us some hard stats instead. It's far too easy to blame it on individual lifestyle choices. Forever chemicals and all sorts of other toxins may be way more damage. We need balanced reporting.

This piece argues that wealthier people pay for private assessment+diagnosis. But it doesn't explain why 'There is no evidence of similar trends in learning disability, depression, anxiety or physical conditions.'

We certainly must work on reducing the sources of stress, distress and trauma throughout society. And prioritise it above things like appeasing Elon Musk or allowing dogma about the national curriculum to make our decisions for us.

I had some respect for Tom Watson. It's been completely wiped out by this news.

Terrible. Palantir are interested in making money NOT improving public services.

‘If you’re taking money from a company what are they getting out of it? At least print the contract. Tell us what you are being employed for” Ian Hislop, Committee on Standards 2022. Tom Watson is not being paid for his wisdom or insight. He has sold his House of Lords vote to #Palantir

@naomiaklein.bsky.social perfect analogy: 'The neoliberal age – for brevity let’s call it the period between the end of the cold war and Covid – was “capitalism lying on the couch in its underwear, going ‘what are you gonna do, leave me?’'

I'm with @pollytoynbee.bsky.social

Excellent podcast discussing what the Guardian has called the most controversial show of the year - Channel 4's 'The Great AHDH Myth: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

Thank God for Marina Hyde: 'It’s so unfashionable, of course, but I have to say I’m a big, big believer in pushing it all down.' ... and other great answers!

Thank God for Marina Hyde: 'It’s so unfashionable, of course, but I have to say I’m a big, big believer in pushing it all down.' ... and other great answers!

For people interested in the discussions about the Channel 4 documentary and those about neurodiversity in general, the Midlands Psychology Group has just added a rather old paper by our member, Paul Moloney, about the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. midpsy.uk/2026/08/20/h...

Excellent podcast discussing what the Guardian has called the most controversial show of the year - Channel 4's 'The Great AHDH Myth: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

For people interested in the discussions about the Channel 4 documentary and those about neurodiversity in general, the Midlands Psychology Group has just added a rather old paper by our member, Paul Moloney, about the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. midpsy.uk/2026/08/20/h...

This does not mean Burnham will do what he says! It also doesn’t mean I like everything he says (Gaza, immigration, questions on benefits to name a few so far). But it does mean in even saying some of the big problems can be fixed, he’s diverting from the script that holds up unequal societies.

You can doubt Burnham is going to do what he says, you can think he’s not left wing enough (I feel the same on many issues), but by any objective definition, Burnham’s position on most issues is much further left than most mainstream politicians and media. Relative v absolute, I suppose!

@francesryan.bsky.social is absolutely spot on!

Peace to Bonnie Tyler. Hers is one of my favourite versions of this song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FskV...

It would be so lovely to see a legal alien, Count Binface, win against Farage. countbinface.com/help-binface

For anyone who goes along with the idea that climate change is an elite-driven conspiracy designed to expand government control and restrict individual freedoms, Jonathan Freedland this week is a good retort.

If you've been struggling to cope with the heat in Europe this week, in a home that's not cut-out for record breaking high temperatures, think how much harder it must be for people who can't afford fans, have no nearby access to green spaces, or can't even get out of the house.

Just imagine.

It’s crazy that resistance today is just about reminding the world of its values,” she said. “And that doing so seems like a radical stance.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Every day feels more and more like we're living in a dystopian novel. We are sleep walking into some horror.

Horrific indeed. This has been going on far too long. Where I live in Shropshire it's no different. Thank you @georgemonbiot.bsky.social for bringing this to everyone's attention.

What miles we've travelled since Shirley Valentine! In these days where everyone is a product, and neoliberalism sells the idea of perfection, maybe eventually Zac Barnett will be proved right: 'I think what audiences are going to want to see more and more is the truth, which is imperfections.'

No politician, however well-meaning, can enter the institutions of the capitalist state and escape unchanged. They will be pushed and pulled, until their original ambitions have been warped and contorted – an inevitable consequence of trying to get things done in a highly unequal society.

The headline for this piece is distracting. Ken Loach has many important things to say and it's worth everyone listening. 'The people who have nothing are always blamed, and the people who got rich on the system escape.'

Yes. Like other New Labour characters, Wes Streeting quickly adopted the art of spin to sell a good story about himself. Most people who work in the NHS are well aware of the cans he has kicked down the road.

Horrific indeed. This has been going on far too long. Where I live in Shropshire it's no different. Thank you @georgemonbiot.bsky.social for bringing this to everyone's attention.

What miles we've travelled since Shirley Valentine! In these days where everyone is a product, and neoliberalism sells the idea of perfection, maybe eventually Zac Barnett will be proved right: 'I think what audiences are going to want to see more and more is the truth, which is imperfections.'

No politician, however well-meaning, can enter the institutions of the capitalist state and escape unchanged. They will be pushed and pulled, until their original ambitions have been warped and contorted – an inevitable consequence of trying to get things done in a highly unequal society.

The headline for this piece is distracting. Ken Loach has many important things to say and it's worth everyone listening. 'The people who have nothing are always blamed, and the people who got rich on the system escape.'

Yes. Like other New Labour characters, Wes Streeting quickly adopted the art of spin to sell a good story about himself. Most people who work in the NHS are well aware of the cans he has kicked down the road.

That's the hard bit because community organising is slow, local, and doesn't scale the way policy does. But it's also the only thing that makes policy stick. Without the organised base, reforms get reversed the moment political winds shift.

Myown take: AI can't yet feel. Ergo, it can't yet write.

A neat summary of where we're at. For me, as a critical and community psychologist, I think this is the hardest bit: 'we need community organising to deliver the kind of mutual aid that has always protected workers from crises caused by capital.' I just don't know how to do this!

Not only do I read @graceblakeley.substack.com because I trust her judgement on economic matters, but I also enjoy her wry humour. BP is today's king in the altogether.

I don't necessarily agree with either side, but I do know what it's like to face constant pressure in a job. I even wrote a novel about the pressure I faced as a clinical psychologist in the NHS. I tried not to cave in to it. www.madintheuk.com/2025/03/pape...

This morning, @greenpeaceuk.bsky.social activists turned his golf course on the west coast of Scotland into a wind farm. Sign the petition: action.greenpeace.org.uk/renewable-re... CHOOSE WIND. DUMP TRUMP.