Its the last Sunday before Christmas, so as a special treat to myself I thought that I would look over the last 3 sets of Economic and Fiscal Updates from the Government. That gives us a sense of change over time, and if the government's current approach is working. A looong 🧵

SARS-CoV-2 is now acknowledged as an endotheliotrophic virus, akin to cytomegalovirus and certain herpes viruses [62,63,64]. These viruses establish latent infections with periodic reactivation, leading to long-term endothelial dysfunction. link.springer.com/article/10.100…

It's good that we've learnt this before everyone got infected.

🧵 Something some of you might not know about me is that I lost my sense of smell entirely for 18 months at the beginning of the pandemic after contracting COVID. It was before the 1st UK lockdown and well before smell and taste loss was a recognised symptom of the virus.

Smell loss is much less prevalent now than during the intitial waves of the virus, but it is still a possible symptom of COVID (and the flu), and masking in enclosed public spaces certainly still makes sense, both to protect ourselves and others from illness.

This is so, so important, from Mona Eltahawy

as an anthropologist, one of my specialisations is authoritarianism & revolutionist practice in response to it one of my research foci for is the social processes of a society's descent into authoritarianism a historian once told me: it happens slowly, then all at once.

Great thread

Read this carefully: “Last year, New Zealand taxpayers forked out more money for the ongoing clean-up of a single mine site’s acid drainage in waterways, than the entire coal mining sector brought in through royalties” forestandbird.org.nz/resources/coal…

Nothing can actually be fixed here because the problem isn't the plane, it isn't even the company, it's the whole country. America doesn't nationalize companies, instead companies have privatized the government. 8/9

🧵Zelensky being publicly berated by US president and VP (a mass media spectacle par excellence) has left western Europe stunned, shocked, and floundering. There was much ‘unprecedented’ about the spectacle but I want to talk about something that isn’t being discussed.

Over the past 500 years, Western Europe built a world that it looted, occupied, ruled and shaped to its will. This reshaping the world included its settler colonies of which USA is the most imperially successful.

For too long W Europe has retender it could carry on buiness as usual. But yesterday’s disgusting White House spectacle has ended that studied delusion. Forget the emperor having no clothes. There is no empire to turn to!

No empire goes down quietly so the times ahead are perilous for most of us and the planet. But these are also extraordinary and yes, unprecedented times. And it’s a stage of decolonisation I never imagined could/would happen in my lifetime

Once again a very accessible thread from tern. This one explains the research on how covid causes long-term damage to your body and increases your risk of developing cancer.

here are FOUR drivers of Long COVID... -PERSISTENCE -AUTOIMMUNITY -PHYSICAL DAMAGE -LATENT VIRAL REACTIVATION T cell dysfunction is not a primary driver because it's a part of autoimmunity and persistence. Microvascular dysfunction is a product og physical damage and

Great thread

Minimum Wage increased 1.5% this year. Data from Stats NZ shows - Food prices up 5% - Fruit & Veg up 8.9% - Meat up 9.4% - Bread up 9.5% (white sliced up 41.7%) - Cheese up 14.3% - Milk up 15% - Electricity up 11.4% Laser focussed on the cost of living stats.govt.nz/information-re…

I prefer this version 😂😂😂

Really important thread - please read - and wear an N95!