Kat Smith

Shocking to see this report published on the same day as the UK government approve new drilling for fossil fuels. We need climate action and leadership now!

1/ A slightly strange and lovely thing to be able to say, my book The Social Life of Justice is published tomorrow... www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

Yesterday’s Scottish drug death figures show the rate of drug use deaths among men rose sharply in 2025, following a decline in 2024 although the rate remains below peaks observed between 2018 and 2021. Last year’s fall was welcome, but it was too soon to know whether it marked a sustained change.

Shout out to driver who stopped in my street despite guys with face masks threatening a hammer, to pick up guy & woman they were chasing. We reported to police,who found them all safe. Always impressed by bystanders who take action. His car got hammered but he kept 2 young people he didn't know safe

Good to see this new policy implementation report out. Thanks to all participants + @fionamchardy.bsky.social for leading. Key finding: people delivering services know a great deal about what needs to change. If Scotland wants to achieve policy ambitions, this knowledge needs to shape policy design:

It is disgraceful and wilfully misleading that the BBC do not report that Danny Tommo was filmed slashing the boat.

1/ A question our @NuffieldFound REDUK project explores is how devolution makes national difference more politically salient, and when and how it can also reshapes policies on racial equality, belonging and minority incorporation. www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

It was completely predictable that there would be more far right disturbances on the streets in summer 2026 - just as there were in 2024 and 2025 - the government should have been much better prepared in its operational and political response.

With an editorial by @judegreen.bsky.social on 'The (inevitable) politics of public health research' journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jc...

Content warning: Multiple men violently assault a female protester at Reform's conference at the Birmingham NEC, to the visible delight of Nigel Farage.

This year’s Programme for Government is notable because it covers the next 5 years (rather than just a year), supported by annual delivery plans aligned with future budgets. A longer-term framework can improve coherence and funding stability, enabling more joined-up action to reduce inequalities.

Two @centrehealthpolicy.bsky.social blogs out: one, by me, on whether evidence about solutions will help reduce health inequalities & what else we might do. The other, by @lisagarnham.bsky.social, on the exclusion of community health orgs from strategic decision-making spaces: lnkd.in/p/eHvG-irU

So the ultra-rich will continue to own our politics, and our country. Disappointing to say the least. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Rest in Power Professor #JasonArday.

1/ What has devolution changed for race equality across Britain? Our new @nuffieldfoundation.org funded Policy Briefing we map the strategies, duties, action plans and accountability mechanisms developed since devolution. bsky.app/profile/uofg...

🔥 Smokefree Public Places Policy in Scotland: Rethinking Policy Work in Multiple Streams and Punctuated Equilibrium Theory by @profkatsmith.bsky.social Discover on our blog: policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/07/01/s... Check out the full research article: doi.org/10.1332/0305...

The attacks in Edinburgh, in which an armed bare-chested white man terrorised Muslims, leaving five people injured, don't feature on a single newspaper front page this morning. Two tier journalism

🔴 SCOOP: Farage doesn't seem to want to answer questions about his money. So I went looking - and found that the Reform leader's personal company is in breach of UK company law democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-n...

Well done to the demonstrators who turned out in their masses to counter the far right in Brighton. Good people outnumber these hateful little nobodies and always will.

I’m gonna keep saying this: 📢 Health and science organisations, charities, campaigners, research groups, and everyone: Stop 👏 using 👏 X. Show us you care about the unity of this country. Show us you stand against division, prejudice and hatred. If you stop, the government will eventually stop too.

Northern Ireland, functionally, has no immigration. Net immigration last year was about 8000 people in a population of 2 million, and that was a record.

The houses of ethnic minorities in Belfast didn’t ’go on fire’ last night - as my radio has told me - they were set alight

Having spent the day, much like every other day at present, listening to journalists and broadcasters restate unsubstantiated claims, and elide the fact of difference with a trigger for racist violence, here are simple rules even Chris Mason might grasp. ⬇️

It seems obvious but needs saying that most of Labour's core vote is fundamentally opposed to the far right. Failing to fight back against it rioting on Britain's streets will leave many of those supporters wondering what the point of having a Labour government is.

Plausible deniability appears to be a journalistic pillar for significant sections of the British media... www.runnymedetrust.org/publications...

New paper from @allybrown.bsky.social, based on his PhD research, in the Journal of Critical Public Health. Really interesting analysis of how health inequalities can be framed (strategically) as part of broader, devolution agendas. Congratulations, Ally! journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jc...

Why is The World At One reading out Rupert Lowe's posts on the Northern Ireland attack, at the start of the bulletin? He leads a party that is polling at about 3%. This is not about "censorship": it's about the choices media outlets make concerning which voices to amplify.

Calling all practitioners, managers, and people who work alongside children and families, who are keen to share their insights for Scotland's Children's Legislative Review. Engagement workshops are now open for registration. Find out more: buff.ly/fKBJfdu

The Palantir manifesto understands technology as a means of organising the state in defence of a racialised civilisational project. So who will these systems serve, how are they to be governed and held accountable? It's the old dream of technology in service of power: bsky.app/profile/scot...

The May election suggests alcohol has slipped down Scottish policy agenda. Despite remaining a major driver of preventable death & social harm, most parties said little about prevention. New editorial argues public supports action - issue is political timidity & industry influence: shorturl.at/j0Qkm

New blog with @profbambra.bsky.social & @jlynch13.bsky.social: www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2026/05/26/b... Too many people are dying earlier than they should, and too many communities are spending more years in poor health. This blog is a reminder that there are policy mixes that can change this.

1/When the UK asylum system is described as in 'crisis', what if that's not a breakdown of the system but instead how it functions? In Policy & Politics, @e-c-hill.bsky.social and I argue that 'crisis ordinariness' is a method of governing in which extraordinary harm is presented as administration.

This morning the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have published a refreshed and updated list of Areas of Research Interest. These are an important way for researchers to engage with policy, so please do read them! www.gov.uk/government/p...

NEET may be an administratively useful category but it can stigmatise young people, flatten diffs & obscure conditions shaping lives. We've written a short @equalise.bsky.social briefing. One small shift: avoid 'NEETs', say 'young people in the NEET category' equalisehealthequity.org/2026/05/12/b...

Data dashboards are an accessible way of visualising data but often focus on quantitative data. Since qualitative data help explain the lives behind the numbers, we've developed short syntheses of qualitative data for our @scothealtheq.bsky.social - click the quote icons at the bottom of each page:

Really enjoyed this paper on diary methods in research: bit.ly/3RJ4P4b Reminded me of an amazing talk by Tony Coxon on diary research with MSM during 80s HIV/AIDS epidemic. The insights transformed public health understanding. I’ve never used diaries but often think about the power of the method.

#OtD 9 May 1921 Sophie Scholl was born in Germany. Scholl became an anti-fascist activist, helping form the peaceful White Rose resistance group and was executed by the Nazis in 1943. Learn more about German youth resistance to Nazism in our podcast: workingclasshistory.com/podcast/72-e...

A week to go until the Scottish elections - here's a quick @scothealtheq.bsky.social overview of what the different manifestos say about prevention, health & key social determinants 👇